News
Please let us know any news stories from your country /association – use the "contact us" tab.
EFPTA 2024 Helsinki 20th Anniversary Conference - keynotes announced!
We are delighted to announce that our keynote speakers at the EFPTA 2024 Conference in Helsinki will be Prof Markus Jokela of the University of Helsinki, and Dr Karen Marangio of Monash University, Australia!
You can register here.
The conference theme is "The Age of Psychology: Teaching Psychology in the Modern World". The main conference programme will take place on 19-20 April 2024, and there will also be optional cultural activities on 18 and 21 April.
This will be our first in-person event since 2018 when the Conference was held in Reykjavik, Iceland. The EFPTA Conference is normally biennial, but the two-yearly pattern was disrupted by the pandemic, and our last Conference - Bratislava 2020 - was postponed till 2021 and was held online. So we're excited to be getting together again in person, especially as it's our 20th Anniversary! In fact Helsinki is the place where EFPTA was founded in 2004, so it's very fitting that we will be there again to celebrate our 20th birthday - and that we will be hosted by the Finnish psychology teachers' association Psykologianopettajat (PSOP).
We will have a full programme of keynotes, workshops, discussion forums and networking sessions for, and led by, psychology teachers and educators from across Europe, and beyond.
Places are limited - register here.
Click on the links below for the Conference Programme, the workshops / symposium list, a publicity poster, and practical information about Helsinki accommodation and local transport.
Documents and Resources
Helsinki Conference poster /flyer
Helsinki information sheet - transport, venue, hotels - updated
Conference programme (provisional)
ESPLAT webinar on 20 November 2023
ESPLAT webinar 20th November 2023, 16.00 CET
Misconceptions about Psychology among Psychology Students in North America
This was a very interesting webinar held by ESPLAT, with Prof. Dr. Douglas Bernstein, Prof. Dr. Iva Stuchlíková, and Prof. Dr. Pina Marsico
It examined the problem of students’ misconceptions about psychology, including consideration of past and current research on efforts to combat those misconceptions, and helped identify opportunities for international collaboration on misconceptions research. Watch this space for Prof Bernstein's presentation, which he will share.
The European Society of Psychology Learning and Teaching (ESPLAT) is an official European academic organisation whose aim is to advance the learning and teaching of psychology at all educational levels, and to provide a forum to engage researchers and teachers of psychology in communication and exchange. See https://www.esplat.org/
EFPTA Board autumn 2023 meeting was held in Edinburgh, 17-18 November
The EFPTA Board had a very productive autumn 2023 meeting in Edinburgh, on 17-18 November, hosted by the Association for the Teaching of Psychology Scotland (ATPS). We gathered first in the late afternoon on Friday at Leith Academy, a modern high school where ATPS member Simon Robinson teaches psychology. The exotic plants which adorn the school’s main corridor were a wonder to behold, resembling botanic gardens! In the staffroom, we held the usual informal pre-meeting, previewing the main agenda for the next day, and sharing national reports from 10 member countries of EFPTA.
The following day we met for the full Board meeting at Clifton Hall, the school of Mairi Rice, who is the Scotland representative to EFPTA. Board members were treated to a tour of this historic castle-like school, complete with turrets, crow-step gables and dovecot. The 14 Board members taking part in the meeting included several new and enthusiastic representatives. With three Finnish reps on board, we made excellent progress in preparing for the EFPTA 2024 Conference to be held in Helsinki, 18-21 April, to be hosted by the Finnish psychology teachers’ association.
We are very grateful to both Leith Academy and Clifton Hall School for making it possible to hold the EFPTA meetings at their schools.
Some useful links:
Association for the Teaching of Psychology (UK)
Clifton Hall School, Edinburgh
PSOP RY – Psychology Teachers Association, Finland
EFPTA Board spring 2023 meeting took place in Stockholm
For the first time, EFPTA Board met in Sweden - the meeting took place in Stockholm on 12-13 May 2023. Swedish representative, Ebba Blåvarg hosted us in Sweden's capital city. The Board's agenda focused on preparation for the November 2023 meeting in Edinburgh, and the EFPTA Conference to be held on18-21 April 2024 in Helsinki, Finland.
If you would like more information about EFPTA and our meetings and events, contact your country representative via your country's page under 'Associations'. Any member of an EFPTA member association can attend a Board meeting by prior arrangement. If you are teaching psychology at high school level, and your country does not have a psychology teachers' association, we would like to hear from you - contact us!
Presentations now available! From our webinar on 18 March 2023 - Climate change & sustainability in psychology education.
