Changing the curriculum of Psychology in the U de Chile

There are some important changes that I would like to make to the curriculum of Psychology in the Universidad de Chile. In the current curriculum we have very little opportunity to learn the practical aspects of the psychological practice. Instead of that, we dedicate too much time, in my opinion, to sociological, philosophical and historical perspectives about the general characteristics of our postmodern time. I don’t think that this is irrelevant, but the practical side is import too and receive very little attention.

So, I will introduce at least two courses where you can see how therapy is actually done and get some opportunity to practice the clinical abilities, at least, for example, with the other students playing the role of a hypothetical patient.

In relation to the teaching methods, I think that they have to change in the direction of more proactivity by the students. The majority of classes are still dictated in the old format of a teacher exposing contents and the students passively taking notes and making a few questions. For the future practice of the profession, I think, it’s important that the students learn from the begging to take an active role, more similar to what they will be doing in the future.

I don’t think we need more technology to do that. We don’t need others faculty facilities as the ones we already have. What we need is only a different perspective on how to prepare the students for their future professional role.