Distance between levels of importance and achievement of specific competences in sample of psychology graduates

Abstract

In 2013, the Tuning Latin America Project promoted the challenge of reaching a consensus on the training of Psychology in the region. It was tried to establish agreements on the discharge competencies of undergraduate and postgraduate psychologists, establishing a list of 24 specific competences (Rodríguez Cárdenas et al., 2013). This project aloud to rethink the training of the psychologist in our country, where psychology careers continue with a traditional teaching approach, where the training competences approach has not yet been incorporated. Competences and the debate about the competences required for the psychologist is scarce. Method: the present research aims to analyze the distance between the levels of importance and self-perceived achievement of the specific competences raised in the framework of the Tuning Latin America Project in a sample of 100 graduates of a psychology degree. Instrument: The Specific Competency Questionnaire for graduates of the Tuning Latin America project (Rodríguez Cárdenas et al., 2013) was used. Results: It was found that in all competences the importance was higher than the level of achievement achieved. A mean difference of M = 0.34, was obtained. Conclusions: this analysis bring information that could help to find strong and weak aspects in the training that serve as a guide to reflect on strategies that aim to strengthen weak points and strengthen even those that are already strong.