Inclusion and budget cuts – The contours of educational psychology in the marketplace

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to investigate the economic contours of present day educational psychology in the light of movements towards consultative and inclusive practices. At a time of economic crisis, public budget cuts and changing educational policies are creating new conditions for educational psychology practice. This paper deals with the extent to which economic considerations implicitly and explicitly regulate the practice of educational psychologists. Within the work of educational psychologists, school-based consultation has become increasingly popular and widespread. Over the past 10-15 years, consultation has been put forward as an alternative approach to traditional work based on IQ assessments and special educational evaluations. Concurrent with the implementation of the consultative approach in educational psychology practice, inclusion of children with special needs has become a predominant feature in educational policy and practice. Based on a small-scale empirical project in a Danish educational psychology service centre, this paper analyses the implications of recent budget cuts in educational funding for (1) the implementation of the consultative approach and (2) for the role of educational psychologists in facilitating inclusive learning environments in schools. It is argued that inclusion is a complex notion, but that the budget cuts could paradoxically foster a rethinking of established inclusion practices. The paper concludes with a discussion of whether educational psychology can still legitimize itself as a relevant profession in relation to the facilitation of inclusive learning environments in schools.

COVID-19 and Educational Consequences for (Vulnerable) Children from the Perspectives of Educational Psychologists

“…But decreasing class sizes also comes with a substantial price tag, and research evidence also points to high-quality teaching as more important than class size. Local authorities are often facing strict budget constraints, and EPs are used to facing budgetary pressures (Szulevicz & Tanggaard, 2014 ). Interestingly, the reopening gave new perspectives on different economic priorities, as expressed by an EP: It really became clear to me how much context matters.…”

En ikke-affirmativ pædagogisk psykologi

“…For det andet er citatet interessant, fordi netop den paedagogiske psykologi bliver beskrevet som en slags 'paedagogikkens redning' i skolesystemets konstante jagt på høje placeringer på nationale tests. I et historisk perspektiv er netop en sådan forståelse af den paedagogiske psykologi iøjnefaldende eftersom dele af den paedagogiske psykologi på mange måder, mere eller mindre bevidst, kan siges at have understøttet overordnede uddannelsespolitiske interesser (Szulevicz & Tanggaard, 2014, Vassallo, 2017, Szulevicz, 2018, Nielsen & Tanggaard, 2018. Hvis der uddannelsespolitisk har vaeret et ønske om højere placeringer på nationale tests, har den paedagogiske psykologi, groft sagt, arbejdet på at understøtte dette politiske ønske snarere end at forholde sig kritisk-re eksivt til det.…”

Educational Psychology Practice

“…It is a scientifi c arena overwhelmed by different social demands in our globalized society. It has been asked to provide ready-made solutions to many different problems: from the inclusive education to the disruptive behaviour and lack of school discipline, from the increased competition between national educational systems to the reduced student learning outcome in the progressively outcome-based school system (Szulevicz and Tanggaard 2014), from the socially disadvantaged children to the new highly complex tasks in the modern workplaces, from the standardized testing to the need of cultivating creativity (Tanggaard 2014). Very often, these social demands are formulated in terms of individual problems: something is wrong/strange/weird with the student's traits, characteristics and abilities.…”