Psychology in Schools

• Published in: Netla
• Main Authors: Grétarsson, Sigurður J., Guðmundsson, Einar
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2022
• Subjects: psychology in schools; psychology in teachers' education; professional and psychological services for schoolchildren with special needs; schooling for everyone; sálfræði í skólastarfi; sálfræði í kennaranámi; sérfræði- og sálfræðiþjónusta í skólum; skóli án aðgreiningar; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/netla/article/view/3607; https://doi.org/10.24270/serritnetla.2022.76

Psychology’s connection to education and teaching is manifested in many forms: in research cooperation, in psychological subfields and in psychological professions for education and learning. This article examines two important questions in that area: 1) What kind of psychology is most useful for teachers and in teachers’ education? And 2) How, considering the history and development of psychological services in the Icelandic school system, should these services be organized in Iceland, with special respect to the policy of „inclusive education“.We explain how modern psychology has, since its beginning, evolved to embrace an ever wider area – not by developing a grand theoretical base, not by general deepening of common research programs, and not by a homogeneous accumulation of empirical results – but rather by developing a diversification of subject areas to which empirical methods are applied. This has produced an array of methods and theoretical frameworks relevant to their respective subfields, held together by a common subject matter (explaining behavior), an unflinching loyalty to empirical testing and critical thinking as well as wide-ranging ameliorism.These properties of the field, are not always properly respected when psychology is called upon to serve in schooling and teaching – and sometimes even turned on its head – when untested (even untestable) theories of psychology are presented as common knowledge in modern psychology and employed in educational roles, from proxies for educational policy to the allocation of values and culture in schoolwork. We hold that, in accordance with the nature of psychology, its application in schools is most useful when it is evidence based, empirically driven and practiced in close collaboration with school personnel. Psychology is a research-driven activity and hence its application is most successful when that is respected in close cooperation with teachers and their needs.The history of psychological services in the Icelandic comprehensive school system (6 to 16 ...