Duration
375h Internship
Number of credits
| Master in psychology, professional focus | 13 crédits |
Lecturer
Collégialité
Coordinator
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
All year long
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The Master's internship is an individual experience that gives students an opportunity to connect what they have learned with real-life situations, whether that be in the field, in society, or in research.
This internship enables students to:
- Take action on the ground in a supervised way;
- Apply, for a limited period of time, one or more scientifically approved methods in line with ethical practice;
- Develop their own view of the profession of psychologist and their own integration into training practice.
- Within the Faculty of Psychology, Speech Therapy, and Educational Sciences, or
- Within an institution that can host a student and offer professional practical experience as a psychologist.
If it takes place in an institution other than ULiège the internship will be led and supervised by a psychologist internship supervisor suggested by the teaching staff. Internships carried out within ULiège will be led and supervised by an academic member of staff from the Faculty (or may be jointly supervised with an academic or scientific member of staff from another faculty), generally with the help of an assistant or doctoral student.
The academic supervisor of the internship is responsible for setting out their expectations as to the organisation and educational content of the internship (prerequisites, length, content, type of evaluation, etc.) in a three-party contract that requires coordination between the student, the internship supervisor, and the academic supervisor.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
The general objective of an internship in the psychological sciences is to put the intern into a real-life situation so that they can appropriately apply the theoretical and methodological resources acquired during their course, as well implement their knowledge and interpersonal skills. The learning outcomes are linked to the ULiège Competency Dictionary for psychologists (which can be downloaded from the Faculty website).
In the field of clinical psychology, the internship specifically aims at developing clinical skills such as, for example, how to conduct a clinical interview. It also aims to address a wide range of interpersonal skills and professional attributes. Interns are required to actively participate in the professional activity of the internship supervisor, their team, and the institution: particularly evaluations, observations, managing patients, multidisciplinary case meetings, contacts with relevant networks, and drafting reports. Within this context, the intern should build constructive relationships with patients and/or their families and develop diagnostic hypotheses. They should reflect upon and analyse their position in relation to the patient and the team.
In the field of social, occupational, and organisational psychology, the specific objective is to enable the intern to familiarise themselves with the world of work (private companies, public services, NGOs, etc.) and to develop their skills and professional experiences. The internship essentially aims to prepare the intern for professional practice through collaboration with qualified supervisors and/or to go more in-depth into a field presented in the specialist course.
In the field of cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychology, internships generally take place as part of research carried out within an academic unit. The objective of the internship is to respond to a theoretical question by adopting:
- An experimental research approach ranging from planning the study to collecting, analysing, and interpreting data, and communicating with peers.
- And/or an analytical research approach (systematic reviews and meta-analysis) or an approach using advanced statistical tools.
This internship in the field of psychology and cognitive neurosciences will familiarise you with all the stages of research using one or more particular experimental approaches in a specific field:
Appropriating a research question and
- Synthesising relevant literature;
- Formulating hypotheses and predictions;
- Creating a research design;
- Constructing testing material (e.g. processing photos, list of standardised stimuli) and/or experimental programming;
- Drafting clear and rigorous instructions aimed at human participants;
- Recruiting human participants and collating data;
- Practically applying statistical knowledge (i.e. analyses of data collated);
- Comparing results with the hypotheses/predictions and relevant literature;
- Drafting a report in scientific format and upholding the values of open science (rigour, completeness, transparency) with a view to optimal reproducibility.
Option: research methods
The internship in research methods will familiarise you with research questions in experimental, applied, educational, or clinical psychology:
- Appropriating a research question and using synthetic research tools (systematic reviews and meta-analyses);
- Using advanced statistical tools (in experimental, applied, educational, and clinical psychology);
- Meta-research (in experimental, applied, educational, and clinical psychology);
- Formulating hypotheses and predictions with advanced power analysis using exact calculations and simulation;
Students will work within a team of research in a laboratory in the Faculty and will be closely supervised by experts in the chosen research field. Students will develop skills in professional interaction and their interpersonal skills with other researchers. They will become familiar with the ethical aspects of research and will comply with legislation and codes relating to the ethics and scientific integrity of research.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Students must have previously passed all the Bachelor's courses.
Part 1 of the internship must be carried out in the chosen field and in one of the two chosen options. If the student chooses and option which does not fall within the field, Part 1 of the internship must be carried out as a priority within the chosen field.
Part 1 of the internship and Part 1 of the SAS are corequisites of one another and must, therefore, be taken in the same year.
In the field of "cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychology"
The sbim0486-2 course is a prerequisite to any internship involving animals. This course is legally required (by the law on the use of animals in experiments).
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The aim of the internship is to ensure the application, in a professional setting, of lessons taught at the University of Liège. Under no circumstances will student interns be required to carry out tasks they have not covered during their training.
The Block 1 internship will begin in the second term after passing the Bachelor's (in psychological and educational sciences) and after official registration for the Master's. IT will end no later than the end of the second session in Block 1 (end of August).
Finally, students carrying out their internship in Block 1 of the Master's must take part in an internship support seminar (psyc0092-3; 30 hours). Students must attend the internship support seminar alongside their internship so that the lessons from the internship and the supervision of the seminar can be connected.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Further information:
Students are required to complete an internship lasting 375 hours.
Students must work the number of hours defined in the internship registration form. The number of hours in an internship is approved at the end of the internship on the basis of hours actually worked and confirmed by the internship supervisor.
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Further information:
Competency Dictionary for psychologists.
Psychologists' code of ethics.
Faculty regulations on internships in the psychological sciences, educational science, and speech therapy.
These documents are available on the Faculty internet site.
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam AND oral exam
Further information:
During the internship, a mid-term evaluation is conducted. At the end of the internship, a compulsory evaluation is carried out and the internship supervisor submits an assessment of the work of the intern in relation to the objectives and expectations set out in the three-party internship contract. These evaluations are carried out in dialogue with the intern.
At the end of the internship, the intern must draft a report or summary of their internship.
Recommendations for the internship supervisor on conducting the assessment and drafting the report are set out in the three-party internship contract.
The final grade for the internship is given by the academic supervisor. It is reached on the basis of a minimum base (a) of the assessment provided by the internship supervisor and (b) the grade given by the academic supervisor upon reading the intern's report. The intern must pass both these parts to receive an overall passing grade. Some academic supervisors also base their grade on interviews with the intern or a pre-internship to give a weighting to the final grade.
internships are only organised once in the academic year. The grade is taken into account when the current year of study is evaluated (see the study and exam regulations).
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Students may not start their internship or have it approved before completing the four following steps: obtain an internship place, sign up for the internship, complete the risk assessment form, complete the three-part internship contract. See details in the Faculty Regulations on Internships in the Psychological Sciences, Educational Sciences, and Speech Therapy.
Students must have obtained their internship place and have signed up for the internship:
- Before the start of the internship and no later than 30 November if they start their internship in the first term.
- Before the start of the internship and no later than 15 February if they start their internship in the second term.
Contacts
Administrative support : Magda Thunus (04/366.20.26 or Magda.Thunus@ulg.ac.be).
Scientific support : all academic staff for the options in the Masters in Psychology.