School Psychology (MSc)
Career preparation
Where you end up depends on the chosen study direction, your own skills and interests.
Leiden University offers several services to help you prepare for the jobmarket.
The internship is a mandatory part of the master's specialisation. A qualified staff member within the organisation providing the internship outside or inside Leiden University will be responsible for the daily supervision of the student. For questions about your internship, you can always contact the Internship Coordinator of your master's specialisation.
At the Career Services counsellors will give you advice and information on planning your career, whether you have just started your master’s study or have already graduated. Each of Leiden’s seven faculties has its own career services department, with specific expertise and resources related to the faculty’s programmes.
In addition, as a master’s student you have access to our web-based resources, which include career step plans, job seeking strategies and self-assessment tools. The Career Services desk also offers a range of relevant workshops. If you prefer a personalised approach, you can make an appointment for an individual counselling session with your departmental career counsellor.
Specifically, you are welcome at the Career Services for advice and information on:
- What are the possibilities with my Master’s degree?
- Which jobs suit my profile?
- Workshops and events: Which job possibilities are there and how to apply?
- Career tests
- Internships and job vacancies
- CV and LinkedIn check
You can also find career information and advice on the website of the Career Services.
The Leiden University Career Zone is an online career portal that helps you with your preparation for the labour market. You will find information on:
- Knowing yourself (tests, self analysis)
- Exploring the labour market (i.e. jobs and branches)
- Developing your skills (application skills, work & life skills)
- Finding vacancies (Jobportal)
- Career Route Planner
- Workshops & Events
- Career Services
Leiden University’s alumni hold positions in a vast range of sectors, all over the world. They are therefore good resources for graduates who are just starting out on the job market. Through the Leiden Alumni Mentor Network you can contact Leiden alumni online and ask them for advice. For more information, go to the Mentor Network website.
The Psychology study association Labyrint regularly organises activities so that you can explore the labour market in fields relating to your study programme. Examples include labour market conferences, social drinks, and speed-dating sessions with companies.
Employers are interested in graduates who have developed their talents in a variety of areas. So it’s a good idea to work on your personal development and on CV-building right from the start of your degree programme.
Take a look at the Career Route Planner what you could do in addition to completing your studies successfully.
Mathieu Peters
School Psychologist
The diversity of the work is a treat to me: it ranges from individual diagnostics and treatment of children, to advising the school board about policy, guiding school teams in implementing new methods, and coaching a novice teacher who has a very difficult class.
As a school psychologist, I have a unique position in the work field of psychologists and remedial educationalists. The school is evidently a very important environment for the child, in which a large part of development takes place. There are many opportunities to establish connections between education, youth care and mental health care, between children and adults, between parents and teachers and between science and practice. The diversity of the work is a treat to me: it ranges from individual diagnostics and treatment of children, to advising the school board about policy, guiding school teams in implementing new methods, and coaching a novice teacher who has a very difficult class.
I am strongly convinced of the preventive and therapeutic value of genuine inclusive education, achieved by a multidisciplinary transactional analysis and grounded on partnership between parents, school and youth care. Numerous problems of children and adolescents can be prevented or minimized by working in a specialist and integrated fashion at the schools. Do not just think of learning problems, but for example also of anxiety problems, psychic traumas, social problems or self-image issues. School psychologists play a key role, because they bring in knowledge, are able to analyze the situation, arrange interventions, guide the process and have an overview.
Praktijk De Schoolpsycholoog: www.praktijkdeschoolpsycholoog.nl