Educational psychology

[icebreakers]

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can someone please tell me more about educational psychology? what is the field consist of? what kind of work? what kind of job scope? income potential?

what kind of experience do you need and where are the good programs?/ thanks so much?

 

[PhDshallsee]

Do you mean school psychology or educational psychology?

I believe CA is the only state the licenses educational psychologists.

Most people with PhD's or master's in Ed Psych either work as consults for school systems, teach at the college or community college level, or most do research in the private sector.

If you look at different research companies or areas--I know ICF is one, the research triangle is another, child trends is yet another--the job potential is there. There are tons of research companies looking for people trained in educational psychology.

As far as job earnings I'm not sure though.

 

[Teacher07]

MA and RI also license school psychologists. I'm also not sure about the difference between educational and school psychology

 

[PhDshallsee]

A school psychologist will typically be trained heavier in educational testings and less in educational theory and an educational psychologist (since in most states they cannot be licensed to work in the schools) will train just the opposite; they focus more on educational theory than educational testing. A school psychologist also deals with more applied research than an educational psychologist would.

I looked into educational psychology for a while, but one of my research interests is actually testing bias, so I decided to stick with school psychology programs. Plus, I live in a state where a school psychologist with a PhD is a licensed psychologist, which was a nice touch if I ever want to work in a children's hospital.

 

[Pia Getty]

Broadly speaking, there are two sides of educational psychology. One side is the practitioner side of the discipline, referred to as school psychology. APA accredited Ph.D. School Psychology programs simultaneously prepare students as board licensed Psychologists and for certification as national and state certified School Psychologists (this is uniform for all 50 states). Just as other applied psychology subfields (clinical, counseling, industrial/organizational), students complete four years of course work, complete one year predoc., then complete two years of post doc. before licensure. Many students complete APA internships in a variety of child settings. In addition to practicing in school settings, many eventually choose to practice psychology independently, work in hospitals, mental health clinics, as well as further specialize in other areas or pursuit academic positions. There are also master's and specialist level school psychologists who are only eligible for certification as national and state certified School Psychologists and are not eligible for board licensure as a Psychologist.

The other side of educational psychology is that of a researcher-theorist. This side of educational psychology is comparable to other non-practitioner areas of psychology such as developmental, cognitive, social etc. Here's a blurb from Wikipedia to clarify: "Although the terms "educational psychology" and "school psychology" are often used interchangeably, researchers and theorists are likely to be identified as educational psychologists, whereas practitioners in schools or school-related settings are identified as school psychologists".

 

[happynonsense]

Do I need a doctoral degree to work in educational psychology?

What is it the competition like and are these jobs stable?