The origin of psychopedagogy is closely related to the learning process and the difficulties presented by people who show alterations in their development, thus making it difficult for them to learn to continue schooling in the same way as people who do not present any type of difficulty or alteration.
Psychopedagogy as a profession was born (or emerged) in the 1950s, which appeared together with the creation of the first psycho-pedagogical clinics aimed at caring for children with difficulties in their development during the school stage who required psycho-pedagogical adaptations and specialized help, in order to to improve the learning of these children.
If you want to learn more about psychopedagogy, do not hesitate to continue reading this Psychology-Online article: What is psychopedagogy: definition and functions.
Definition of psychopedagogy
What is psychopedagogy? Psychopedagogy is a discipline characterized by its presence in the education field. This discipline is a branch of psychology which is responsible for applying both psychological and pedagogical knowledge to problems specific to the educational field, with the aim of reaching a more appropriate formulation of didactic and pedagogical methods.
What does psychopedagogy study? As we have mentioned, psychopedagogy studies and works on aspects related to learning and difficulties that may be presented related to it. Taking into account that learning is a process of change and modification of a person’s behavior, in a specific time and space, gradually and due to the interaction of the learner with his or her environment. Therefore, the object of study and intervention of psychopedagogy is learning and difficulties and .
What is psychopedagogy as a profession?
What does psychopedagogy as a profession do? It is a discipline that is responsible for working on those learning difficulties shown by people with a deficit or alteration in their development, therefore, situations that can be treated both from school and from home can be detected. What type of cases does psychopedagogy treat?
On the one hand, from the school, it is the teachers who can detect any situation in which they suspect that a certain student might need the help or support of a psychopedagogy professional. For example, if a teacher tells his students that they must write an essay, in this case he could detect the difficulties that your students present in terms of writing depending on your age. Once the situation is detected, teachers must contact the student’s parents to be able to explain the situation and, together, find a solution, either by going to the school’s educational psychologist or an external professional. It is important to speak with parents or legal guardians since in this case we are dealing with minors and the school does not have the power to decide about these people.
On the other hand, from home, it is the parents, legal guardians or relatives who can detect that the person shows learning difficulties. For example, a father tells his daughter to read him a story, when he realizes that his daughter has some difficulty reading. Once the situation is detected, parents must decide what to do to find a solution that will help their daughter improve.
Functions of psychopedagogy
Psychopedagogy is a branch of psychology, just as it could be. Psychopedagogy is a discipline that has part psychology and part education, therefore, it encompasses functions of both. So far we have talked about the role of psychopedagogy in people’s learning. For this reason, it is important to highlight that we not only learn when we are children and are enrolled in an educational center, but we learn from the moment we are born until the moment we die. We never stop learning, and that is why the functions of psychopedagogy address all stages of development, that is, all ages. Below, we show a list of the functions of psychopedagogy, that is, the tasks carried out by these professionals:
- Provide attention to students with special educational needs that prevent them from learning at the same pace as their peers who do not have difficulties. This function is carried out by teaching classes in small groups or individually, adapting the materials and activities to the ability and pace of each student, maintaining the quantity and content but modifying the quality with which the concepts are explained, among others.
- Work, with those students who need it, aspects related to psychology and pedagogysuch as knowledge of the person, interaction and insertion in the social environment, transition to the world of work, development of cognitive skills, among others.
- Another function of psychopedagogy is coordinate activities of the educational center that provide specific attention of students with special educational needswhether carried out by the psychopedagogy professional himself or by the teachers.
- Coordinate with other media and bodies and work, jointly, in the organization of measures to care for the diversity of students who require it, always taking into account everything previously established by the educational center.
- Collaborate, together with the other professionals of the educational center, in the processes of evaluation and review, both of the students’ results and of the curricular projects at the state level. Curricular projects refer to the study plan that sets the objectives of education in a certain population (for example, in Catalonia it is the education department of the Generalitat that is in charge of configuring the curricular project for its area).
- Provide Psychopedagogical orientation in learning processes and in the adaptation to the different evolutionary stages, such as, for example, job orientation or orientation towards what to study, among others.
- Another function of psychopedagogy is to detect individual characteristics (on a personal and social level) that make the teaching-learning process of students difficult, with the aim of promote their adaptation within the school environmentas far as possible.
- Evaluation and assessment of difficulties and the situation of students who have special educational needs, in order to be able to write a technical report on the situation to resolve their schooling and to be able to decide if it is necessary to make a proposal for curricular adaptation.
- Another function of psychopedagogy is keep track of all those students with special educational needs and, thus, be able to detect if there are improvements in the difficulties that the student presented.
- Advise families of students with learning difficulties and providing parent training is another of the functions of psychopedagogy.
- Advice to educational centersto the teaching teams and management teams, in relation to the activities and functions related to the support that students with special educational needs must receive.
- Finally, another of the functions of psychopedagogy is the career guidance for adults and.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Bravo, L. (2009). Educational psychology, psychopedagogy and special education. IIPSI Magazine, 12(2), 217-225.
- Miret, L., Fuster, A., Peris, E., García, D., and Saldaña, P. (2002). The profile of the psychopedagogue.
- Rock, E. (2001). Function and professional profile of psychopedagogues. A perspective from Catalonia. Educational theory. Interuniversity Magazine, 12, 159-178.