Psychopedagogy: Definition, Importance, Functions, and Examples
We explain what psychopedagogy is and what its exponents were. The profile of the psychopedagogue and the scopes of the psychopedagogy. Study and career of psychopedagogy with the answers to your common questions.
What is Psychopedagogy?
Psychopedagogy is a discipline that aims to analyze human behaviors related to education, learning, and vocational orientations.
Hence, psychology is the study of scientific methods used in education and learning in general. In addition to the behavior of teachers and students, educational psychologists study specific populations, such as immigrants and children with learning difficulties.
The field of psychology strongly uses the achievements of the developmental psychology of children and adolescents, social psychology, cognitive psychology, and teaching.
The main objective of psychopedagogy is to create different tools or processes to increase the education of people. Teacher training and a psychological analysis of each situation are some of the possible ways to address this issue.
Psychopedagogy, according to the Royal Spanish Academy, is a branch of psychology that analyzes psychological phenomena in order to formulate teaching and pedagogical methods more adequately. It is the result of the cross between psychology and education.
Psychopedagogy is the discipline that is responsible for addressing the behavior of people, as well as treating psychic phenomena. The main objective of psychopedagogy is to improve the educational system by providing adjustments in the didactic and pedagogical methods that intervene in the development of education.
That is why psychopedagogy focuses on students and their environment since the environment is essential for the success of the process. The main mission of this specialty is the satisfactory development of the person in the educational field.
It was in the middle of the 20th century when psychopedagogy developed as a scientific discipline, with an interdisciplinary approach combining knowledge of education and mental health. Through its methods, the cognitive and social potential of the person is studied to improve the development of their activities.
Psychopedagogy is closely linked with other disciplines of psychology and, in addition, it is a field of important influence on topics such as special education, educational policy, educational therapies, and curriculum design, among others.
This discipline achieves notable advances in all ages. His work goes beyond tackling learning problems, it also allows the development of methods and tools that help people enhance their skills.
The professional specialized in psychopedagogy is known as a psychopedagogue and has in his hands the complex task of instructing and encouraging students in the learning process, as well as identifying problems and diagnosing them, in order to develop a personalized study plan to overcome and achieve satisfactorily educational objectives.
Empower and rehabilitate children, youth, or adults, with learning disabilities, through the delivery of knowledge in a striking way to motivate their learning and teach them specialized study methods that facilitate their understanding.
Identify learning disabilities by various factors, such as; the product of cognitive immaturity, lack of motivation to learn, and family and/or social problems (internal/external factors).
Try to prevent learning difficulties from the development of cognitive, emotional, and social skills.
Finding, when diagnosing the problem, an indicated treatment, if necessary you can also refer to other professionals; such as psychologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists, depending on the situation and severity.
Consider your critical position of yourself.
Evaluate and intervene psychopedagogically.
Identify the child’s learning possibilities.
Orient teachers and families.
Provide teachers with resources and skills that allow them to respond to the requirements of students with learning disabilities.
Promote the bond between the institution and the family.
Problems psychology practice
An important point when carrying out a psycho-pedagogical intervention is the difficulties that sometimes arise when working with teachers, in particular, to establish a collaborative relationship. It has been observed that there are difficulties in establishing professional relationships through the resources available to both parties. In addition, difficulties have been observed in the technical use to tackle or define the problem that occurs in the student. Finally, the lack of a general consensus among educational institutions to treat the various learning problems of students also makes it difficult to treat the problem and/or the solution to improve student learning.
Main Exponents of Psychopedagogy
Jean Piaget concluded that the knowledge process is not linear.
Among its main exponents are Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and Jerome Brumer. Let’s look at these authors in a brief summary and their contributions to psychology and how they have been extremely useful for psychopedagogy.
Jean Piaget: is undoubtedly one of the central figures of psychology. This biologist, epistemologist, and Swiss psychologist revolutionized the paradigms of the psychology of his time with his genetic theory.
Although the genetic term can generate some confusion, it is necessary to clarify that it does not refer to genetics in biological terms, but rather in terms of genesis, origin, and evolution. Piaget concluded that the knowledge process is not linear, but that it is divided into different phases that he called “periods of cognitive development.”
