What a school psychologist does. School psychologist: when to contact him and how he can help

Fragments of the book Mlodik I.Yu. School and how to survive in it: the view of a humanistic psychologist. - M .: Genesis, 2011.

What should be the school? What needs to be done in order for students to consider education an interesting and important matter, to leave the school ready for adult life: confident, communicative, active, creative, able to protect their psychological boundaries and respect the boundaries of other people? What is the peculiarity of the modern school? What can teachers and parents do to keep children from losing their desire to learn? You will find answers to these and many other questions in this book.

Psychological problems at school

Everything I know about teaching
i owe bad students.
John Hall

Not so long ago, people knew almost nothing about psychology as a science. It was believed that a Soviet citizen, and even more so a child, did not have any internal problems. If something does not work out for him, his studies went wrong, his behavior changed, then this is from laziness, licentiousness, poor upbringing and lack of effort. The child, instead of receiving help, was judged and criticized. Needless to say, how ineffective this strategy was.

Now, fortunately, many teachers and parents are ready to explain the difficulties that a child has at school by the presence of possible psychological problems. As a rule, it is. A child, like any person, strives to realize his own needs, wants to feel successful, needs security, love and recognition. But a wide variety of obstacles can arise on his way.

Now one of the most common problems, which is noted by almost all teachers: hyperactivitychildren. Indeed, this is a phenomenon of our time, the sources of which are not only psychological, but also social, political, ecological. Let's try to consider the psychological, personally I had a chance to deal only with them.

First, children called hyper-reactive are very often just anxious children. Their anxiety is so high and constant that for a long time they themselves no longer realize what worries them and why. Anxiety, as excessive excitement that cannot find a way out, makes them do many small movements, fuss. They fidget endlessly, drop something, break something, rustle something, knock, swing. It is difficult for them to sit still, sometimes they can jump up in the middle of the lesson. Their attention seems distracted. But not all of them are truly unable to concentrate. Many of them study well, especially in subjects that do not require accuracy, perseverance and the ability to concentrate well.

Children diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity require more participation and are better served in small classrooms or groups where the teacher will be more able to give him personal attention. In addition, in a large team, such a child is very distracting to other children. On study assignments, it can be very difficult for a teacher to keep the concentration of a class in which there are several hyperactive students. Children prone to hyperreactivity, but without an appropriate diagnosis, can study in any class, provided that the teacher does not increase their anxiety and does not constantly upset. It is better to touch a hyper-reactive child, sitting in place, than to point out a hundred times the obligation to be disciplined. Better to let go for three minutes from the lesson to the toilet and back, or run up the stairs, than call for attention and calmness. His poorly controlled motor excitement passes much easier when it is expressed in running, jumping, that is, in broad muscular movements, in active efforts. Therefore, a hyperreactive child must move well during recess (and sometimes, if possible, during a lesson) in order to relieve this anxious excitement.

It is important to understand that a hyperactive child has no intention of demonstrating such behavior "in spite" of the teacher, that the sources of his actions are not promiscuity or bad manners. In fact, it is simply difficult for such a student to control his own excitement and anxiety, which usually goes away by adolescence.

A hyperactive child is also hypersensitive, he perceives too many signals at the same time. His distracted appearance, wandering eyes of many are misleading: it seems that he is absent here and now, does not listen to the lesson, is not involved in the process. This is often not the case at all.

I'm in class of English language and I am sitting on the last desk with a boy whose hyperactivity the teachers no longer even complain about, it is so obvious and tiresome for them. Slim, very agile, at the moment he turns the desk into a heap. The lesson has just begun, but he is impatient, he begins to build something from pencils and erasers. It seems that he is very keen on this, but when the teacher asks him a question, he answers without hesitation, correctly and quickly.

When the teacher calls to open workbooks, he starts looking for what he needs only after a few minutes. Break everything on his desk, he doesn't notice how the notebook falls. Leaning over to the neighbor's desk, he looks for her there, to the indignation of the girls sitting in front, then suddenly jumps up and rushes to his shelf, receiving a stern remark from the teacher. When he runs back, he still discovers a fallen notebook. During all this time, the teacher gives an assignment, which, as it seemed, the boy does not hear, because he is keen on searching. But, it turns out that he understood everything, because he quickly begins to write in a notebook, inserting the necessary English verbs. Having finished this in six seconds, he begins to play with something on the desk, while the other children diligently and concentratedly do the exercise in complete silence, broken only by his endless fuss.

