Educational psychologists: the early search for an identity

Abstract

Contemporary society’s expectations of educational psychology, and of a role for educational psychologists within these expectations, were major themes of, and subtexts to, many of the papers delivered at recent annual courses of the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP). The distinctive contribution of educational psychology and a perceived “identity crisis” of its practitioners was the subject of examination in recent issues of Educational Psychology in Practice. Within this context it may be both salutary and heartening to review the aspirations of educational psychologists, during a period from the mid‐1960s to the late‐1980s, to shed their stereotype as psychometricians, and later as gatekeepers to special education, in favour of a supportive role to pupils, teachers and parents. Articles published in this journal and its predecessors are drawn upon to illustrate the earlier search by educational psychologists for a role and a status within the local government field. Reference is also made to the author’s experience of working as an educational psychologist from the early 1950s to the end of the 1980s.

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