Thank you to everyone who took part in our spring webinar on Saturday 18 March! The theme of climate change and sustainability in psychology education was very popular with about 50 participants from many countries in Europe and beyond. Unfortunately our keynote speaker Dr Dan O'Hare had to cancel, however EFPTA Board members stepped in to provide a summary of Dr O'Hare's recent paper.
Cick on the links below for the workshop presentations.
In the breakout sessions participants said they found the workshops interesting and useful, and also shared their views and info about how they address environmental issues and sustainability in their own schools. Concern about the effects of the climate crisis on the wellbeing of young people, and the need to prepare them for future challenges, will continue. Also a number of important fundamental questions arose about the role of psychology education in addressing the climate crisis, so we plan to follow up this theme in future EFPTA events - watch this space!
Psychology and climate change is a theme currently prioritised by the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations (EFPA), to which EFPTA is affiliated.
Documents and Resources
Workshop: Whole-school approaches to sustainability
Workshop: Climate change - learning activities in the psychology classroom
Some key sources on climate change and psychology, and links from webinar chat
EFPTA Board meets in England
EFPTA Board's bi-annual full meeting took place on 18-19 November in England, hosted by Jock McGinty, EFPTA Vice President and England & Wales rep, at his school, Watford Boys Grammar School. It was so good to be able to meet in person again! Representatives from Denmark, England, Germany, Finland, Scotland and Sweden took part, with several other country reps able to join remotely. Mairi Rice was welcomed as new Scotland rep. A busy Agenda included planning for the spring 2023 webinar, the next Board meeting in April to be hosted by our Sweden rep in Stockholm, and preliminary planning for EFPTA 2024 conference in Helsinki. Watch this space for more news of these events!
Meet EFPTA's new President!
At the Board meeting on 30 April in Odense, Denmark, EFPTA members elected Mette Eggertsen as our new President for 2022-24. Mette, of the Danish psychology teachers' association, was previously EFPTA Vice-President. Most Board members attended in person - the first in-person meeting since November 2019 - and a small number attended virtually. An unusual 'hybrid handover' took place when outgoing President Lenka Sokolová (2019-22), from the Slovakian association, who attended via Zoom, handed over the role to Mette who was there in person - see the photo! The Board thanked Lenka for the huge amount of work she has put into advocating for high school level psychology teaching in Europe, and promoting EFPTA amongst psychology educators and practitioners. Fortunately, Lenka is continuing on the Board as representative for Slovakia.
The other three Officers elected /re-elected at the meeting are: Vice-President - Jock McGinty (England and Wales); Treasurer - Wolfgang Augustin (Germany); Secretary - Morag Williamson (Scotland).
The main business of the meeting was to plan activities for 2022-24 - watch this space for news of events!
EFPTA webinar 19 February 2022: thanks for taking part!
On 19 February we held a webinar with the theme: Mental health at school: what is the role of psychology teachers?
Around 50 people took part - psychology teachers, university academics, mental health professionals - from c.16 European countries, and presenters from five countries talked about their approaches to mental health education for young people. It was very interesting, and inspiring, to learn about these different perspectives, with a clear focus on practical strategies for supporting young people through these very challenging times.
Sadly, the global covid-19 pandemic since early 2020 has led to an increase in mental health problems especially among young people. This webinar forms part of a project by EFPTA and the EFPA Board of Educational Affairs on mental health education in secondary schools in Europe, including the role of psychology teachers in supporting students' mental health.
Mental health in Europe is a theme currently prioritised by the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations (EFPA), to which EFPTA is affiliated.
Presentations are available here.
Saturday 19 February 2022, 10.00-12.00 (CET). This event has now ended.
Click the link below for full programme information.
Documents and Resources
Webinar flyer /poster - full programme
EFPTA Newsletter 2020 is published!
You'll find a great mixture of articles, news and reports of events of interest to psychology teachers. Thanks to all contributors - who are psychology teachers and researchers from across Europe - and thanks to new Editor, Jock McGinty (England / Wales representative), taking over from Jackie Moody (Luxembourg). Enjoy!
Documents and Resources
EFPTA research poster at ICPS-2015, Amsterdam
Are you interested in collaborating on research into pre-tertiary psychology? Please contact the research team.
Complete poster submission
EFPTA poster submission on ICPS / Open Science Framework
Documents and Resources
EFPTA research poster ICPS-2015
Contact: the research team
Send email to the research team
EFPTA 2018 Conference in Reykjavik, 13-14 April! This Conference has now taken place...
