The role of a school psychologist is to create conditions for the child’s productive movement along the paths that he himself has chosen (in accordance with or in opposition to) the requirements of the school and family, and to constructively resolve the inevitable conflicts that arise as a result of this choice. The activity of a psychologist is determined in many respects by social, family, pedagogical system in which the child actually is (the child’s real social environment). The activities of a school psychologist include analysis of the school environment together with teaching staff, development opportunities and requirements for the student, determination of criteria for the effectiveness of training and development; development and implementation of activities, forms and methods that are considered as conditions for successful training and development, bringing these conditions into a permanent system.
Maintenance - system professional activity psychologist to create socio-psychological conditions for the successful learning and development of a child:
Ideas for psychological support for a child at school include the following areas:
Areas of activity of a psychologist at school with children:
I. Applied diagnostics. Often, school management and teachers have the idea that a psychologist’s work with a child includes only testing, while diagnostics is an applied form of activity of a school psychologist. There are several problems associated with diagnostic work psychologist at school: what to do with test results, how to bring methods into line with specific educational problems. Diagnostic methods should also be developmental and used as developmental.
The conditions for diagnosing children at school require the cost-effectiveness of the procedure, which should be short so as not to tire the child and not take up much time from school activities, should be multifunctional, simultaneously serving as both a diagnostic tool and the development of mental functions, and provide as much information as possible about condition and development prospects of the child. The diagnostic results should make it possible to judge the causes of the child’s difficulties and create conditions for overcoming them, to predict the characteristics of the child’s development, whereas most methods only allow us to state the presence of something.
Diagnostic goals:
There are three types of applied psychodiagnostics in school settings:
The diagnostic minimum allows us to separate “problem” children (grades 1, 3-5, 8, 10-11) and conduct longitudinal studies of children’s development. The diagnostic minimum is carried out as a planned event and is mainly based on expert surveys of teachers and parents, and minimally affects children. The goals of conducting a diagnostic examination of children:
a) Identification of children with a low level of development for whom it is impossible to organize education in a standard school.
b) Identification of children in need of special psychological-pedagogical or social assistance, children with partial impairment of cognitive processes. For such children, it is necessary to conduct correctional classes (pedagogical neglect, problems of socio-pedagogical adaptation, disorders of the emotional-volitional sphere, etc.).
c) Identification of children with developmental disabilities in order to prevent possible difficulties.
An in-depth diagnostic examination includes the following areas:
II. Psychocorrection and developmental work
a) Developmental work - creating socio-psychological conditions for holistic psychological development (for psychologically “prosperous” schoolchildren).
b) Correctional work - solving specific problems of learning and behavior (for psychologically “disadvantaged” schoolchildren).
Diagnostics, carried out by a psychologist as a planned event or at the request of teachers and parents, serves as the basis for determining the direction of correctional and developmental work.
Correctional and developmental work is a holistic impact on the child’s personality (without “dividing” the child into different mental spheres), a process of influencing all aspects of the personality, based on
Developmental work is focused on the cognitive, social, personal, and emotional spheres of a child’s mental life.
Forms of developmental work: organization of a developmental environment, training, educational meetings with a psychologist, psychological technologies in classes and extracurricular meetings; educational psychodiagnostics - self-knowledge.
c) Psychocorrection work takes place as a group and individual work, is based on a set of correctional programs developed taking into account the age and problems of children.
III. Consulting and education of schoolchildren. Education is carried out as a response to a specific request, taking into account the age needs, values, level of development, and the real group situation of schoolchildren. Consulting is mainly aimed at high school students and is carried out both at the request of the student and at the request of parents, subject to the mandatory requirements of voluntariness and confidentiality. Consulting is carried out as individual work with schoolchildren and most often on the following range of issues:
Occasionally, counseling begins on the initiative of a psychologist or teacher, but it is more difficult for the psychologist to get in touch with the teenager.
Hello, dear parents! I don’t know about you, but from my school life I don’t remember a psychologist working at our school on a permanent basis. Yes, there were some lessons with the participation of a specialist in this field, but for a specially selected person to be on the school staff and sit in the office waiting for “patients” - this did not happen.
