Conditions effecting school psychology

Pages: 680-684
Vimla Verma (Jai Narayan Vyas University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan)

School psychology is a specialized branch of psychology to provide services that may enhance academic performance of the students and provide psychological counseling for individuals, groups and families, and coordinate intervention strategies for management of individuals and school wide crises. It is one of several professional specialties within psychology and is not a separate discipline or profession. The nature of school psychology services is determined by two broad conditions: the preparation school psychologists receive and society’s need for services. In India the importance of study of psychology as an essential service to schools is yet to be realized. There are no organizations specifically for school psychology. The future of school psychology will be influenced strongly by five external conditions (i.e., a country’s cultural history and current conditions, economy, geography, and language, as well as national needs and priorities) and by five internal conditions (i.e., degree of professionalism, definition of school psychology’s scope and functions, its legal status, its engagement with education, and scholarly and technical contributions). The need to expand the discipline beyond its somewhat narrow western influences requires school psychologists in non-Western countries to become more engaged in research and development efforts.