Developing psychologist attributes in higher educational institutions: case of Kazakhstan

Abstract

This study’s purpose is to identify the most necessary attributes of a modern psychologist through a survey of practical psychologists, teachers, and students from the Faculty of Psychology, Toraigyrov University. The survey allowed us to develop an effective training program for psychologists. The study involved 115 respondents from Kazakhstan, 60 of them were future psychologists. The respondents took the survey to determine the key attributes of a modern psychologist. The research was also based on literature analysis and generalization, questionaries, and ranking. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was utilized to assess the reliability of the authors’ questionnaire items. SPSS Statistics program was applied for statistical data processing. According to the results, 80% of practical psychologists wanted to improve the curriculum for their students. At the same time, 72% of students believe that the program should primarily be practice-oriented. The students unanimously noted the key quality of the psychologist–empathy. The vast majority (94.1%) mentioned moral principles, and 85.7% indicated authenticity. However, teachers and psychologists did not emphasize the above criteria. The current study aims to develop a basis for an effective training program for future psychologists studying at the universities of Kazakhstan according to their modern needs.