These processes are cumulative and stand out for assimilation, that is, for the acquisition of new knowledge, and another process called accommodation, in which the child adjusts this new information to the cognitive structure. Piaget’s theory was decisive for psychopedagogy, since he focused his attention on how children know, modifying their cognitive structures.
Jerome Bruner: He insisted on the need to change the behavioral form of learning, which consisted of repetition and memorization techniques since according to this author, the total capacities of the individual did not exploit.
Given this, he insisted on the importance of interactive learning, of dialogue as a way to enhance the process, added to the need to focus on processes and concepts rather than on specific facts and figures. As we can see, it not only influenced psychopedagogy, but also the pedagogical field in general.
Lev Vygotsky: He was a Russian psychologist who in his short life did a long work that greatly influenced social psychology. Among his main ideas, we find the idea of environment, understood as the means through which the person takes the tools to grow.
This breaks with some innatist ideas, according to which the person already has all the tools to develop himself. Among the main “tools” with which the person is in their environment is language.
Psychopedagogue Profile
The profile of a psychopedagogue has to be necessarily investigative but at the same time rigorous in his procedure. You must interact in a fluid way with who is going to work (who are almost always children).
The clinical method is crucial since it is through interviews, questionnaires, and annotations that the psychopedagogue will advance on the particular problem of the child.
It is very important the support the family and the recurrent contact with the professional to make him aware of the situation. The psychopedagogue has to use his theoretical framework to work with something subjective as an individual, therefore there are no “fixed rules” or absolute methods, but theories that can guide us in the treatment (either preventive or to work with a particular problem ).
Areas of Psychopedagogy
Psychopedagogy has a direct action in the classroom.
Within the scope of learning, psychopedagogy can develop different functions. Among them, the development of teaching methods to address the diversity we can find in the learning processes stands out.
As we all know, the standardized learning process tends to generate some difficulties, since not everyone evolves at the same rate or in the same way. This takes on particular importance in those children who present some type of learning difficulty.
Another pointless is known by the population but that is very important for the exploitation of the potential of the abilities of the academic students and even of the professional sector.
In this case, the role of psychopedagogy is to develop strategies for better decision-making.
Finally, we can highlight the direct action in the classroom that pedagogy can exercise. This is usually known as tutorial action and is very important when it comes to resolving conflicts of different types.
As we see, this type of psychopedagogy is characterized by group work. Among its main tasks is to create values for the group and carry out practices that can serve for greater coexistence among students.
Examples of Psychopedagogy Applied to Higher Education
PSYCHOPEDAGOGY APPLIED TO HIGHER EDUCATION
1. Behaviorism: It proposes that the fundamental basis of any teaching-learning process is represented by a conditioned reflex, that is, by the associated relationship that exists between the response and the stimulus that causes it. In general, behaviorism is considered a clinical orientation that is enriched with other conceptions.
2. Example Mathematics: The teacher of the subject enters classes and introduces himself to the students and, in order to give their first lesson, he distributes formulas to each student so that they are memorized and can solve the exercises to be proposed in class. Once the formulas have been learned, the teacher advances the subject by giving exercises, and seeing that some students in the class did not understand how advanced it was, he repeats it again until all students understand.
3. In order to have an answer to the student’s learning, the teacher will stimulate the classes, where after each lesson he will go to practice according to what he has learned, write an exercise on the blackboard and indicate to the course that the first ten that solve the exercise written on the board you will get a participation point.
4. Cognitivism: In this model, the student will promote his own learning as soon as it becomes meaningful to him. This happens when their affective and cognitive processes are included, and when learning is put into practice. In this sense, it is of great importance that the student considers the subject to be treated as something relevant to their personal objectives and that learning is promoted with participatory techniques, through which the student makes decisions, mobilizes their own resources, and takes responsibility for what they will learn. And it will be evaluated according to their participation and group work as well as individually, through tasks that show interest, work, effort, and assessment of the achievement of objectives.