Today everything is different. The state cares for a healthy generation, including worrying about it emotional condition. Therefore, meeting a professional psychologist among teachers at school is not uncommon, but this phenomenon is still far from incomprehensible for many parents.
Why is there this specialist at school, what are the responsibilities of a school psychologist and when can you turn to him for help - that’s what we’re talking about today.
Lesson plan:
Without taking into account the specialized correctional institutions where this person simply must be, we note that the full-time position of a psychological teacher was introduced into Russian school education about a dozen years ago.
They appeared in a number of schools, and subsequently many educational institutions, either to keep up and be “in trend”, or to really make sure of positive effect their work, introduced this unit into their staffs. Moreover, some educational institutions have moved significantly forward in this regard and have acquired entire psychological services, staffed by more than one specialist.
If previously everyone in a friendly school team worked as psychologists - the school director, head teachers, teachers, and even the school cleaner Baba Klava tried to take part in our social development, then today this responsible task is entrusted to experts with professional education.
However, the Russian educational system still, in most cases, considers such a teacher as a formality, and the school administration is often only interested in formal replies in the form of documentary reports.
Only when within the walls educational institution a loud emergency occurs, everyone immediately remembers the staff psychologist and looks into their eyes: “Why didn’t you pay attention to this problem student in time?!”
A school educational psychologist is not a doctor. Unlike someone who works in clinics, he does not make diagnoses or prescribe pills. In general, the main task of a psychologist is to be able to timely find a problem in the development of an absolutely psychologically healthy child and eliminate it not with medication, but with a pedagogical method. At school, this person is the link in the chain of the “teacher-student-parent” triad.
It is very important to build relationships in primary school, when the main participants in the learning process are just becoming acquainted and getting used to each other, when adaptation to school occurs and the level of self-esteem is established. But the observational role of a specialist is no less important in high school, when the so-called “transitional age” begins, known to everyone for its emotional outbursts and difficulties in finding a “common language.”
Difficulties in learning, problems with classmates, quarrels with teachers and parents, lack of educational motivation, anxieties and fears - this is what a school psychologist faces.
Many people make the mistake of thinking that job responsibilities school teacher-psychologist are reduced only to conducting tests and diagnosing them. This is far from true. Here is a list of what is included in the job functions of a specialist.
Let's start, in fact, with this most common professional duty. Psychologists study the level of development, state of memory, thinking abilities, communication skills, emotional component and “draw” a portrait of each individual student. They do this in groups or approach each individual individually.
As a result psychological diagnostics a so-called “risk group” is formed. It will include students who could use correction of their behavior so that they “don’t screw things up” in the future.
This is the official duty of a school specialist arising from diagnostics, otherwise why collect material just to put it on a shelf in the school principal’s office and wait “for it to explode”? No, the right psychologist will give teachers recommendations on what to pay attention to and how to behave with a problem student.
He will talk with the parents and offer activities for the child that will correct his behavior and resolve existing painful problems in the emotional-volitional sphere.
This is the job functionality that is present in both diagnosis and correction. Introducing parents and teachers to the results of research, making predictions, warning about potential difficulties that may be encountered - all this is part of the daily job responsibilities of a school psychologist.
Yes, there is one too professional function, which, alas, not all full-time teachers deal with, but the best of them do not ignore this area.
Not only to help when “well, it’s begun,” but to tell parents and teachers in time about what can and should be done for the comfortable psychological development of the child at certain stages of his growing up, in order to reduce the number of requests for help when nothing works out , - this is the task of a real master of his business.
The right school will definitely consult with its in-house psychologist when it comes to choosing a program that suits a student if he is unable to cope with the course load. Teachers will also turn to a specialist if a particularly successful person intends to step over the class, and, for example, from the first to get directly behind school desk in the third.
In general, being ready to help, being nearby every day, every minute - this is what a real school teacher-psychologist can and should do.
As usual, we always remember about someone’s responsibilities, but we often forget about rights. So it is here, and completely in vain. After all, when something is done against us and our children, we often shout: “You have no right!” What does a school psychologist have the right to?
First of all, a full-time school employee has the right to observe, that is, to keep an eye on our children, how they behave in class, at recess, and while eating in the cafeteria.
Secondly, specialists conduct tests and individual surveys. This could be group drawing diagnostics and game tasks in elementary school and group questioning of students in high school.
