Psychopedagogy
Encyclopedia
Psychopedagogy is a combination of two main branches of study, Pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....

 and Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

.

Some of the most influential authors in this field are Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget was a French-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology"....

, Ausubel
Ausubel
Ausubel is a surname and may refer to:* David Ausubel, an American psychologist born who studied at New York University and was a follower of Jean Piaget...

, Jerome Bruner
Jerome Bruner
Jerome Seymour Bruner is an American psychologist who has contributed to cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational psychology, as well as to history and to the general philosophy of education. Bruner is currently a senior research fellow at the New York University School...

 and Lev Vygotsky
Lev Vygotsky
Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was a Soviet psychologist, the founder of cultural-historical psychology, and the leader of the Vygotsky Circle.-Biography:...

. Important contributions have also been made by Mary Warnock in the field of special education
Special education
Special education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...

 and authors such as John D. Krumboltz (DECIDES program) in the academic and professional orientation. In Spain we can highlight the works of Rafael Bisquerra, Manuel Álvarez y Jesús Alonso Tapia amongst various others.

The Psychopedagogy Degree provides students with the tools needed to take part in the
different stages and all the areas of the teaching/learning process.
These professionals can act on the people who take part in this teaching/learning
process (children, teenagers, elderly people, families…) directly, or indirectly by
designing the support material needed to make this process easier.
This degree’s main objective is to enable students to elaborate and develop counselling
activities and programmes to help the education community to both improve and renew
educational processes and create the right conditions to carry them out.
To achieve this, the Psychopedagogy Degree aims at developing academic, personal and
labour skills to make educational psychologists’ tasks easier. These skills enable
professionals to know, inform and take part in the educational process and to solve
conflicts which may arise during its development.

The discourse of quality in education

The reorientation of the official discourses about education has been prominent
recently. This reorientation practically affects all dimensions of the teaching system:
from the debate on State responsibility for educational provision to the definition of
teacher’s work. In addition, what is considered an adequate curriculum or the attention
to diversity in the classroom should also be taken into account (Bonal 1998: 188).
The greater emphasis on the quality of educational systems has entailed
a redefinition of the equality principle. Moreover, flexibility has also become an updated
topic.
The theory of human capital reflected the public (social) and private (individual)
confidence in the educational system in the Sixties as a factor of development and
progress. This theory insisted mainly on the “quantity” of education: the better
prepared the workers were, the higher work productivity and economic growth
would be. However, the over-education and the unemployment of graduates implied
the partial invalidation of the theory and a smaller increase of the public expenditure
on education (Bonal 1998: 172). Nevertheless, the recent resurgence of education
as a fundamental factor for economic growth and international competitiveness has
appeared. The recovery of the economic importance of education can be observed
in all educational reforms in all countries and in the reports of international agencies
(Bonal 1998: 172).
The main factor of change marked as responsible for this orientation is the
technological, economic, social and cultural change that is taking place and that
has originated the so called “society of information”. The technological revolution
in information, due to its capacity for penetration into all fields of human activity, is
a starting point in the analysis of the complexity of the new training economy, society
and culture. However, this does not imply a new technological determinism (Castells
1999 vol. 1: 31). On the one hand, the technological revolution in information has
allowed a fundamental process in the reorganization of capitalism starting in the
Eighties. This has caused, among other things, new forms of work reorganization. On
the other hand, the transformations of the Information Society do not only affect the
economic and labour fields but also social and cultural relations and likewise power
relations among social groups. Probably one of the most debated phenomena of the
GRADUATES, LABOUR MARKET AND TEACHING QUALITY 17
new society is Globalization. Globalization affects all spheres and also all groups and
individuals, but not equally because it generates new forms of social exclusion. What
has really produced the new technological change is the rebirth of a political discourse
of human capital revalorisation, the debate over the impact of new technologies on
the quantity and quality of the employment generated or destroyed by them. What is
doubtless, though, is the impact that the new post-Ford regulatory forms have now and
will have in the future on educational systems. These are modifications that affect the
four message systems of educational knowledge: curriculum, pedagogy, evaluation,
and management and organization (Bonal 1998: 174–176).
Educational reforms in contemporary societies can be placed in this context and
likewise their discourse focused on quality and flexibility (Bonal 1998: 177).

Area of Work

The areas in which a Psychopedagogy graduate can work are the following:
  • Public and private services or institutions of attention to children, young people and

their families.
  • Private companies:

- Training expert.
- Human resources or personnel manager.
- Marketing expert.
  • Educational services or publishing companies (distance-learning material, guidance,

self-learning material,Counseling,Teaching, etc.).
  • Mass media: radio, TV, press.
  • Research.
  • Freelance work.
  • Early stimulation.

As regards labour insertion, there are three things to consider:
a) At present, the educational, psychopedagogical and professional guidance specialised
services (SEOEPP) IN THE Valencian Community are the secondary school guidance
departments, the school psychopedagogical services (SPE) and teams of experts.
b) They can also work in non-formal educational contexts.
c) Universities offer students and teachers assessment, counselling and continuous
education services.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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