5. Example Topic: “big and small” Subject: initial The activities that the teacher will develop in the classroom are with preschool children, where the topic of the class will be “Big and Small” where the objective is for the children to learn to establish relationships and differences on the big and small. The teacher asks the children to mention and show large objects that are inside the classroom, the children point to the door, the window, the table, the shelf, and more; Later the teacher tells them that now they point to the small objects, the children show her the clock. A glass, the trash can, the marker, and others; At the same time, she will tell the children to tell her if the table is bigger or smaller than the chair, so the children will observe and compare the objects.
6. Next, the teacher shows the children a sheet where there were two pictures that were a large cow and a small cow, later the teacher hands them that sheet plus a piece of plasticine indicating the spots of the large cow Place the clay and just color the spots of the small cow, the children will proceed to carry out the activity according to what they have learned about large and small objects.
7. Constructivism: Constructivism is a pedagogical current based on the constructivist theory of knowledge, which postulates the need to provide the student with the necessary tools (generate scaffolding) that allow them to build their own procedures to solve a problematic situation, which implies that their ideas may be modified and keep learning. Constructivism considers the human being holistic.
8. Example Area: social sciences Subject: geography Topic: migration The teacher asks the students about the topic (previous knowledge), asking them What is migration? Who emigrates? Where do they emigrate? What problems does it generate on the site you leave?; The students will have active participation because they will be the ones to answer the questions formulated by the teacher and one of them will compile it on the blackboard. Afterward, the teacher, knowing the responses of the students (prior knowledge), will show the students a video that refers to the subject, the video titled “Migration from the countryside to the city”, the video is potentially significant material that the teacher gives his students
9. Later, after the students saw the video, the teacher organizes work teams, explains the work to be done, which is to investigate what migration is, identify its causes and consequences, establish its conclusions and finally present it in the classroom with help of slides, images, diagrams, and others according to the group’s imagination; the teacher becomes a mediator of learning where the students already in the groups will organize and appoint a coordinator, contributing ideas, knowledge.
Child Psychopedagogy
The professionals of the Psychopedagogy Service attend, within an interdisciplinary context, the demands of diagnosis, treatment, and socio-educational orientation of children with neurodevelopmental disorders who manifest difficulties in the school environment, in order to prevent school failure or intervene in it.
In Which Cases is a Consultation in Psychopedagogy Suggested?
Alterations in the organization of the graphic circuit (writing/coloring)
Inadequate graphic representation (of the body or other types of drawings)
Right-left disorientation
Delay in defining the dominant hand for writing
Lack of horizontality in the use of the line
Systematic reversals and substitutions of letters and numbers in writing and reading
Alteration of the sequential organization of numbers and letters
Spatial disorganization in the location and performance of mathematical operations
Difficulty in solving arithmetic problems
Comprehensive text problems that hinder the organization of information to be produced in the oral-written form
Difficulty using or making diagrams or maps
Trouble summarizing, comparing, or evaluating
Difficulty interpreting the parts and characteristics of a drawing or design
Alteration in understanding the rules of the game
Difficulty remembering details in a graphic or verbal sequence or story
Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Treatment Alternatives
The Child Psychopedagogy Service works on the evaluation of children with learning disorders that may be associated with different pathologies and conditions, such as:
Mental retardation
limit intellectual capacity
Tourette syndrome
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
muscular dystrophy
myelomeningocele
childhood depression
developmental disorders associated with prematurity
metabolic disorders
The evaluation -which has a neuropsychological orientation- consists of the development of a wide and specialized battery of tests and basic scales suitable for each case, through which data are obtained on the state of learning possibilities and the behavioral state of referred patients and its degree of cognitive impairment, in order to determine socio-educational adaptability. The battery application requires approximately four individual encounters.
The process begins with an interview with parents, in which school materials are observed and information is received from teachers and other professionals involved. At the end of the evaluation and diagnosis process, another interview is held with the parents, in which the explanatory return of the materials is made and a written report is delivered about the process carried out and the corresponding suggested guidelines.
From the understanding of the individual picture, intervention plans with prognostic indicators are elaborated, after which a series of recommendations are provided and the children are referred for their treatment to centers preferably close to their homes. The Psychopedagy Service offers periodic monitoring of the treatment.
Answers to Common Questions About Psychopedagogy
Why study the Career of Psychopedagogy?