Please note that in order to avoid conflicts with parents, teachers have made it a practice to take consent from legal representatives that they do not mind. And it is right! The teacher has the right to test, diagnose, talk and correct not in a group, but on an individual basis only at the request of the child’s parents and only with their written permission!
The information collected during the psychological examination is a secret that the teacher does not tell “over a cup of tea.” He has the right not to disclose the results to the director, or the head teacher, or anyone else, no matter how much they would like to know. No one except the child's legal representatives.
Only in general terms, for example: low self-esteem, difficulties in learning and others, can a specialist respond to the boring gaze of the school teaching staff.
Do you think there is a need for a psychologist at school or is it easier for you to “wash your dirty laundry in public” by turning to a private specialist? Or maybe you had to turn to a psychologist from your school for help? Tell us in the comments!
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Part I General issues organization and activities of the school psychological service (I.V. Dubrovina)
What advice can you give to a psychologist just starting school? First of all, take your time and look around.
The first period of work of a practical psychologist can be conditionally called a period of adaptation: the psychologist must adapt to the school, and the school to the psychologist. After all, they know each other very poorly. Conversations with the school administration, students, their parents, visiting lessons, extracurricular activities, pioneer gatherings, Komsomol meetings, meetings of teacher councils, parent meetings, studying documentation, etc. At the same time, in conversations and meetings, it is necessary to acquaint teachers, students and their parents with the tasks and methods of work of a school psychologist (in the most general form).
A psychologist at school is a new phenomenon for us, and many teachers may not immediately recognize a psychologist. What is needed is patience, benevolent calm, and a tactful attitude towards everyone. Every person has the right to doubt, and the teacher, class teacher, school director - even more so. Why should they immediately believe in a psychologist? Everything depends on him and, most importantly, on his professional training and ability to work professionally. Therefore, in our opinion, one should start with what the psychologist knows and can do best. For example, if he has extensive experience working with primary schoolchildren, then he should start with them; if he previously had to deal with the development of the intellectual sphere of children, then he should try his hand at working with lagging or capable children, etc.
But in all cases there is no need to rush, strive at all costs to show what you are capable of as soon as possible. The psychologist has come to school for a long time, forever, and the teaching staff should immediately develop the attitude that the psychologist is not a magician and cannot solve everything right away. And such psychological processes as correction and development generally take a long time. And finding out the causes of a particular psychological problem requires different amounts of time each time - from several minutes to several months.
According to the experience of school psychologists, such an adaptation period can take from three months to a year.
Adults working at school all decide one thing together common task- provide training and education for the younger generation. Moreover, each of them occupies its own specific place in the educational process and has its own specific tasks, goals and methods. For example, the specific tasks and methods of work of a history teacher differ from the tasks and methods of work of a teacher of biology, mathematics, physical education, labor, etc. In turn, the tasks and methods of work of all subject teachers change fundamentally when they act as class teachers.
So, each school teacher has his own functional responsibilities based on professional specialization. But what about a practical psychologist? Maybe those at school are right who perceive him either as an “ambulance” for the teacher, or as a “nanny” for the students, i.e. as a useful person, even interesting in some ways, but without specific, clearly defined responsibilities - it’s good to have him, but you can do without him? Of course, this is completely inconsistent with the meaning of his activities.
A practical psychologist also comes to school as a specialist - a specialist in the field of child, educational and social psychology. In his work, he relies on professional knowledge about age patterns and individual uniqueness of mental development, about the origins of mental activity and motives of human behavior, about the psychological conditions for the formation of personality in ontogenesis. A psychologist is an equal member of the school team and is responsible for that aspect of the pedagogical process that no one else can provide professionally, namely, he controls the mental development of students and contributes to this development as much as possible.
The effectiveness of a school psychologist’s work is determined primarily by the extent to which he can provide the basic psychological conditions that contribute to the development of students. The following can be mentioned as the main conditions.
1. Maximum implementation in the work of the teaching staff with students of age-related capabilities and development reserves (seisivity of one or another age period, “zone of proximal development”, etc.). A practical psychologist should contribute to ensuring that o age characteristics(at school they were already accustomed to these words), but these features (or new formations) were actively formed and served as the basis further development opportunities for schoolchildren.