Next comes the verbal check of the exercise, the children take turns reading sentences with inserted words. At this time, the boy constantly falls on something, is under the desk, then attaches somewhere ... He does not follow the check at all and skips his turn. The teacher calls him by name, but my hero does not know which sentence to read. Neighbors tell him, he answers easily and correctly. And then he plunges back into his incredible construction of pencils and pens. It seems that his brain and body do not tolerate rest, he just needs to be involved in several processes at the same time, at the same time he is very tired. And soon he jumps up from his seat in the strongest impatience:

- May I come out?

- No, until the end of the lesson only five minutes, sit down.

He sits down, but now he is definitely not here, because the desk is shaking, and he simply is not able to hear and record homework, he frankly suffers frankly, one gets the impression that he is counting the minutes before the call. With the first trills, he breaks off and throughout the break, like a public speaker, runs along the corridor.

It is not so easy to cope with a child's hyperreactivity even for a good psychologist, much less for a teacher. Psychologists often work with the problems of anxiety and self-esteem of such a child, teach him to listen, to better understand and control the signals of his body. Many are engaged in fine motor skills, which often lag behind the rest of development, but, working on which, the child learns better to control his gross motor skills, that is, his larger movements. Hypreactive children are often gifted, capable, and talented. They have a lively mind, they quickly process the received information, easily absorb new ones. But in school (especially primary), such a child will be in a losing position due to difficulties in calligraphy, accuracy and obedience.

Hypractive children are often helped by all types of modeling with clay and plasticine, playing with water, pebbles, sticks and other natural materials, all types of physical activity, but not sports, because it is important for them to do any muscle movement, not just the right one. The development of the body and the ability to throw out excess excitement allow such a child to gradually enter his own boundaries, from which he used to always want to jump out.

It has been noticed that hyper-reactive children absolutely need space for such a vain manifestation of themselves. If at home it is strictly forbidden to behave in this way through constant tugging or other educational measures, then they will be much more hyperactive at school. Conversely, if the school is strict with them, they will become extremely active at home. Therefore, parents and teachers need to keep in mind that these children will still find a way out for their motor excitement and anxiety.

Another no less frequent problem in modern school is unwillingness to learnor lack of motivation, as psychologists say. This, as a rule, matures in secondary school and by the beginning of the older one reaches its apogee, then gradually, with the awareness of the connection between the quality of knowledge and the picture of one's own future, it begins to decline.

A child's reluctance to learn, as a rule, is completely unrelated to the fact that he is “bad”. Each of these children has their own reasons not to want to learn. For example, early falling in love, which takes all the attention and energy for experiences or dreams. These can also be problems in the family: conflicts, impending divorce of parents, illness or death of loved ones, difficulties in relations with a brother or sister, the birth of a new child. Perhaps to blame are failures with friends, inappropriate behavior of others, due to their personal or family crisis. All of this can take away the energy and attention of the child. Since many troubles can turn out to be protracted, or half-concealed, and therefore impossible to constructive resolution, over time they devastate the child, lead to failures in school, as a result, even greater depression appears, and the circle closes. Parents often find it difficult to take responsibility for unresolved problems at home, and they act out on the child, accusing him of laziness and unwillingness to learn, which, as a rule, only worsen the situation.

Perhaps the child does not want to learn out of a sense of protest about how he is taught, who teaches him. He may unconsciously resist parents who force him to study, but because of poor grades, they restrict him in something (they don't let him go for a walk, don't buy what they promised, deprive him of holidays, trips, meetings and entertainment). Parents and teachers often do not understand that even if there is obligatoryuniversal education, you can get knowledge only voluntarily... As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. You can learn by force, but you can learn only by wishing it. Pressure and punishment in this matter is significantly less effective than interesting and engaging learning. Although, of course, it is easier to press and punish.

