Is a Systemic View Possible on School Psychological Work

1
Is a Systemic View Possible on School
Psychological Work?

• Juha Syri, Mirka Laine, Merja Helin and Pirjo Sjö
• City of Helsinki, Finland
• Education Department

2
Contents

• 1 Our Background
• 2 Introduction to the Framework of School
• Psychological Work
• 3 Theoretical Considerations
• 4 Methodological Implications A Systemic
• View
• 5 Discussion

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1. Our Background

• One of Finlands largest psychologist communities
• Each employee responsible for 800-1000 pupils
• Employees located in schools (see Hallantie,
  2007)
• Educational qualification a Masters Degree in
  psychology

4
Introduction to the Framework

• The tradition of school psychology heavily
  focused on individuals qualities (Alessi, 1988)
• according to the study, no problems due to
  school-related factors
• 10-20 due to home-related factors
• 100 due to child-related factors
• The clinical situation in practice in Helsinki,
  Finland

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The Nature of Client Events
6
Distribution of Psychological Assessment
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3. Theoretical Considerations

• A systemic view of learning isnt very common in
  psychological literature (Hakkarainen, 2003)
• Some relevant concepts about cognition, learning
  and learning environments
• 1. so-called second psychology
• 2. distributed and situational cognition
• 3. various metaphors for learning
• 4. (computer-supported) collaborative learning
• 5. ecological approach to information

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• 1. Second Psychology
• in many pedagogical theories of learning, focus
  on an individuals mind (e.g. Piaget, 1970)
• in cognitive science, information-processing
  models the same stance (Ashcraft, 1994)
• researcher Lev Vygotsky (1934, in English 1962)
  socio-cultural learning, focus on the environment
  of learning, learning not possible out of its
  context
• concepts More Knowledgeable Other, Zone of
  Proximal Development, Internalization

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• 2. Distributed and Situational Cognition
• cognitive processes individual and stable
• variation indication of a disorder or faulty
  measurement
• learning measurable as an individuals capacity
• the assumption of many clinical applications
  (e.g. the Wechsler intelligence tests, Kaplan
  Saccuzzo, 2005)

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• in situated learning, focus on authentic
  situations and skills usable in real-life (Lave,
  1988)
• tacit knowledge (Nonaka Takeuchi, 1995)
• efficacy of learning in novel situations
  (Ericsson Kintsch, 1995)
• in distributed cognition, focus on intelligence
  located both in humans and in intelligent
  artifacts (e.g. books, see Popper, 1979)
• ? environment can be an important promoter of
  learning

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• 3. Various Metaphors for Learning
• learning as knowledge acquisition vs.
  participation
• How can pupils connect to a learning community?
• What ways of connection does the learning
  environment offer a pupil? (see Paavola, Lipponen
  Hakkarainen, 2002)

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• 4. CSCL (Computer-Supported) Collaborative
  Learning
• enhancement of learning by collaboratively using
  computer applications, so-called learning
  environments (see Scardamalia Bereiter, 1996)
• a pedagogical model in use in many Finnish
  schools (Lehtinen, Sinko Hakkarainen, 2001)

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• 5. Ecological Approach to Information
• diversity of a system
• small-scale social groups
• engagement in socially shared and valued
  activities
• co-evolution
• keystone species (Nardi ODay, 1999)

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4. Methodological Implications

• 1. Learning environment as part of psychological
  assessment
• In order to obtain knowledge about learning
  environment, implementation of existing methods
  such as observation (Class Observation Matrix)
  and sociogram
• 2. Towards consultation practices in co-operation
  with teachers
• Development of Welfare Group practices (Sjö,
  2007)
• 3. Utilize existing interventions
• Social skills learning programs
• Webster Stratton (http//www.incredibleyears.com/,
  
• SEAL http//www.seal.org.uk/single.htm?ipg4791,
  
• Second Step http//www.cfchildren.org/cfc/ssf/ssf
  /ssindex/,
• http//www.helsinki.fi/cea/english/interventio/eng
  _sosiaaliset.htm)
• Family Groups

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• 1. The Influence of Learning Environment
• The sociogram
• Name 3 other students that You would like to
  collaborate with in Your maths assignments
• Name 3 other students that You usually spend
  time with during Your brakes at school
• Colleagues experiences of using sociogram
• methodological considerations using sociogram
• positive about the psychologists co-operation
  with the teacher
• baseline information for teacher in creating a
  good learning environment