Thus, at primary school age, targeted education and upbringing of the child begins. The main type of his activity is educational activity, which plays an important role in the formation and development of all mental properties and qualities. It is this age that is sensitive for the development of such psychological new formations as volition mental processes, internal plan of action, reflection on the ways of one’s behavior, the need for active mental activity or a tendency to cognitive activity, mastery of educational skills. In other words, by the end of junior school age a child must be able to learn, want to learn and believe in his abilities.
The optimal basis for successful learning is the harmonious correspondence of educational and intellectual skills and abilities with such personality parameters as self-esteem and cognitive or educational motivation. This correspondence is laid precisely at primary school age. Almost all problems (including underachievement, academic overload, etc.) that arise at subsequent stages of education are determined by the fact that the child either does not know how to study, or learning is not interesting to him, and his prospects are not visible.
There is a huge variety of activities, each of which requires certain abilities for its implementation to be sufficiently effective. high level. The formation of abilities has its own characteristics at each age stage and is closely related to the development of the child’s interests, self-assessment of his successes or failures in a particular activity. The mental development of a child is impossible without the development of his abilities. But the development of these abilities requires patience on the part of adults, attention and careful attitude towards the slightest successes of the child, and adults often lack this! And they soothe their conscience with the common formula that ability is the exception, not the rule. Having such a belief, a school psychologist cannot work; his main task is to identify and develop everyone’s abilities at the individual level of achievement.
At the same time, the psychologist should keep in mind that children have different reasons to assess abilities: they evaluate their comrades by their success in classes (objective criterion), themselves - by their emotional attitude to classes (subjective criterion). Therefore, children’s achievements should be considered in two ways - in terms of their objective and subjective significance.
Objectively significant achievements are clearly visible to others: teachers, parents, friends. For example, a student learns the material quickly, “on the fly,” immediately understands the teacher’s explanation, and operates with knowledge freely. He stands out among his classmates, his self-esteem coincides with real high success, and is constantly reinforced.
Subjectively significant achievements are those successes that are often invisible to others, but are of high value for the child himself. There are children (this is the bulk of students - the so-called “average” students) who do not have any great, noticeable achievements in a certain area of knowledge; in the class they are not only not better, but worse than many in mastering this subject, but they have feelings for it great interest, they are happy to carry out tasks on it. Subjectively, for themselves, they achieve some success in this area of knowledge, unlike others. The self-assessment of such a child’s capabilities is often supported only by his own positive attitude towards the subject. Thus, we can say that there are different conditions formation of self-esteem - under the influence and support of the teacher or contrary to the teacher’s assessment (and then the child has to overcome significant difficulties to assert himself, or he “gives up”).
At school, unfortunately, they do not approach the so-called “average” student correctly enough. Most “average” junior schoolchildren already have their favorite subjects, there are (certain areas where they achieve relatively high results. But general level The development level of many of them is not high enough due to a number of circumstances (for example, deficiencies in the development of imagination, etc.). If you don’t immediately pay attention to them, don’t support their interest and success in one area or another, then they can (as often happens) remain “average” to the end schooling, having lost faith in their abilities, interest in classes.
An approach to the problem of abilities, based on the recognition of the existence of not only objectively, but also subjectively significant abilities of the child, makes it possible to build the educational process taking into account the subjectively most successful area of knowledge or activity for each student. Usually, the main attention during learning and development is proposed to be paid to the weakest points, the areas of retardation that the child has. Meanwhile, relying specifically on the area that is subjectively successful for the child has the most progressive influence on the formation of personality, allows everyone to develop their interests and abilities, and improves lagging abilities not directly, but indirectly.
3. Creating a school that is favorable for the development of children psychological climate, which is determined primarily by productive communication, interaction between the child and adults (teachers, parents), the child and the children's team, and the immediate circle of peers.
Full-fledged communication is least of all oriented toward any type of evaluation or evaluative situations; it is characterized by non-evaluation. The highest value in communication is the other person with whom we communicate, with all his qualities, properties, moods, etc., i.e. the right to individuality.
A favorable psychological climate and relationships have their own specifics at each age.
