ABSTRACT
This final extract raises an important question for these involved in the psychology of education. In the opening introduction to this chapter, claims were made that psychology contributed to teachers’ understanding of children, their development and their learning. The article which follows questions some of the previously held assertions about the psychology of education and provides an indication of the current direction of much psychological study.
As with sociological study (p. 183) the classroom is becoming an important arena for psychological investigation, where the emphasis is upon attempting to interpret research findings in their social context. As Walkerdine (1985) suggests:
Schooling and psychology have developed hand in hand: they have a joint and twin history. This means that when we look at schools we are not seeing a place where psychology is applied so much as a place where certain truths about children are continually produced.
In the past, Jacobsen argues, psychology’s main contribution was the invention of labels. The pupil is ‘gifted’, ‘retarded’ or ‘a high-or-low achiever’. These became categories for the teacher to use to explain problems in learning or development. They did not offer solutions however. Psychology, he believes dealt with individuals out of their social or historical contexts. Instead, he argues for psychology to emphasize human beings as changing subjects with capacities for doing something about their own situation. The influence of humanistic psychology and the work of Carl Rogers is of particular significance here (see the extract by Patterson on pp. 352-8).
