A Coherent Framework for the Application of Psychology in Schools

Abstract

A coherent and integrated theoretical model for the application of psychology in schools will serve two major purposes. Firstly, it will allow practitioner educational psychologists (EPs) to represent the extent of the work they carry out with schools to research-based psychologist colleagues. This in turn could reveal the rich research agenda that awaits creative combinations of practitioner experience and academic research skills. Secondly, a coherent framework will allow all those seeking to apply or draw on psychology when working in schools to explicate that psychology in order to promote a productive dialogue with professional colleagues, be they teachers, researchers or other psychologists. The framework proposed in this article draws mainly on practitioner-directed research within educational and organisational psychology, supplemented by related university-based research. In particular, the model highlights the need for those who seek to apply psychology in schools, to appreciate the relationships between both the formal and informal aspects of school staff, pupil, and family subsystems, and the ways in which different interventions impact upon different areas of this psycho-social framework.

Parents' and pupils' causal attributions for difficult classroom behaviour

“…The single factor explanation of the data obtained in this study is supportive of a systemic and interactionist account of difficult pupil behaviour in school (e.g., Molnar & Lindquist, 1989;Cooper & Upton, 1990;Miller & Leyden, 1999) in which organisational processes in schools, pupil background factors, and teacher-pupil interactions may exert myriad influences upon each other. The unitary structure of this factor suggests that parents may have an intuitive grasp that the behaviour of pupils in schools is the product of complex interactions such as these.…”

Further iterations on using the Problem-analysis Framework

“…Phase six emphasises that the evaluation of the success of the intervention actions is integral to the logic of the framework itself, rather than being an optional add-on (Miller & Leyden, 1999).…”

Norm-referenced, Criterion-referenced, and Dynamic Assessment: What exactly is the point?

“…This latter nding should be particularly encouraging to those EPs who have long argued the contribution of environmental factors to educational dif culties, and hence the need to include these centrally within assessment procedures that aspire to provide a full and coherent explanation for any particular pupil's dif culties. Whether deriving from scrutiny of curriculum and instructional methods (Solity, 1995), from a broad analysis of learning environments (Frederickson & Monsen, 1999), or from examining pupil-teacher interactions as a manifestation of objective and subjective organisational processes within schools (Miller & Leyden, 1999), this nding suggests that one major audience for EP reports recognises the importance of an assessment paradigm that locates its focus beyond individual pupils in dif culty.…”