We are going to tell you what the Psychopedagogy career consists of, how long it lasts and what subjects it has, what a psychopedagogue does, where can they work, what benefits studying this discipline has, and how far to do it. Keep reading!
What is Psychopedagogy?
Psychopedagogy is a branch of Psychology that has a presence in the field of education. It is responsible for applying psychological and pedagogical knowledge to educational problems, in order to arrive at a more appropriate formulation of didactic and pedagogical methods.
In other words, psychopedagogues are in charge of studying, preventing, and correcting the difficulties that an individual may have in the learning process.
As a profession, it was born in the 1950s, along with the creation of the first psycho-pedagogical clinics destined to attend to children with difficulties in their learning development. The first university in Latin America to teach this degree was the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
What is the Psychopedagogy Career?
The Psychopedagogy Career consists of a training cycle that covers both theoretical and practical subjects, to incorporate the guidelines of professional performance while addressing all the theoretical questions that will give rise to the formation of personalized strategies.
Students are trained so that they can explore the psycho-evolutionary characteristics of the subject in a learning situation. Also, they can provide advice on the processes of educational inclusion, in the fields of formal and non-formal contexts of education, and so that they can participate in the dynamics of relationships in the educational community.
Likewise, they are trained to carry out diagnoses of the aspects involved in the learning process. In addition, they are taught to make a prognosis of evolution and implement specific rehabilitation, orientation, and referral strategies aimed at promoting harmonic learning processes.
How long and what subjects does the Psychopedagogy career have?
The Bachelor of Psychopedagogy can last approximately four years. Some of the subjects taught during the course are:
Neurosciences
Philosophy
Psychological Theories
Developmental Psychology
Psychological Theories
Evolutionary Psychopathology
Psychopedagogical Diagnosis in Educational Institutions
Institutional and Organizational Psychology
Clinical Psychopedagogical Diagnosis
Interventions in Business Organizations
Psychopedagogical Diagnosis in Health and Community Institutions
School Cognition and Learning
Psychopedagogical Diagnosis Techniques
Structuring of Subjectivity
Educational and Socio-Community Research
Once the degree is finished, the Psychopedagogue will be able to:
Diagnose problems related to the acquisition of knowledge.
Design and implement specific strategies aimed at solving the problems detected.
Advise teachers on the practices they should carry out with a certain group of students.
Guide parents about children with learning difficulties.
Develop vocational guidance plans for those who have concerns about it.
Lead community learning projects in vulnerable areas.
What does a Psychopedagogue do?
The Psychopedagogue faces learning groups in which each being has particularities. It is also in charge of accompanying each individual so that, with strategies adapted to their needs, they can incorporate knowledge.
A Psychopedagogue can offer advice on the processes related to learning, as well as on the disturbances and/or anomalies that may be occurring, with the aim of collaborating from their place to the development of the human being.
As professionals in Psychopedagogy, they will have the ability to explore the characteristics that a certain person presents in relation to their psycho-evolution, and offer advice to those who are in charge of imparting knowledge, both in formal and non-formal settings.
On the other hand, you can work with people who require guidance to choose their vocational or occupational future and thus help to find qualities, preferences, and tastes related to job development.
In order to promote harmonious learning processes, Psychopedagogues have the ability to design and implement strategies related to rehabilitation, guidance, and the formation of study habits.
Student Profile of the Psychopedagogy Career
The taste for dealing with people and teaching-learning contexts is a prominent factor for those who are attracted to this career. But you can also discover in your profile some other characteristics such as:
Interest in the development of people
Ability to listen to the other
Understanding the environment
Curiosity about human behavior
Taste for investigating the psyche
Appreciation for the universal values of coexistence
Respect for individualities
Order and discipline
Ease of planning
Creativity
Assessment of knowledge
Clarity in expression
Ease of interpretation
Interest in reading and learning
Taste for teamwork
Observation ability
Critical judgment
Ability to convey ideas
Good ability to express oral and written
Serenity
Patience
Clarity
Solidarity with the needy
Empathy
Honesty
Why study Psychopedagogy?
