PREPARING STUDENTS TO TEACH PSYCHOLOGY IN RUSSIA

In Russia there are two types of programs where students learn to teach psychology: undergraduate and graduate. At the undergraduate level all students of five-year specialist program in psychology take mandatory one-semester course in Teaching of Psychology. They need to take also some pedagogy courses. There is practice where students get the first-hand experience in teaching psychology. The qualification that students receive upon graduation from psychology programs has double title “Psychologist. Teacher of Psychology.” As an outcome they can legally teach psychology. At the graduate level – doctoral program – there is no special course in the teaching of psychology. However, practice in psychology teaching is a mandatory part of PhD program that complements research preparation of doctoral students. There was no special textbook for such courses for many years. Peter Press recently published the first comprehensive textbook on the topic for university students (Karandashev, 2005).

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