Psychology In Practice: Education (Psychology In Practice Series)

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Researchers in educational psychology have made important contributions to contemporary education and culture, from learning paradigms (behaviorism, cognitivism, constructionism) and the theory of multiple intelligences, to proactive school-wide positive behavioral supports. Here we aim to describe and explain the EP role in plain english, and we hope this resource is useful to young people, parents and carers, schools and educational psychology services. However, one of the most robust developments in the later behaviorist tradition is that of positive behavioral intervention and supports (PBIS), in which proactive techniques play a prominent role in enhancing learning within schools.

This theory states that besides the traditionally measured verbal and visual–spatial forms of intelligence, there are also forms that include kinesthetic or athletic intelligence, interpersonal or social–emotional intelligence, musical or artistic intelligence, and perhaps other forms we have not yet learned to measure.

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For example, Takeuchi, Mori, Suzukamo, and Izumi (2019) studied brain activity in teachers and students while teachers provided hints for solving a visual–spatial problem (assembling puzzles). Often it can be useful to observe a child at school. This can help an EP understand what life might be like for the young person they’re working with. An observation can give an EP the chance to think about what a child or young person might be struggling with, but also what’s already working well in a particular situation. A key focus of these observations is exploring environmental influences on a child’s learning, wellbeing and development. Worrell, T. G., Skaggs, G. E., & Brown, M. B. (2006). School psychologists’ job satisfaction: A 22-year perspective in the USA. School Psychology International, 27(2), 131–145.

A large part of our job is about working with children who experience special educational needs, but this doesn’t represent the range and variety of work that we do.Such proactive behavioral supports include maximizing structure in classrooms, teaching clear behavioral expectations in advance, regularly using prompts with students, and actively supervising students (Simonsen & Myers, 2015).