In the lower grades The nature of the teacher’s communication shapes in children different attitude to him: positive, in which the student accepts the teacher’s personality, showing goodwill and openness in communicating with him; negative, in which the student does not accept the teacher’s personality, showing aggressiveness, rudeness or withdrawal in communication with him; conflictual, in which students have a contradiction between rejection of the teacher’s personality and a hidden but acute interest in his personality. At the same time, there is a close connection between the characteristics of communication between younger schoolchildren and teachers and the formation of their learning motives. A positive attitude and trust in the teacher create a desire to engage in educational activities and contribute to the formation of a cognitive motive for learning; a negative attitude does not help this.
A negative attitude towards a teacher among younger schoolchildren is quite rare, but a conflictual attitude is quite common (about 30% of children). In these children, the formation of cognitive motivation is delayed, since the need for confidential communication with the teacher is combined with distrust of him, and, consequently, of the activity in which he is engaged, in some cases - with fear of him. These children are most often withdrawn, vulnerable or, conversely, indifferent, unresponsive to the teacher’s instructions, and lack initiative. When communicating with the teacher, they show forced obedience, humility, and sometimes a desire to adapt. Moreover, usually children themselves do not realize the reasons for their own experiences, unsettlement, and grief; unfortunately, adults often do not realize this either. First-graders, due to insufficient life experience, tend to exaggerate and deeply experience the apparent severity on the part of the teacher. This phenomenon is often underestimated by teachers in reality. initial stage teaching children. Meanwhile, this is extremely important: in subsequent grades, negative emotions can take hold and can be transferred to educational activities in general, to relationships with teachers and friends. All this leads to serious deviations in the mental and personal development of schoolchildren.
In the relationships of adolescents, the most significant feelings are the feelings of sympathy and antipathy they experience towards peers, assessments and self-esteem of abilities. Failures in communicating with peers lead to a state of internal discomfort, which cannot be compensated for by any objectively high indicators in other areas of life. Communication is subjectively perceived by adolescents as something very important: this is evidenced by their sensitive attention to the form of communication, attempts to comprehend and analyze their relationships with peers and adults. It is in communication with peers that the formation of value orientations of adolescents begins, who are important indicator their social maturity. In communicating with peers, such needs of adolescents as the desire for self-affirmation among peers, the desire to get to know themselves and their interlocutor better, and to understand the world, defend independence in thoughts, deeds and actions, test your own courage and breadth of knowledge in defending your opinion, show in action such personal qualities such as honesty, willpower, responsiveness or severity, etc. Teenagers who, for one reason or another, do not have good communication with their peers, often lag behind in age-related personal development and, in any case, feel very uncomfortable at school.
Relationships between high school students are characterized by special attention to communication with representatives of the opposite sex, the presence or absence of informal communication with teachers and other adults. Communication with adults is a basic communicative need and a main factor in the moral development of high school students. Communication with peers, undoubtedly, plays a role in personality development here, however, a feeling of self-importance, uniqueness and self-worth can arise in a young man (and even in a teenager) only when he feels respect for himself as a person with a more developed consciousness and greater life experience. Parents and teachers, therefore, act not only as transmitters of knowledge, but also as bearers of the moral experience of humanity, which can only be transmitted in direct and even informal communication. However, parents and teachers actually fail to fulfill this role: students’ satisfaction with informal communication with adults is extremely low. This indicates an unfavorable spiritual state of society, a breakdown in the spiritual connection between the older and younger generations.
IN modern school psychological conditions that ensure full communication of students with adults and peers at all stages of school childhood are not met. Hence, some students of primary school age and many teenagers and high school students develop a negative attitude towards school, towards learning, and an inadequate attitude towards themselves and towards the people around them. Effective learning and progressive personal development are impossible in such conditions.
Therefore, creating a favorable psychological climate, in the center of which is personal, interested communication between adults and students, is one of the main tasks of a school psychologist. But he can successfully solve it only by working together with teachers, in creative communication with them, setting specific content and productive forms of such communication.
The school psychologist is located directly inside the social organism where both positive and negative sides relationships between teachers, students and their parents. He sees each child or teacher not on his own, but in a complex system of interaction (see Fig. 1).
This is a kind of “field” of interaction between a practical psychologist and students of different ages, their teachers and parents, at the center of which are the interests of the child as an emerging personality. It is clear that at all stages of work both with individual students and with the children's team, close cooperation between the psychologist and all adults related to these children is necessary.