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• 2. Towards Consultation (Erchul et al., 2006,
  Meyers et al.,1979, Meyers, 1995)
• Student-centered consultation
• Indirect help to the child
• Teacher-centered consultation
• System-centered consultation
• Methods that have the potential to promote
  learning and adjustment in all school
• children, by for instance developing practices in
  Student Welfare Groups
• ?Instead of focusing on individual pupils
  issues, Student Welfare Group shifts the focus
  toward systemic factors
• The process of consultation

Student welfare meeting
Sociogram Observation
Reflect with the teacher
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• 3. Utilizing Existing Interventions
• Family Groups (Goldinger,1984)
• Group psychological starting point
• Informal vs. formal groups
• Heterogeneous groups including 4-7 pupils
• Family group affects positively on the atmosphere
  of the class
• prevents teasing
• increases the feeling of safety and togetherness
• creates an atmosphere of concentration
• helps learning social and emotional skills

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Discussion

• Case 1 (Learning Difficulties in Maths)
• The school staff has been worried about the slow
  general advancement of the class in maths
• Several pupils have attended special education
  and a few are about to become drop-outs, as the
  school psychologist gets a new client
• The first thing You as a school psychologist do,
  is going into the class room and performing a
  sociometric measurement of their maths learning
  situation

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Case 1 Learning Difficulties in Maths
Anna
Ella
Maria
Elina
Roosa
Amanda
Emilia
Peppi
Oona
Iiris
Jenni
Clarissa
Veera
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• How would You proceed? What kind of hypotheses
  would You form, based on the information
  available?
• What points would You rise in Your discussion
  with the teacher?
• What recommendations would You have?

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• Case 2 (The Curricular Path of an Immigrant
  Student)
• You as a school psychologist are invited to
  consider the situation of an immigrant pupil. The
  pupils family has moved into your country 6
  years ago, the pupil then being 3 years old. The
  pupil is on 3rd class. The pupil has the
  schooling language as his 2nd language, the
  mother tongue being very different from the
  schooling language.
• Your question is, whether he should have lowered
  standards in language curriculum in the schooling
  language
• You start your task by investigating the pupils
  peer relations how much does your client use the
  schooling language outside the formal curriculum?

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Case 2 (The Curricular Path of an Immigrant
Student)
Tony
Kimi
Mark
Jerry
Abdi
Jesse
Jakob
Feisal
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• How would You proceed? What kind of hypotheses
  would You form based on the information
  available?
• What points would You rise in Your discussion
  with the teacher?
• What recommendations would You have?

24
List of Reference

• Alessi, G. (1988). Diagnosis diagnosed A
  systemic reaction. Professional School
  Psychology, 3, 145-151.
• Ashcraft, M.H. (1994). Human memory and cognition
  (2nd Ed.). NY Harper Collins.
• http//www.cfchildren.org/cfc/ssf/ssf/ssindex/
• Erchul, W. Martens B. (2006). School
  consultation conceptual and empirical basis of
  practice, 2nd edition. New York Springer
• Ericsson, K. A., Kintsch, W. (1995). Long-term
  working memory. Psychological Review, 102,
  211-245.
• Goldinger, B. (1984). Familjegrupper i skolan
  skolklassen som mötesplats för barn, föräldrar
  och lärare. Stockholm WW.
• Hakkarainen, K. (2003). Can cognitive
  explanations be eliminated? Science Education,
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• Hallantie, M. (2007). School psychology a part
  of student welfare services in Helsinki. Poster
  presented at ISPA 2007 Colloquium, Tampere,
  Finland.
• http//www.helsinki.fi/cea/english/interventio/eng
  _sosiaaliset.htm
• http//www.incredibleyears.com/
• Kaplan, R.M. Saccuzzo, D.P. (2005).
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• Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in practice Mind,
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• Lehtinen, E., Sinko, M. Hakkarainen, K. (2001).
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• Nardi, B., ODay, V. (1999). Information
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• Nonaka, I., Takeuchi, H. (1995). The
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• Paavola, S., Lipponen, L., Hakkarainen, K.
  (2002). Epistemological Foundations for CSCL A
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• Piaget, J. (1970). Genetic epistemology. New
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