Among the advantages offered by this career is the full satisfaction that the Psychopedagogue feels when being able to do something for others, at the same time that a professional job is being carried out.
On the other hand, you will feel that you are building the future while creating spaces to promote training.
It offers wide job opportunities, as well as remuneration that can be organized according to the amount of work you want to take.
It allows you to grow in your own training, while helping other people, by being in contact with updates and teaching methods.
Does studying a career in Psychopedagogy have disadvantages?
Like everything in life, the Bachelor of Psychopedagogy has some disadvantages:
Being too involved in each case can affect the professional emotionally.
You can find a lot of competition among professionals, although the wide job opportunities will help you configure your workspace.
If you do not like teaching or the field of schoolwork, you may feel uncomfortable in much of your professional field.
You can go through stressful situations in cases where you have to decide the future of a child or adolescent.
In which sectors and companies do a Psychopedagogue work?
The school environment, both public and private, is one of the most prominent sectors in which a Psychopedagogue can work. Although it is not the only sphere of professional work.
A graduate of the Psychopedagogy career can work both working with children, as well as with adolescents or adults in their school learning process, or also when there are disorders related to Mental Health.
Other spaces for the professional development of a Psychopedagogue are the centers for minors, family orientation institutes, work care centers, and a space that is in full swing such as the creation of training materials for different business areas.
In many cases, the Psychopedagogue works linked to an interdisciplinary team made up of workers from other related disciplines such as psychologists or social workers.
What is a day like in the life of a Psychopedagogue?
The day of a Psychopedagogue can be adapted to school schedules if they have chosen that area for professional development. Otherwise, you will surely have an office or office where you can attend to different cases that will come to you by referral from study centers, hospitals, or related centers.
In many cases, you will have to do interviews to make diagnoses and then meetings in which you can gradually promote a solution to the problems that arise in the patients or groups in which you have to intervene.
On the other hand, the Psychopedagogue will have to allocate part of their working day to the preparation of reports to report to the institution that requires it or to the family, of the state of the situation and degree of progress that is seen in patients according to the strategies implemented.
It is not usually a job that operates with emergencies, although in the face of certain decisions, long hours of work and disciplinary interaction may occur.
Labor demand and the psychopedagogue’s labor market
In school settings, the role of the Educational Psychologist may be required for attention disorders, learning problems, and difficulty in breaking down emotional blocks. It can also be requested for more complex situations such as family conflicts, violent environments, or marginalized situations that directly or indirectly affect the learning situation.
Outside the school environment, in areas related to mental health, the work of Professionals in Psychopedagogy is also required to collaborate in the generation of environments in which the institution can add value and configure learning spaces or intellectual strengthening.
It is also a strong and constantly growing area, everything related to vocational guidance, an issue for which Psychopedagogues are widely trained in their training.
Where to study Psychopedagogy?
If with everything you read so far you realized that you want to study Psychopedagogy, then we are going to tell you where you can study this career.
UCA: Argentine Catholic University
UCASAL: Catholic University of Salta
UAI: Inter-American Open University
CAECE University
USAL: University of Salvador
Blas Pascal University
University of Cuenca del Plata
University of Flores
Favaloro University
Kennedy University
University of the Merchant Marine
University of Morón
Universidad Atlántida Argentina
Catholic University of La Plata
Adventist University of the Silver
Catholic University of Santiago del Estero
National University of General San Martín
National University of Lomas de Zamora
National University Tres de Febrero
National University of Villa María
Can you study Psychopedagogy at a distance?
The answer is yes! The Psychopedagogy career can be studied online and doing so will bring you many benefits. For example, you will not have to spend money and time transferring to an institution. In addition, you will be able to study when and where you want since this type of modality is very flexible.
If you are interested in studying the Bachelor of Psychopedagogy at a distance, here we leave you the institutions that dictate it:
Blas Pascal University
Kennedy University
University of Cuenca del Plata
AIOU: Allama Iqbal Open University Pakistan
In conclusion
If you are passionate about working with people and you believe that education is an effective way for growth and social insertion, and if you are also interested in investigating the potentialities of the human mind and promoting its development, it is likely that the career of Psychopedagogy is a good choice for your future.