psychology and human development

The CUES project investigated undergraduates’ access to UCL’s careers support and development services. Low student engagement with careers workshops and appointments (18.1% and 10.2%, respectively) at the IOE relative to UCL (24.6% and 15.3%) in 2021 has fuelled our investigation into how BSc Psychology with Education undergraduates from the Department of Psychology and Human Development (IOE), are engaging with the career resources offered. In listening to student’s feedback, we hoped to co-design timely solutions to increase student engagement with departmental and UCL careers services. We captured student voices across year groups (year 1, 2, and 3) through online semi-structured focus groups of three students. We explored student’s understanding of employability with at least ten participants from each year group. Study results highlighted six reasons for low engagement with UCL career events; these are: 1) professionalism, 2) undergraduate stage of life, 3) interpersonal factor, 4) cultural factor, 5) personality, and 6) personal characteristics. Additionally, participants’ expectations of university career services were related to ways of introducing career support, individualised support, types of career events, and diverse support. Opinions differed for each year group. This study yielded in-depth, new perspectives on BSc Psychology with Education undergraduates’ ideas and demands for career support. Aligning career support resources more effectively with student needs – better student-staff partnership – will enhance student’s future access to UCL career services and, in turn, maximise students’ employability and overall university experience.

– Always think about your potential stakeholders

– Always keep your supervisor updated about your project and communicate with others

– Always work as a team and try your best to stick to the timeline

– Think creatively about developing solutions for students and staff