What Are The Duties Of The School Psychologist?

When we talk about the term psychologist with someone, it is common for them to think of the stereotype of the clinical psychologist. Psychology, however, is a much broader discipline: Psychology is the science that studies human behavior and its mental processes. In psychology, we can find many professionals, such as the school psychologist. It is on this last-head that we will focus our attention in this article.

We are talking to you here about a professional very little known but who fulfills essential functions to promote better quality education. In addition, we can currently find various obstacles or weights that significantly hinder their professional activity.

Who is the school psychologist?

The school psychologist is the psychology professional whose mission is the study and intervention relating to human behavior in the context of education. Its ultimate goal is the development of the capacities of individuals, groups and institutions. In addition, the definition refers to the term education in the broadest sense of training, that is, that allowing personal and collective development.

The field of study and action of the school psychologist is linked to the cognitive processes associated with or resulting from learning. He reflects on and develops his work at all levels of psychology, be it social, personal, biological, health, etc.

It is normal to confuse the school psychologist with other professionals: we are talking about pedagogues, counselors or clinical psychologists for children.  Indeed, the teacher is responsible for the study of education and educational models. The function of guidance counselors is to guide people throughout their academic and professional life. Finally, clinical child psychologists tend to treat mental disorders that appear in childhood. Although these are very different professions, it takes everyone’s work together to get a quality education.

As in any science, in educational psychology we can find two main aspects: academic and applied. From an academic point of view, we find the psychologists responsible for research, that is, for deepening and extending the theory and procedures of educational psychology. On the other hand, from the point of applied psychology, we find psychologists who use knowledge from university research to improve the quality of education.

The functions of the school psychologist

The functions of the school psychologist will be explained below:

• Intervention in response to the educational needs of the pupils: they must take charge of the study and anticipation of the educational needs of the pupils. Thanks to this, they can act on said needs in order to improve the educational experience of the pupils.
• Functions related to guidance, professional advice and  vocation:  the general objective of these processes is to collaborate in the development of the skills of people by clarifying their personal, professional and orientalist projects so that they can direct their own training and decision making.
• The preventive functions: they must intervene in the application of the necessary measures to avoid possible problems in the educational experience. It is important to act on all educational agents (parents, teachers, children, counselors, etc.)

• Intervention in the improvement of the educational act: it is very important to pay attention to the instruction given by the educators. Studying and applying the best educational techniques is necessary for the student’s learning and development to be optimal.
• Family training and counseling:  an important part of education is provided by the family. By studying the family and giving counseling afterwards, we obtain effective models of family education. And at the same time we increase the quality of life of all the members of the family.
• Socio-educational intervention:  school and family life are not the only ones to educate human beings, everything that makes up their environment participates in it. It is the responsibility of the school psychologist to take charge of the study of the influence of the current social system on education. And therefore, to try to intervene in the aspects likely to be improved.

• Research and teaching:  for all other functions to be fulfilled, it is necessary to carry out in-depth research showing the directions to be taken. And all research would be useless without teaching that broadens knowledge among other professionals and students.

The current situation of the school psychologist

Currently, the school psychologist faces a variety of issues. The most relevant are: (a) ignorance on the part of the population, (b) weak support from public administrations, (c) professional confusion and (d) a hostile education system.

Most of the population is unaware of the existence of this profession. This leads to educational psychology having non-existent visibility, thereby making it difficult to disseminate their knowledge and to the arrival of funding to support research in this field. It is necessary to disclose the existence of this profession and the work it carries out in order to increase the visibility of this discipline which is highly important for the quality of education of individuals.

The public administrations do not even recognize the school psychologist within the framework of their professional activities. Those who have decided to train in this discipline are recognized by the State as counselors or educational psychologists. Moreover, this lack of support occurs not only at the statutory level, but also at the level of the resources brought to the discipline to encourage its development, which are extremely limited.

Due to the poor organization of the State, there is professional confusion between the functions performed by different professionals. In the same workstation, the same person usually performs the functions of teacher, school psychologist and counselor. Instead of one person doing everyone’s job, there should be a well-coordinated team of professionals working on student education.

Indeed, the current education system is full of errors that hinder the practice of school psychologists. Today we are faced with an educational system whose objective seems different from that which was originally his.

In addition, the decisions correspond to a political power ignoring the recommendations of scientific research. Applying good initiatives in a system that is not functioning properly will not solve the problem. A structural change in education is needed to make it worthy of the term “education”.

To conclude, it is necessary to point out that education is a very important field because of its influence on the training of future generations. Therefore, we need to  know the professionals who work there and the difficult role they play.

Our thoughts

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