The main activities of a school psychologist include:
At any specific situation each type of work can be the main one, depending on the problem that the school psychologist solves and on the specifics of the institution where he works. Thus, in boarding schools for children deprived of parental care, the psychologist first of all develops and implements developmental, psychocorrectional and psychoprophylactic programs that would compensate for the unfavorable experience and life circumstances of these children and contribute to the development of their personal resources.
Psychologists working in rono mainly perform the following types activities:
The experience of the regional psychological center allows us to speak of it as useful form psychological service, given that it is difficult to provide all schools with psychologists in the near future.
Despite the fact that a more effective form of organizing psychological services is the work of a practical psychologist directly at school, a psychological center or office at the regional school could provide some psychological assistance to schools in the district. For the development of school psychological services, the interaction of a psychologist at school with psychologists from district (city) psychological offices is very important.
The position of educational psychologist appeared in secondary schools about 10 years ago, but now it is already a common occurrence. Some schools have created psychological services where several psychologists work.
Let's take a closer look at the features of the activity under discussion using the example of the experience of a psychologist - Marina Mikhailovna Kravtsova, a graduate of the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University, specializing in the Department of Developmental Psychology. Her responsibilities include working with students in grades 1-5, their parents and teachers. The goal of the work is to improve the educational process. The work is structured not only in general with the aim of optimizing the educational process, but also taking into account specific difficulties that arise in the learning process, relationships in the triad “student - parent - teacher”. Individual and group lessons are conducted with schoolchildren (increasing motivation for educational activities, establishing interpersonal relationships). M. Kravtsova notes: “It is important for me that every child feels comfortable at school, that he wants to go to it and does not feel lonely and unhappy. It is important that parents and teachers see his real problems, want to help him and, most importantly, understand how to do it.”
It is necessary that the child, parents and teachers are not “isolated” from each other, so that there is no confrontation between them. They must work together on emerging problems, because only in this case is an optimal solution possible. The main task of a school psychologist is not to solve the problem for them, but to unite their efforts to solve it.
Literally in the last few years, the administration has all more schools understand the need for the participation of a psychologist in the school process. Specific tasks are emerging more and more clearly, the solutions of which are expected from the school psychologist. In this regard, the profession of a school psychologist is becoming one of the most in demand. However, a psychologist is in demand not only at school, but also in other children’s institutions (for example, in kindergartens, children’s homes, early development centers, etc.), that is, wherever the ability to work with the triad “child – parents – teacher” is necessary ( teacher)".
The functions of a school psychologist include: psychological diagnostics; correctional work; counseling parents and teachers; psychological education; participation in teachers' councils and parent meetings; participation in the recruitment of first-graders; psychological prevention.
Psychological diagnostics includes conducting frontal (group) and individual examinations of students using special techniques. Diagnostics are carried out at the preliminary request of teachers or parents, as well as at the initiative of a psychologist for research or preventive purposes.
The psychologist selects a methodology aimed at studying the abilities and characteristics of the child (group of students) that interest him. These can be techniques aimed at studying the level of development of attention, thinking, memory, emotional sphere, personality traits and relationships with others. The school psychologist also uses methods to study parent-child relationships and the nature of interaction between the teacher and the class.
The data obtained allow the psychologist to build further work: identify students in the so-called “risk group” who need remedial classes; prepare recommendations for teachers and parents on interaction with students.
Correctional classes can be individual or group. During the process, the psychologist tries to correct undesirable features of the child’s mental development. These classes can be aimed both at the development of cognitive processes (memory, attention, thinking), and at solving problems in the emotional-volitional sphere, in the sphere of communication and the problem of self-esteem of students.
The school psychologist uses existing lesson programs and also develops them independently, taking into account the specifics of each specific case. Classes include a variety of exercises: developmental, gaming, drawing and other tasks - depending on the goals and age of the students.
Consulting parents and teachers is work on a specific request. The psychologist acquaints parents or teachers with the diagnostic results, gives a certain prognosis, and warns about what difficulties the student may have in the future in learning and communication; At the same time, recommendations are jointly developed for solving emerging problems and interacting with the student.
