Abstract
A school psychologist is an individual whose educational background is in psychology and works in a school setting. The professional helps students or children at all educational levels to manage their behavioral, social, and learning challenges. School psychologists work at schools, colleges, universities, and community and mental health institutions where their main role is to relate closely with children or students to enable them to attain their best in their education and lives in general. Individuals undertaking such roles specialize in providing their psychological services mainly to school-going children to enable them to attain to better their educational, social, emotional and behavioral skills. School psychologists play numerous roles when executing their duties to ensure that they provide effective services that enhance students’ mental health within learning institutions and the community.
Introduction: Job Description
School psychologists are trained to identify, address and overcome school children’s learning and behavioral needs. Such skills and competencies make them responsible for a wide range of duties they have to play to ensure they attain their mental health professionals’ mandate. Their basic role is to ensure their full attention is on school-going children irrespective of their ages, as they also handle issues with college students (Panteri et al., 2021). The professionals ensure that they provide in-depth psychological services focused on enabling students to succeed academically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally. Besides, it is their responsibility to assist students experiencing problems at home and those suffering from mental health problems. In addition, school psychologists are mandated to assist students with disabilities in ensuring they attain emotional stability when interacting with other individuals, ensuring they do not feel unworthy or useless (Zabek et al., 2022). Such aspects are attained through the development of threat assessments which enable them to identify the possibility of students committing violent crimes, examine the seriousness of the threat, if any, and develop an intervention plan for any threat identified in the educational setting.
Roles and Functions
School psychologists play diverse roles that are critical in learning institutions. Among the main roles that they execute in such institutions is designing and implementing interventions for a wide spectrum of the challenges that school-going children experience. Such challenges range from performance anxiety, anger issues, and learning problems which make it challenging for the children in learning facilities (Zabek et al., 2022). In addition, school psychologists play a critical role in promoting the personal and social strengths of the students in the institutions they work to enable them to attain a healthier mindset and well-being. This aspect is effectively attained since school psychologists are trained to link mental health to behavior and learning. The professionals collaborate with other educational staff, parents, and other professional staff to develop and implement programs that deal with common educational issues like school dropouts or bullying among students (Panteri et al., 2021). Such policies normally aim at creating a conducive environment that is safe and healthy to strengthen the connection between the educational institution, community, and home for all students.
School psychologists have varied roles to play in the educational institutions they work in. The professionals’ major roles and functions include psychoeducational assessment, consultations, research and evaluation, interventions, administration services, and in-service education. As psychoeducational assessors, school psychologists ensure that they administer psychological and educational tests, interviews, and observations to obtain relevant information about their learning and adjustment problems (Panteri et al., 2021). Such assessments entail cognitive ability tests, educational achievement, student adaptive behaviors, psychomotor skills, personal-social adjustment, and social skills. After such tests and interviews with parents and teachers, the professionals write reports on the information obtained. In addition, school psychologists provide consultation services where they are directly involved in executing services that enable students to alter their behaviors and attitudes (Zabek et al., 2022). They work with parents and teachers to effect changes in student behavior, school policies, and curriculum. Such services are linked to the interventional role of school psychologists, where the professionals spend considerable time providing remediation and therapy to the students. Such services are conducted individually or in groups with the main intention of alleviating behavioral and academic problems.
Apart from the direct roles that school psychologists execute in educational institutions, they undertake research and evaluation of various factors that influence educational processes. Through such roles, school psychologists can design studies that provide information that can be used to assess the effectiveness of referral methods, therapeutic outcomes, assessment practices, and educational programs (Zabek et al., 2022). In addition, individuals holding such positions are actively involved in the provision of in-service education. Such educational programs are provided to educate parents and district educational personnel to instill effective parenting skills, reduce systemic barriers in child education, and improve teaching practices (Panteri et al., 2021). School psychologists are also responsible for the development of programs that enhance special education by determining the eligibility of special education series and taking part in the planning and development of an appropriate program for students with disabilities. Lastly, school psychologists undertake administrative roles, including bookkeeping, accounting, and other administrative tasks.
Conclusion
In conclusion, school psychologists play a critical role in the enhancement of educational programs delivered to students. Their main role is to promote students’ physical and mental well-being by ensuring that they experience a conducive learning environment at school and home. Psychologists attain such objectives through their close interaction with district personnel, teachers, students, and parents, who collectively have a significant role to play in the success of the students. In addition, the professionals provide consultation and therapeutic services to enable the students, parents, and teachers to attain physical and emotional well-being, which is critical in the learning environment. Through research and psychosocial assessments, the professionals can provide solutions to various barriers that students experience at home and within the educational facilities, enabling them to propose effective educational programs and policies.
References
Panteri, M., Calmaestra, J., & Marín-Díaz, V. (2021). Roles of the school psychologist–current versus preferred roles in the Greek schools: A case study from the island of Crete. Education Sciences, 11(8), 439. Web.
Zabek, F., Lyons, M. D., Alwani, N., Taylor, J. V., Brown-Meredith, E., Cruz, M. A., & Southall, V. H. (2022). Roles and functions of school mental health professionals within comprehensive school mental health systems. School Mental Health, 1-18. Web.