Thank you to everyone who participated - keynote speakers, workshop presenters, and all delegates! Psychology teachers and others interested in psychology education at pre-university / high school level, from 14 countries, gathered to discuss and share information, expertise and ideas on teaching psychology to young people.
The theme was 'Psychology for everyone - the value of psychology education for young people' and the event was hosted by the Icelandic psychology teachers’ association - Samtöksálfræði- oguppeldisfræðikennara. One of the highlights of the Conference was an excellent presentation by Icelandic high school students.
If you missed this EFPTA Conference, make sure you don't miss the next one - watch this space for news of EFPTA 2020!
Documents and Resources
Conference poster /flyer to download / print
10th ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE REPORT: Sowing the seeds of psychological literacy - a conference for psychology teachers in Europe. Berlin, 11-13 April 2014.
The 10th Anniversary Conference has now taken place! Conference presentations will soon be available here, but meanwhile here are some of the highlights of this action-packed event at the beautiful WannseeForum: Keynote speaker Franziska Moser of Berlin’s Freie Universität explained her research findings on the impact of gendered language; Chair of the German Psychology Teachers’ Association, Michael Bürger used delegates as participants in a live experimental demonstration of the ‘shared information effect’ in group decision-making; teams of delegates worked ‘hands on’ in a series of problem-solving and creativity tasks in a ‘carousel’ workshop of learning activities. Over an intensive two days, psychology teachers, teacher educators and students from nine European countries presented or took part in a variety of interactive workshops focussing on teaching and learning in psychology, ranging from ‘Twinning psychology classes’ to ‘Ecopsychology in the classroom’. Many delegates and presenters were students: a team of high school psychology students from Hamburg delighted delegates with a talk about their innovative collaboration with undergraduate students at their local university. A second group of students, this time from Dessau, gave a charming video presentation of their social-psychological research. Student teachers from Slovakia took part in the event too; in fact, students made a major contribution to this EFPTA event overall. Aside from the formal programme, delegates browsed the display of posters and textbooks; the newest qualified psychology teacher, from Dortmund, was congratulated by the EFPTA President; and on Friday 11th April EFPTA’s 10th anniversary was celebrated in style with a magnificent birthday cake and glasses of bubbly. Click on the link below to see the anniversary slideshow of photos of EFPTA events 2004-2014. The EFPTA Board is very grateful to the helpful staff at WannseeForum, and all those who supported the event, especially Uniview Worldwide and Classroom Video.
Conference presentations can be found by clicking the links below. Also, most conference contributors are willing to share their presentations / materials if you contact them directly, even if these are not posted here on the website (see link to presenters' contact details).
Documents and Resources
Download the full programme including abstracts and biographies
EFPTA 10th Anniversary slide show
Presentation: Study Skills Day at Eira High School, Finland - Teija Jokinen-Luopa
Workshop:Teachers & students working together - Teija Jokinen-Luopa
Psychology in high schools - national reports, UK and USA
Two major national psychologists’ associations – the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the American Psychological Association (APA) recently published reports on pre-tertiary psychology – use the links to find them:
BPS The Future of A-Level Psychology (2013)
APA National Standards for Psychology High School Curricula (2011)
APA Guidelines for Preparing High School Psychology Teachers (2012)
Documents and Resources
BPS The Future of A-Level Psychology (2013)
EFPTA presentation at EuroPlat Conference, Vilnius, 30 June 2012
At the 2012 EuroPlat Conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, EFPTA research was presented in poster format, by Hans Reijnierse, former President of EFPTA. The poster reported qualitative research into availability of teacher education and professional development for psychology teachers at pre-tertiary level in eight European countries, and teachers' satisfaction with such provision. See the poster here.
EFPTA Conference - Copenhagen, 20-21 April 2012 - this event has now taken place. Reports can be found in the 2012 edition of the EFPTA Newsletter.
Conference theme: The Psychology of Evil – its place in the classroom
The conference has now taken place, and feedback from participants has been very positive. 48 delegates attended, from 10 countries, and the conference venue was an adult education college in a beautiful historic building in Copenhagen. Full reports and presentations will be available soon - so watch this space!
Programme highlights:
- Keynote speakers Dr Robin May Schott (Denmark) and Dr Kristján Guðmundsson (Iceland) spoke on the latest ideas and research on the theme of ‘the Psychology of Evil’.
- Workshops further explored the theme, in a forum where delegates discussed issues relevant to the teaching of ‘evil’-related topics in the psychology classroom.