Psychological education consists of introducing teachers and parents to the basic patterns and conditions for the favorable mental development of a child. This is carried out through consultations, speeches at pedagogical councils and parent-teacher meetings.
In addition, at pedagogical councils, the psychologist participates in making decisions about the possibility of teaching a given child according to a specific program, about transferring a student from class to class, about the possibility of a child “stepping over” through a class (for example, a very capable or prepared student can be transferred from first grade immediately to third).
One of the tasks of a psychologist is to draw up a program interviews with future first-graders, conducting that part of the interview that concerns the psychological aspects of the child’s readiness for school (the level of development of volition, the presence of motivation to learn, the level of development of thinking). The psychologist also gives recommendations to parents of future first-graders.
All of the above functions of a school psychologist make it possible to maintain at school the psychological conditions necessary for the full mental development and formation of the child’s personality, that is, they serve the goals psychological prevention.
The work of a school psychologist includes methodological part. A psychologist must constantly work with literature, including periodicals, in order to track new scientific achievements, deepen his theoretical knowledge, and become familiar with new techniques. Any diagnostic technique requires the ability to process and summarize the data obtained. The school psychologist tests new methods in practice and finds the most optimal methods of practical work. He tries to select literature on psychology for the school library in order to introduce teachers, parents and students to psychology. In his daily work, he uses such expressive means of behavior and speech as intonation, posture, gestures, facial expressions; is guided by the rules of professional ethics, the work experience of himself and his colleagues.
A big problem for a school psychologist is that often the school does not provide him with a separate office. In this regard, many difficulties arise. A psychologist should keep literature somewhere, methodological manuals, work papers, and finally, your personal belongings. He needs a room for conversations and classes. For some activities, the room must meet certain requirements (for example, be spacious for physical exercise). The psychologist has difficulties with all this. Usually he is allocated the premises that are free at the moment, temporarily. As a result, a situation may arise when a conversation with a student is conducted in one office, and the necessary literature and methods are located in another. Due to the large volume of information processed, it would be desirable for a school psychologist to have access to a computer, which the school often cannot provide him with.
It is difficult to correlate the school schedule, the distribution of a student’s extracurricular activities and psychological work with him. For example, the conversation cannot be interrupted, but at this time the student needs to go to class or go to the sports section.
The psychologist is visible most of the time, in contact with teachers, parents or students. This is a lot of stress, especially if there is no separate room where you can rest. Problems arise even with having a snack during the working day.
The interviewed school psychologist’s relationship with the team is mostly smooth. It is very important that there are no conflicts in the team; the psychologist must be unbiased, he must be ready to listen to the polar opinions of colleagues about each other.
A psychologist is constantly in a stream of numerous and often contradictory information in which he needs to navigate. At the same time, sometimes information about the problem can be excessive, and sometimes insufficient (for example, some teachers are afraid to let a psychologist into their lesson, believing that the psychologist will evaluate their work and not observe the behavior of students in the lesson).
Naturally, the workplace of a school psychologist is not only at school, but also in the library and at home.
The salary, unfortunately, is low, lower than that of most teachers. The situation is complicated by the fact that you have to buy the necessary literature and methodological support with your own money.
Of course, the school psychologist must be mentally healthy. He must be resilient and withstand great physical and psychological stress. To work as a school psychologist, you need to have certain qualities, namely: the ability to listen and empathize. When working with people, it is important to formulate your thoughts clearly and clearly, to be hardworking, sociable, responsible, tactful, contactable, erudite, and tolerant. It is important for a psychologist to have a sense of humor, have broad professional knowledge, and love children. In the process of work, such qualities as the ability to communicate with different people, understand their problems and interests, analyze, and find a compromise are developed; observation and professional knowledge develop.
The profession is attractive due to the variety of tasks that arise, its unconditional social significance (real help is provided to real people), the opportunity to constantly discover something new and improve, it is full of impressions.
At the same time, the school psychologist is constantly involved in various conflict and problem situations; his position may not coincide with the position school administration, he has to overcome the mistrust of teachers, parents, and sometimes students. You constantly have to quickly find a way out of difficult, ambiguous situations. Sometimes a psychologist is expected to do more than he can do.
