Educational psychologist

Role of the educational psychologist

Definition of APA

The educational psychologist is defined, according to the APA, as a Psychologue expert-scientist which is interested in the child in school in relation to its teacher and his parents. Its attention is turned mainly around the needs for the child, but it also interacts with the Enseignant S, the direction, the Infirmier S and the parents.

The typical problems encountered by the educational psychologist relate to the training, the motivation, the behaviors and the aspects emotional and développemental. Its main objective is to bring a psychological prospect to the problems lived by the child in school, but also by the teacher.

The roles of the educational psychologist changed during the years. At the beginning, the educational psychologist had the role of centering his practice on the diagnosis and the offer of curative care for the students in difficulty. The interventions on the training took as a starting point the models and theories behaviorists. Today, its role and its functions turn mainly around the cognitive theories of the training. It must deal with great number of tasks like the consultation, the evaluation, the prevention, the intervention, education and research.

Various studies relating to the role of the educational psychologist reveal the importance to consider the environment of the child. From this point of view, the role of the educational psychologist is brought to evolve/move, in order to open more on the implication of the various mediums of the child in his school advance, of which school context, family circle and the community (example: unification and presence of external professionals).

Lightner Witmer occupied a determining place in the development of school psychology. Its work is delayed mainly on the strategies used for the pupils who are in lower part or above the average. The strategies were elaborate so as to take into account the specific needs of each pupil. The contemporary approach of school psychology thus considers the child in a very individualized way.

Current role

According to the Large dictionary of Psychology (Larousse, 1999), the missions of the educational psychologist relate to the prevention of the school difficulties, the development and the installation of teaching projects in the schools, the assessment the individual needs and the installation for the assistance measures necessary, the integration of the children having certain characteristics, the integration of research and the participation in formations with the operation of the school.

According to the Canadian Company of Psychology (2002), the educational psychologist must currently recommend the identification and the early intervention in order to improve the situation of certain young people and thus to decrease the more serious consequences in the long run of problems such as the disorders of training or behavior. In the goal to help with planning and the education, the psychologist carries out psychological evaluations which will inform on the cognitive styles, the psychological trainings and problems, of mental health or behavior of the students in difficulty. He has also like mandate to work in collaboration with these pupils, their parents, the teachers, the direction of the school as well as the other professionals working near the pupil in order to work out recommendations and to write plans of intervention. He supports and advises also the teachers with regard to the analysis of the problems of a pupil, the management of class and the installation of particular programs for pupils having special needs, the such douance. When he addresses himself to the parents, he can inform them on the development and the trainings of their child, the adviser inter alia on the management of the behavior of this one and help them in the search of organizations or external professionals. Inside the school, it is also a resource in the installation, planning, and the evaluation of prevention programs and intervention adapted to the customers and the problems met. The educational psychologist maintains moreover of the occupational relationship with various organizations and external professionals in order to ensure the performance of service significant near the pupils.

Adaptations of the role

Today, the role of the psychologist changes and becomes more and more complex. It must create relations between the pupil and his environment, initially, by founding a team in the school which will be able to take care of education and the Bien-être of the pupil, then by making sure that the parents imply in a more active way in education of their child. Finally, it must take care of the coherence of the action of the various professionals of education to offer services adapted to the young people and the families.

The tasks of the educational psychologist include/understand also activities of prevention of the difficulties of social integration and school of the young people, just as the promotion of the wellbeing. The psychologist holds several roles which are very varied. He makes tracking, identification and he evaluates the difficulties lived by the pupils. He carries out direct interventions near pupils or of groups in difficulty. He leads the pupils to include/understand lived to them and helps them to develop attitudes and behaviors which support the blooming of their personality, their social relations and their academic success. The psychologist also helps to solve the problems of an socio-emotional nature and intellectual that the pupil can meet. In these cases, it offers councils and support for the teachers and it can direct the pupils towards external resources adapted better to their needs. Finally, it tries to promote skills favourable with the harmonious development of the pupil and it supports a physical and human organization school allowing the optimal development of the potential of the pupils.

Occupation of educational psychologist

In Quebec

The educational psychologist belongs to the complementary services which lie within the scope of the teaching modes of pre-school education as well as primary and secondary education rising from the Law of the state education of Quebec (Turcot-Lefort, 2001). The educational psychologist must obligatorily be member about the psychologists of Quebec and be with the use of a school commission.

