Careers in Educational Psychology

Quick Links to Subsections on this Page
Introduction	Education
Brief History	Employment
Important Terms	Learning More
Subfields	Outlook
A Typical Day	Summary
Pros and Cons	Acknowledgments

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Introduction

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY focuses on the study of learning outcomes, student attributes, and instructional processes directly related to the classroom and the school, such as amount of instructional time or individual differences in school learning. An educational psychologist helps gather information for teachers and parents when students have academic or behavioral problems. They assist by evaluating students' thinking abilities and assessing individual strengths and weaknesses. Together, the parents, teachers, and educational psychologist formulate plans to help students learn more effectively. Educational psychologists work mostly in elementary and secondary school classrooms. They also may work in other settings such as colleges, consulting organizations, corporations, industry, the military, and religious institutions.

Other career tracks within educational psychology include being a school psychologist or a school counselor. A school psychologist works with students, teachers, parents, and administrators to resolve students' learning and behavior problems. They evaluate the effectiveness of academic programs, behavior management procedures, and other services provided in school setting. School counselors help people to accommodate to change or to make changes in their lifestyle. They use techniques such as interviewing and testing to advise people how to deal with problems of everyday living. They work in places like university counseling centers, hospitals, high schools, and individual or group practices.

A Brief History

Around 400 B.C., Aristotle and Plato considered many of the questions that still concern educational psychologists and teachers: How do students learn? What are the purposes of education? How much does home environment influence learning? Should different students be educated differently? How much can instruction influence moral, physical ,and emotional development?

The debate over the relative influences of heredity and environment still concerns educational psychologists today as it did in earlier times. Rene Descartes believed that knowledge was derived from the ideas with which people were born, rather than experience. Englishman John Locke had a dramatically different position, stating that children begin life as a tabla rasa or blank slate, and all learning results from experience.

In the late 1800's, the formal study of psychology began in the U. S. Not all educators of the day exactly welcomed the idea of psychology being linked to education and teaching. William James, who is considered a central figure in the development of educational psychology, is famous for his lecture series "Talk to Teachers About Psychology." One of his students, G. Stanley Hall, wrote books about children and started the journal Pedagogical Seminary and also developed child study courses for teachers. John Dewey, who was a student of Hall's, is known for his philosophy of education. He is considered to be the father of the progressive education movement in the United States.

E. L. Thorndike wrote the first educational psychology textbook in 1903. He was responsible for shifting the study of educational issues into the laboratory from the classroom. Thorndike developed popular methods for assessing students' skills and teaching. At the same time in France, Alfred Binet and his associate Theopile Simon were developing a test to measure general intelligence. It was brought to the U.S. and revised by Lewis Terman at Stanford University and became the Stanford-Binet test. In Binet's laboratory, in 1920, Jean Piaget did work focused on what kind of errors children made as they completed mental tasks. He came up with a model of cognitive development which stated that children go through a series of stages and develop the cognitive abilities to solve increasingly difficult problems. At the same time in the Unites States, B. F. Skinner concentrated on studying the effects of experience on overt behavior. He believed that behavior was shaped as a function of two sets of factors: stimuli that precede it and stimuli that follow it. His approach has been applied extensively to education.

Important Terms and Definitions

*Some Important Terms in Educational Psychology*
	Aptitude	A combination of characteristics, whether native or acquired, that are indicative of an individual's ability to learn or to develop proficiency in some particular area if appropriate education or training is provided.
	Cooperative Learning	Working in small groups to complete goals and produce products interdependently.Two forms of it are jigsaw and scripted cooperation.
	Educational Evaluations	Focuses only on the intellectual functioning of individuals, with limited forays into areas that may impact the educational requirements of the person.
	Curriculum	A course of study, especially the whole body of courses offered in a school or university or in one of its departments.
	IQ	A number denoting the intelligence of a person. It is obtained by dividing mental age by chronological age.

