Psychological literacy is a concept in psychology learning and teaching in Higher Education (HE) that considers how psychology students can intentionally apply psychological knowledge to personal, professional and societal goals. However, despite its prevalence among psychology Higher Education scholars and developers, it is unclear whether psychology students are aware of psychological literacy. In this mixed methods study, psychology undergraduates studying in the UK (N=117) were asked to rate the core eight competencies of psychological literacy, as outlined by the QAA (2019) subject benchmark statement. Overall, we found that students were mostly unaware of the term ‘psychological literacy’. However, students did value the attributes that it includes. When asked to define the term, students typically referred to the capacity to understand subject–specific knowledge, with some students discussing the application of this knowledge to everyday life too. Implications for the development of psychological literacy as an emergent pedagogic practice are discussed.

Background: Psychological literacy is a set of attributes, which refer broadly to how students apply their subject-specific psychology knowledge to solving problems. However, the extent to which psychological literacy skills are unique to psychology as a discipline is unknown. Objective: We assessed whether students perceive psychological literacy attributes to be prominent in disciplines outside of psychology. Method: We recruited undergraduate students from Psychology, non-Psychology STEM subjects, and Humanities subjects ( N = 296) and asked them to identify the extent to which they perceive psychological literacy attributes to be prominent in their degrees. Results: Psychology students reported significantly higher perceived prominence of psychological literacy attributes in their degree, compared with Humanities and non-Psychology STEM students, in all but two of the psychological literacy attributes. Conclusion: These findings suggest that psychological literacy mostly represents attributes unique to psychology students, but some of these attributes are also developed within other disciplines. The facets of psychological literacy unique to psychology relate to knowledge of behavior, research skills, ethics, and socio-cultural issues. Teaching implications: This suggests that psychology students graduate with some subject specific attributes, which may make them uniquely advantaged in a competitive work context and affirms that psychology degrees do hold unique value.

Purpose An important facet of student’s sense of belonging is students’ relationships with, and time spent in, the university campus. The purpose of this paper is to explore the notion that access to campus “green space”, including parks, fields and gardens, may bolster students’ sense of belonging, improve well-being feelings and promote place attachment. Design/methodology/approach The authors surveyed students in different locations (including three green and one non-green campus spaces) across a large UK campus-based Northern institution. 146 students participated in the study in one of the four campus locations. The authors investigated how being in green spaces on campus may impact students’ sense of belonging, well-being and place attachment. The authors also qualitatively explored students’ perceptions of campus spaces through Ahn’s (2017) 10 Words Question measure. Findings Analyses demonstrate that students surveyed in green spaces reported significantly more positive sense of belonging, compared to students surveyed in non-green campus spaces. Campus location did not impact well-being, however. Students associated green spaces on campus with “calm”, “positive emotion” and “nature” words and non-green spaces with “busy”, “social” and “students”. Practical implications Taken together, the results of this paper suggest that access to green spaces can be important for campus sense of belonging. Thus, efforts should be made to ensure the sustainability of these important spaces across university campuses. Originality/value This study crucially examines how occupying green spaces on university campuses may impact students’ feelings of belongingness. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that uses field-based methods to understand students’ feelings whilst occupying green spaces.