During the last decade, several budget cuts of the government were associated with a fall of the number of professionals who work in the schools, of which the psychologists (Turcott-Lefort, 2001). In the same school commission, one counts often much less psychologists than of schools. The psychological services granted to various educational establishments vary inter alia according to the number of pupils, of classes specialized as well as defavorisation of the medium. On average, an educational psychologist will be affected at three schools (Brault, 2005a), but this data can vary according to the school commissions. These professionals find themselves thus overloaded work and devote usually more half of their time to the evaluation of children, more particularly with the intellectual evaluation (Gained, 2005), with the detriment of other tasks quite as important.

In spite of the psychological little of services offered in the schools, the sector of education faces an alarming shortage of educational psychologists, more especially as close to 20  % of them will take their retirement from here 5  years (Gained, 2005). The work conditions attract a restricted number of psychologists and little are formed specifically for the intervention in school.

The defense of the professional interests of the educational psychologist and the recognition of this profession in the sector of education are ensured by the Québécois Association of the Educational psychologists (AQPS) founded in 1994. This one more particularly aims at bringing together the psychologists whose interests or work environment join school psychology, to support continuing education, the transmission of information and the exchanges between the members by the organization of services offered to the latter, to promote the profession and to facilitate the access to the public of them and to support the quality of the exercise of the profession on the basis of professional and scientific standard.

Evolution of the role of the educational psychologist

In Quebec

During years, the role and the functions of the educational psychologist changed. In the Sixties, the first educational psychologists made their entry in the schools of Quebec. With the Relative report/ratio and its reform, the school became obligatory for all the young people. The schools then set up special classes and the psychologists carried out massive evaluations of the intellectual abilities of the pupils using collective tools. At that time, there were few individual psychological interventions. Moreover, the psychologist did not make prevention near the pupils.

During the Seventies, one attached an particular importance to the optimal development of the child and the psychologist became a reference to the school. The tracking and the animation of programs for the children of nursery school became extensive. The psychologist then did little cognitive evaluation and little consultation for difficulties of training. Then, the Eighties brought a school reform more framing, stressing the basic training, particularly French and mathematics, and attaching more importance to the school results. The stress was laid on the management and the control of the behaviors of the pupils who disturb in class, as on the children who fail in spite of the resources placed at their disposal (assistance of a orthopédagogue, for example). Also, one tried to integrate in ordinary class the pupils having certain characteristics, like the children reached of deafness, instead of placing them in special classes. During these same years, new professionals made their entry in the schools (Brault, 2005b): speech therapists, for the young people having problems of language, and the psychoéducateurs, for those presenting of the disorders of behavior. The orthopédagogues then became of the specialists in the disorders of training. The psychologists then became of the leaders within the professional team, by supporting and directing the interventions, while remaining available for the students in difficulty. The interventions on the training the most used were based especially on theories behaviorists. However, during these years, the profession was primarily centered on the diagnosis since one asked the psychologists to identify the students in difficulty well to justify the financing coming from the Minister of education (Brault, 2005b).

Evaluation of the pupil

According to Sattler (2001), the process of evaluation comprises several stages necessary before determining the suitable intervention for a student in difficulty. The educational psychologist must use a process of evaluation which will enable him to target the forces and the limits of the pupil as well as the actions necessary to help it.

First of all, the psychologist must make sure to include/understand the reference well and to discuss the reasons of evaluation with the person who makes the request of it. He will follow a decision relating to the acceptance of the demand for considering the type of evaluation which will be necessary and the possibility of referring the pupil with another specialist (e.g.: problem of a medical nature). Before beginning the evaluation, the psychologist must ensure himself to obtain the written authorization of the parents. Then, it must make a recension of all the contained informations in the request for evaluation as those referring to the antecedents of the pupil. An interview near the teachers and of the parents makes it possible to obtain information concerning their vision of the problem, their role compared to this one and what was undertaken to regulate it. Then, the educational psychologist proceeds to the observation of the child in several contexts in order to obtain more details. Then, it selects and manages the tests necessary and suitable. Thereafter, the psychologist interprets the results of the tests, states his recommendations and decides suitable moment for a follow-up. These elements are gathered in a report/ratio written by the psychologist. S, it considers it suitable, it can organize a meeting with the parents, the pupil or the other people concerned. Finally, the last stage includes/understands the follow-up of the recommendations and a revaluation of the child. The evaluation continues, in addition, throughout the intervention and makes it possible to make there modifications according to its effectiveness and the needs for the pupil. These is a process which can seem long, but which ensures an adequate intervention near the pupil.

Tests used

See also: Test (psychology)

Tests used near the child

Tests used near the teenager

Other methods evaluation used
  • the interview
  • the observation

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