Some Interesting Subfields

If one were interested in pursuing an educational psychology career in a school setting, below would be some informative areas to look into further:

*Some Interesting Subfields Within Educational Psychology*
	Counseling	Look here if you may possibly be interested in a career as a counselor. It has links to some graduate programs and places to get more information about school counseling.
	Approaches to Learning	Discusses the behavioral, cognitive and constructivist approaches to learning. Tells what each approach has contributed to the field of education.
	Learning Styles	Tells you about seven perceptual learning styles and the characteristics a person may possess for each category. Also has some interesting links about other learning styles and how a teacher can effectively use them.
	Effective Teachers	Has interesting information pertaining to how teachers' attitudes can affect the way they teach and treat their students.

A Typical Day Practicing Educational Psychology

An educational psychologist's day can surely never get boring or repetitive. Working in a school setting, the days usually begin around 7:30 a.m. The work day consists of meetings with faculty, students, administrators, and parents. One minute they could be talking to a student, giving them advice about problems they may be having with classes. Then they could be discussing curriculum changes with faculty and administrators in order to tailor the curriculum to students' needs. Their day typically should end at the end of the school day, but if they were interrupted frequently throughout the day, they may have to stay to do paperwork or go to more meetings. Some educational psychologists may operate private practices in the evenings.

Pros and Cons of a Career in Educational Psychology

There are both potentially rewarding and frustrating aspects to work in Educational Psychology that need to be carefully considered before pursuing a career in this field:

*Some Potential Attractions of Careers in Educational Psychology*
	Usually Daytime Hours	If you like to have your evenings free for personal time or family, usually working in a school would require daytime hours.
	Make Own Hours	If you have your own practice or work independently, you can have flexibility with what hours you choose to worky.
	Summers Off	Working in a school setting usually allows for summers off..
	Helping Others	It is rewarding to see how you may help someone change and make his/her life better.
	Team Environment	Working together with teachers, parents, and students in order to make plans that can be beneficial to all parties concerned.

*Some Potential Drawbacks of Careers in Educational Psychology*
	High Stress Levels	It can be frustrating to help others who may not want to be helped. Many educational psycholgists encounter substantial conflict with teachers, parents, or administrators.
	Tight Schedules	One may have to deal with a large number of tasks and meetings that need to be attended to in any one day.
	Intense Schooling	In order to make decent money, you may need a doctorate degree, but you can still be a school psychologist at the master's level.
	Evening Hours	Having your own practice, you may have to have evening hours to accommodate patients or if you have a practice other than a day job.
	Daily Routine Interruptions	Emergencies may come up throughout a day that an educational psychologist needs to attend to immediately.

Education and Training for Careers in Educational Psychology

NEEDED SKILLS, ABILITIES, and KNOWLEDGE: Educational psychologists require skills in evaluating needs, analyzing behavior in children, counseling, research, report writing, and written and oral communication skills. They also need to have a good decision-making ability and highly developed people skills. Additionally, they need to have knowledge about child development, behavioral change, individual education programming, counseling ,and assessment techniques. Some personal qualities they should possess include patience, concern for others, and an ability to inspire confidence in clients. They should also be able to work well under pressure and keep information private. It is also important that they are observant, emotionally stable, mature, and able to deal with effectively with others.

OPTIONS AND PAY RANGES WITH A BACHELOR'S DEGREE: Bachelor's degree holders can expect very few opportunities directly related to psychology, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook (Bureau of Labor Statistics). You may find jobs as assistants in rehabilitation centers or in other jobs involving data collection and analysis. Those who meet state certification requirements may become high school psychology teachers. In an entry-level position with the federal government, starting salaries as a psychologist with a bachelor's degree was about $19,500 a year (1999 data); with superior academic records you could start ar around $24,200 a year.

OPTIONS AND PAY RANGES WITH A MASTER'S DEGREE: People with master's degrees can administer tests as psychological assistants. Under the supervision of a doctoral level psychologist, they can administer psychological evaluations, counsel patients, or perform administrative duties. They may also teach in high schools or two year colleges or work as a school psychologist or counselor. School psychologist's usually need a one year internship after receiving their master's degree. Vocational and guidance counselors usually need two years of graduate work in counseling and one year counseling experience. The median salary of a school psychologist is $60,000 a year (1999 data). In counseling psychology the median is $38,000 a year.