The profession of a school psychologist can be obtained by studying at any department of the Faculty of Psychology, but for successful initial adaptation it is useful to specialize at the university in the field of developmental psychology and educational psychology. Improvement of qualifications is facilitated by:
Thus, the profession of a school psychologist today is necessary, in demand, interesting, but difficult.
The text was prepared by a student at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University A. Kruglov based on an interview with a psychologist working at the school - M.M. Kravtsova.
IN high school No. 57 works by honored teacher-psychologist T.N. Matveeva.
Higher education
Great social expectations are closely associated with the arrival of a psychologist at school, which he should not forget about for a minute. Having identified a psychologist, psychology came to school as an urgent need of school life.
From the tasks set, the conclusion follows that it is necessary to combine diagnostics of students’ personality development and identification of psychological and pedagogical reasons for its violation, and the adoption of preventive and precautionary measures.
So, the main areas of activity of a school psychologist are diagnostic, preventive and psychocorrectional, advisory work.
The work of a psychologist in a school is inextricably linked with educational process. But school is a huge social institution. When working with children, the psychologist consults with teachers and parents.
Let's consider the main methods of work of a psychologist in a school.
In addition to psychology lessons, the psychologist’s competence includes diagnosis and correctional work. This can be a diagnosis of cognitive processes (memory, thinking, attention) and a diagnosis of the child’s emotional sphere. At low rates diagnostic methods, corrective work is carried out with the child. This work includes elements of play and drawing methods (it all depends on the age of the child). Conducting extracurricular activities ( Classroom hour, KVN) are also within the competence of the psychologist, drawing up a psychological and pedagogical characteristics of the child, which reveals the development of all spheres and mental processes, health. The characterization also gives a complete picture of the family climate, the interests of the child, etc. School counseling plays an important role.
For a child, school is the center of social development. The first experience of interpersonal relationships, learning knowledge, and much more - all this is gained by the child at school. This is where it is necessary to develop a unified line of work for teachers, parents, and psychologists. Only with mutual decision-making, with common goals, can a school claim the title social institution knowledge.
The psychologist helps the child to assimilate all this experience through mastering behavior and building his own position, in which the child develops a conscious perception of the world. Many people mistakenly believe that a psychologist only deals with testing, and that psychology lessons are held at the level of elective classes and do not represent anything valuable for a child’s knowledge. The main position of the psychologist is the creation of conditions for life systems for children and the choice of these systems. With the well-coordinated work of the psychologist and the teaching staff, the child develops the conditions for creating a personal position (awareness of his own self, confidence, his own opinion). It is the psychologist who acts as the organizational link between children and teachers, which is necessary to address the interests and capabilities of schoolchildren.
From successful work psychologist depends on the conditions for the formation of pedagogical tasks. A psychologist can understand the reasons for poor academic performance and aggressiveness of children. This is where a close connection arises with parents who need to make contact with a psychologist. Who better to understand the behavior of children than their parents?
There are situations when a child needs the help of a more specialized specialist than a school psychologist. Then the psychologist at school can help parents make a choice and refer them to another specialist.
Psychologist Tatyana Sergeevna Gritsenko, psychologist, works at this institution highest category. She was my supervisor of educational practice.
As in any institution, a psychologist has his job responsibilities:
The teacher-psychologist reports directly to the school director and deputy director for educational work.
The purpose and tasks of the psychologist in this institution:
The main areas of activity of a psychologist are: psychodiagnostics, psychocorrection, psychoeducation, psychoprophylaxis, psychoconsulting.
Psychodiagnostics involves identifying aggression, anxiety, personal, motivational, cognitive and other characteristics of children. But the psychologist’s work does not end at this stage. He must develop recommendations for each child, documenting them in writing, and conduct corrective classes with those students who have identified deviations from the norm. These classes are conducted individually or with a group in the form of trainings, exercises or games for preschool and primary school age, aimed at eliminating the problem.
The psychologist also deals with psychoprophylaxis, which includes explaining the harm of smoking and using psychoactive substances, promoting healthy image life, crime prevention. In addition, he conducts educational work with parents and teachers, speaking at pedagogical councils and parent-teacher meetings and explaining the peculiarities of the psychology of children of a certain age on a topic proposed to him in advance. Some psychologists in schools individually advise parents and children on an issue that concerns them, helping them understand the cause of the problem during an individual conversation.