- Workshops on Learning and Teaching in Psychology gave delegates opportunities to share good practice with colleagues from across Europe.
- There were workshops on collaborative projects for teachers and students across national boundaries – even if you were not there you can still get involved!
- A round-table session addressed issues affecting the school psychology curriculum in Europe – what its aims should be, what should it contain, how should it be designed and by whom....
- A live psychology demonstration class was given by a Danish teacher and her students, followed by an informal question and answer session amongst students and delegates.
EFPTA meets EFPA, August 2011
Our federation is affiliated to the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations (EFPA), whose members are the professional psychologists' associations in 35 EU countries. On 25 August 2011, our links with EFPA were strengthened when EFPTA President, Renate Schrempf, and Vice-President, Dorothy Coombs, were warmly welcomed at a meeting with EFPA representatives at their headquarters in Brussels. As a result, the EFPA President was invited to participate in an awareness-raising event for Members of the European Parliament, to be held on 9 November 2011 in Brussels. The theme of the event is "What can psychology do for Europe?", and it is anticipated that input will be wide-ranging, and focused on the contributions psychology can make to policy and action in areas such as health, education, employment, justice, and so on. EFPTA's contribution to the event will highlight the fact that psychology teaching in schools can make a difference in virtually all aspects of society, through promoting psychological literacy in our young people.
Psychology - a contribution for EU policy making. EFPA conference at European Parliament, 9 Nov 2011
The European Federation of Psychologists' Associations (EFPA), to whom EFPTA is affiliated, invited Members of the European Parliament (from all EU countries), and representatives of psychologists' organisations and institutions, to an awareness-raising event held on 9 November 2011 in Brussels. The theme of the event was "What can psychology do for Europe?", and input was wide-ranging, focusing on the contributions psychology can make to policy and action in areas such as health, education, employment, justice, and so on. EFPTA President Renate Schrempf presented information on pre-tertiary psychology education (PTPE), emphasising its benefits, both for individual students, and for society in general through raising the level of psychological literacy. Udo Kittler (EFPTA Secretary) and Dorothy Coombs (EFPTA Vice-President) also attended the event. In his keynote talk, EFPA President Prof. Robert Roe emphasised the importance of teaching psychology in schools - click on the link below for his presentation.
More information on EFPA: www.efpa.eu
Documents and Resources
Presentation by EFPA President Prof. Robert Roe
EFPTA research poster presented at British Psychological Society 2011 Annual Conference, Glasgow
Findings of research into teacher training for psychology was presented at the British Psychological Society conference in Glasgow on 5th May 2011.
The EFPTA research team comprises Renate Schrempf (Germany), Dorothy Coombs (England), Morag Williamson (Scotland) and Lenka Sokolová (Slovakia). Since 2009 they have conducted research into various aspects of psychology education (PTPE) in Europe, including curriculum and assessment of psychology courses in eight countries where psychology is taught at secondary school level. The latest stage of EFPTA research - a qualitative study of training and professional development for psychology teachers - was showcased at the BPS 2011 Annual Conference, which is the biggest UK event for psychologists. Morag Williamson (pictured) presented the research poster to a range of delegates from different psychology professions and various countries. Find details of the research and download the poster here .
The conference also, for the first time, featured a number of sessions of relevance to PTPE teachers, and provided these at modest fees for teachers, as well as scheduling the sessions to fit in with teaching commitments. "This support for PTPE from a national psychologists' association - BPS - is very welcome", commented Morag.
Documents and Resources
Research poster: PTPE in Europe - a survey of approaches to ITE and CPD
EFPTA poster launched at London meeting, October 2010
At the EFPTA event in London on 29 – 30 October 2010, Dorothy Coombs (UK) and Morag Williamson (Scotland) presented a poster telling you everything you ever wanted to know about EFPTA.
It is printed on A1 size paper, and is intended for display at conferences, training events, in schools and colleges etc. All EFPTA members are encouraged to download the poster and display it as much as possible, to increase awareness of the Federation amongst colleagues, across Europe.
You can either get it printed yourself (cost about 20-40 euros), or you can simply display it using a beamer /data projector – it is a single Powerpoint slide, saved in PDF format. Or, here is another way of using the poster: ATP, the UK psychology teachers’ association, printed it as a centre-page spread, A3 size, in their members’ magazine, ‘ATP Today’.
The poster is in English, but you can edit the slide, for example you can translate it into another language, add your own association’s contact details etc; use the "Contact Us" link to contact Morag if you want the Powerpoint version, or would like help to edit it.
Documents and Resources
EFPTA poster - Guidance for users