*Some Terminal Master's Degree Programs for Pursuing a Career in Educational Psychology*
	Graduate School of Education at University of California-LA	Includes the Department of Education and the Department of Information Studies, which together embody the school's commitment to understand and improve educational practice, information policy, and information systems in a diverse society.
	Department of Psychology at Eastern College	Eastern offers a Master's in Science in School Psychology and a Master in Arts in Educational Counseling with a choice of concentrations in Elementary Counseling and Secondary Counseling.
	Department of Educational Psychology at Rutgers University	The focus of the this program is upon expanding knowledge in education and psychology and forging a link between these areas.
	Psychology Department at Haverford College	This program spans the School of Education and the Psychology Departments at Haverford College and Bryn Mawr College.

OPTIONS AND PAY RANGES WITH A DOCTORAL DEGREE: A doctoral degree is required to be a licensed counseling psychologist and usually requires five to seven years of graduate study. Psychologist swith a Ph.D. qualify for a wide range of teaching and counseling positions in universities, elementary ,and secondary schools, private industry, and government. The median 1999 salary for a psychologist with a doctoral degree in counseling psychology is $55,000 a year and $59,000 a year in school psychology.

*Some Doctoral Degree Programs for Pursuing a Career in Educational Psychology*
	School of Education and Department of Psychology at University of Michigan	This interdisciplinary doctoral training program encourages students to combine research and practice on significant issues in education and in psychology. Graduates are trained for teaching and research careers in academic and non-academic positions.
	School of Education at New York University	NYU offers a doctoral program in several areas of applied psychology, including counseling and guidance, counseling psychology, educational psychology and school psychology.
	College of Education at the University of Maryland	This program stresses the application of psychological knowledge from a variety of theoretical orientations to address educational and mental health issues of students and schools.

Employment Resources for Educational Psychology

The Internet is the most accessible and informative way to find jobs in educational psychology. Some positions may also be listed in your local newspaper such as The Philadelphia Inquirer.

*Some Resources for Exploring Careers and Career Prospects in Educational Psychology*
	Psyc Careers	Has lots of useful information and links pertaining to graduate schools and careers in psychology.
	Academic Position Network	Allows one to do a job search using specific titles, browse the APN job postings, and apply for positions online.
	Online Psychology Career Center	Has job listings for all areas of psychology, provides career tips, and has information regarding student aid and internships.
	Chronicle of Higher Education	Gives advice for job seekers, has almost 1,000 job listings, and has news about the current job markets.

Learning More About Educational Psychology

Again, the Internet would be the most helpful and easily accessible way to learn more about the field of educational psychology. Talking to someone in the field or holding a position that you would be interested in would also be an informative way to learn more.

*Some General Resources for Learning More about Educational Psychology*
	Encyclopedia of Psychology	Has abundant nformation regarding getting a job in psychology, research careers, grad schools, doctorate programs, accreditation, and career outlooks
	Psychology Online Resource Central	Has links for just about every aspect of psychology, grad schools, career centers, research areas, and specialization areas. Good for students, professionals, and teachers.
	Psych Web	Contains resources on books in psychology, careers in psychology, psychology departments on the web, psychology journals, and tips for psychology majors.

Outlook

People with doctorates in applied areas such as school, counseling and educational psychology should have particularly good prospects compared to other specializations in psychology. Graduates of master's degree programs in school psychology should have the best job prospects, as schools are expected to increase student counseling and mental health services. Bachelor's degree holders can expect very few opportunities directly related to psychology.

Summary

The field of educational psychology can offer a wide variety of career paths. If you are someone who especially likes to work with others, specifically by giving guidance to adolescents and young adults, this could be a rewarding career. It could take some time to get to the position that you want because almost all jobs will require a master's or doctorate degree. Educational psychology will probably tend to be an expanding field, with the need for more staff at overcrowded schools and the need to deal with the extreme problems that some children faced today.

Acknowledgments

This web page was created by Colleen McLenaghan as a project for Senior Seminar in Psychology class taught by Dr. Arvid Bloom at West Chester University in Spring 2000. I am grateful for the assistance of Janette Kuhlberg and Chris Pardini.