How to Become an Educational Psychologist
An educational psychologist's role is a broad and multi-faceted one. These professionals utilise an in-depth understanding of learning behaviours to carry out a range of duties, including reviewing teaching materials, analysing student progress, and assessing for learning disabilities, to name just a few.
As a career, it's highly gratifying, and those who pursue it can expect a wealth of vocational benefits and a healthy level of stimulating challenge. In this article, we will examine what an educational psychologist is and how to become one.
What is an Educational Psychologist?
Educational psychologists study how children and young people develop from a learning and behavioural perspective. In doing so, they can better help shape curriculums, inform teaching methods, and support students with special needs and learning difficulties.
In other words, their responsibilities can be as broad as they are deep. Educational psychologists typically work with local authorities (the majority), schools, healthcare professionals, families, and policymakers, again indicating the breadth of their role.
What Does an Educational Psychologist Do?
Below, we've detailed a comprehensive list of duties that educational psychologists might be expected to carry out.
Research
Some educational psychologists, or EPs, have a hand in shaping how teaching is delivered through the research studies they carry out on different learning methods.
Assessments
EPs assess individuals' learning needs and behavioural development and decide whether someone needs added educational support. EPs can outline a recommended pathway for further care and support from these assessments (and from reviewing an individual's files).
Training
Educational psychologists not only identify special educational needs and learning disabilities within young people, but they also help other educators spot the signs, too.
An EP only has so much time, so helping others know the basics of what to look for can improve a child's chances of getting the support they need, even if an EP does not directly see them. Their behaviour might be noticed by a now better-informed teacher in the classroom, for instance.
Learning
By this, we mean the educational materials themselves. EPs review current teaching materials and assess whether they're fit for purpose as relating to the most up-to-date educational practices.
Intervention
EPs can stage interventions to support a child's educational development in crises or before they reach such a point.
This might look like a therapeutic approach (in either individual or group settings) that tries to build coping strategies, anxiety management and social skills training.
Alternatively, intervention strategies might present as building capacity within schools and families to better support a child's (or group of children's) needs.
Traits Needed to Become an Educational Psychologist
To become an EP, you must have several critical skills and traits, including (but not limited to):
Communication Skills
Effective communication skills are undoubtedly one of the most essential traits in becoming a successful educational psychologist. Individuals must be equally at home delivering services to both the young people they serve and the caregivers and authorities under whom the responsibility of these children falls.
Often, advanced and complex methodologies and academic jargon must be broken down into digestible, easy-to-understand terms to ensure their effectiveness when working with young people. EPs typically work with people up to 25 so they must be able to communicate effectively with toddlers and young adults alike, which is a challenging skill!
Problem-Solving Skills
It's common for EPs to be met with unexpected challenges and highly time-sensitive situations. Hence, the ability to adapt and overcome such situations without being derailed or put off stride is pivotal.
Empathy and Understanding
To be an educational psychologist is to put yourself into another person's shoes and understand their issues and difficulties. Understanding learning disabilities, special needs and behavioural issues requires a highly attuned emotional compass and a naturally empathic mind. The better an EP understands the individual(s) they're dealing with, the more trust they can build and, therefore, the better the service they can deliver.
Emotional Resilience
Like many other healthcare and social care professionals, cultivating unshakeable emotional resilience is crucial to avoid compassion fatigue and burnout. We recently wrote a piece on how social workers can develop resilience, emotionally speaking, and the same principles can be applied to educational psychologists. Check it out here.
Analytical Thinking
EPs need to assess data and make inferences from what they find. The information they look at, in turn, informs the kinds of psychological assessments, interventions and plans they'll devise.
How Do You Become an Educational Psychologist?
So, how do you actually become an EP? That's the big question.
Secondary Education
The first step is to study for an undergraduate degree in psychology. Scratch that; the very first step is to study the sciences (and, if possible, psychology in particular) at A-level.
Alternatively, there are specific BTEC qualifications you can study that will also be accepted by universities, depending on the university in question.
Higher Education
Once you've achieved your A-levels or BTEC qualifications, you can apply to a university course in psychology through UCAS. Try to study for a degree accredited by an approved body like the British Psychological Society (BPS), as this is a quality benchmark.
What's more, many (if not most) doctoral positions will require candidates to hold a graduate membership with the BPS (or at least be eligible for one).
These memberships require that you've studied through a BPS-accredited programme, so it makes sense to choose one of these straight off the bat rather than having to do a conversion course once you've graduated (which usually requires at least another year of training).
Study for a Doctorate
You can only become an educational psychologist if you complete doctoral training. Studying for a doctorate typically takes several years and involves both classroom learning and practical work. In terms of assessment, there will usually be several extensive research reports or case studies, written examinations and a final thesis.
To apply for doctoral educational psychologist training, candidates must have, as mentioned before, eligibility for the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) of the British Psychological Society (BPS).
Moreover, they must have at least one year of experience working in a full-time educational, community or social services setting, working with people aged 0-25, as well as a psychology degree, psychology-based master's degree or a conversion course.
There are currently 13 universities in the UK that offer educational psychology courses, and the training is funded by a combination of the Department for Education (DfE) and the employer/placement provider.
What Then?
Once individuals have completed their doctoral training, they will be qualified educational psychologists. However, they're still not able to practise publicly yet.
That's because, like certain other specialist psychologist roles (clinical psychologist, for instance), they must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
This body helps regulate healthcare professionals and supplies a quality benchmark to help make sure a practitioner's service standards are up to scratch.
You can learn more about how to get on the HCPC register here. Once registered, an EP can practice as they please, publicly or privately.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How Much Do Educational Psychologists Earn?
Average EP salaries range from £40,000 to £60,000 depending on, amongst other things, experience and location.
Can Educational Psychologists Prescribe Medication?
No, because educational psychologists aren't medical professionals they cannot prescribe medications.
Are EPs Able to Diagnose?
Educational psychologists can help identify learning difficulties like dyslexia or dyspraxia. However, they can't make formal clinical diagnoses because they're not medical professionals. This means they can't diagnose conditions such as ADHD or autism.
Browse Our EP Jobs, Now!
So, there you have it. To become an educational psychologist, you first must study at the secondary education level before achieving an undergraduate degree in psychology (or a related master's degree or conversion course) before going on to complete specialist doctoral training in educational psychology. Finally, you must register with the HCPC.
Find out more about our range of educational psychologist roles, today!