Another reason for the lack of motivation to acquire knowledge: low self-esteem of students. Constant criticism and fixation on failures does not help everyone to move forward, learn effectively and grow. Many people (depending on psychotype and character) are deprived of energy by failures. Constant non-compliance with someone's requirements gives rise to total self-doubt, disbelief in one's own strengths, inability to find resources, abilities and desire to achieve success. Such children can easily “give up” and come to terms with the stigma of a passive and incapable “C grade,” whose motivation, of course, will be buried under the weight of failures, other people's negative assessments and their own helplessness to change something. At the same time, it is quite obvious that there are no hopeless or absolutely hopeless children, everyone has their own resource, their talent and a huge, but sometimes carefully hidden, need to be noticed.

Another reason children don't want to learn: the way they learn. Passive types of learning, when a student can only be a recipient, a listener, absorbing a certain amount of information, and then expounding it (not always learned) in verification works, reduce the child's own learning motivation. Lessons devoid of at least a share of interactivity are practically doomed to passivity and lack of involvement of the majority of students. Information that has not become knowledge is forgotten within a few hours. Knowledge gained without engagement and interest is forgotten for weeks or months. Studying, which does not give the possibility of personal participation, does not arouse personal interest, is doomed to meaninglessness and quick oblivion.

Most children find it difficult to have an equally keen interest in all school subjects. There are individual inclinations and addictions. Perhaps, parents and teachers should not persist in the child's joyfully, with great enthusiasm and, most importantly, success, study, for example, the Russian language, although he has technical inclinations. Or, by all means, he got A's in mathematics, being carried away by drawing and modeling.

A psychologist, together with a teacher and a parent, can help such an unmotivated student find their interest, deal with family difficulties, increase their self-esteem, resolve difficulties in relationships with others, realize their own resistance, discover talents and start enjoying school.

Another problem that seriously complicates the life of almost any teacher is improper behavior of students.Many teachers complain about rudeness, rudeness, provocations, disruption of lessons. This is especially true in grades 7-9 and, of course, also has several reasons and reasons.

We talked about one of them - the inevitable, in the course of the adolescent crisis, the tendency to separate from the entire adult world, accompanied by manifestations of various forms of aggression. Often teachers take students' hostile attacks very personally and, as they say, "close to their hearts." Most of the teenage "freaks" are aimed at the adult world as a whole, and are not aimed at a specific person.

Sometimes sudden comments in the lesson cause a violent and not always necessary for the teacher reaction in the class. This is a manifestation of the adolescent's demonstrativeness, the need to be in the center of attention all the time, which is explained by the characterological characteristics of the child, which became accentuations at a certain age (that is, very pronounced personality traits). And again, the behavior of such a demonstrative teenager is by no means aimed at destroying the teacher's authority and is motivated not by the desire to offend or humiliate him, but by the need to satisfy his own need for attention. In such situations, they act differently: you can strictly put in place, ridiculing his desire to be an "upstart", or vice versa, with humor, understanding, use the student's demonstrativeness for peaceful purposes: in plays, projects, performances, shows. Satisfied need to be in the center of attention will be much less interfering in the lesson.

Again, if in a family with a strict upbringing, the demonstrativeness of such a child is "in the pen," then the school will become the very place where this quality of character will inevitably manifest itself.

In some cases, the school is the place where the child realizes the accumulated aggression. As a rule, everyone - teachers, classmates, and even the teenager himself - suffer from such unfair behavior. Sorting out this can be quite difficult if the child does not want to trust someone from the adults, which happens infrequently, since aggression is an indicator of fear and distrust.

Sometimes the teacher is faced with an aggressive outburst in the lesson because of his own injustice, disrespect, incorrect comments addressed to students. The teacher, absorbed in the content of the lesson, and not noticing the processes occurring in the class (boredom, clarification of relationships, enthusiasm for a topic that is not related to the subject), will also not avoid an aggressive attack: for ignoring the needs of the class.

Children, as a rule, also test new teachers with a simple provocation for the stability of psychological boundaries. And it is not at all because they are embittered "fiends of hell", they need to understand who is in front of them and navigate in a situation of uncertainty. A teacher who sharply reacts to provocations by shouting, insulting, insulting, will be subjected to aggression again and again until he can, with dignity and respect for himself and the children, defend his boundaries.

It is usually difficult for a teacher to help a teenager deal with inappropriate behavior, since he himself becomes a participant in what is happening. Resentment or anger of an adult prevents him from discovering and eliminating the causes of aggression. It is much easier for a psychologist to do this, because, firstly, he was not included in the incident, and secondly, he knows about the peculiarities and complexity of the teenager's personality. The psychologist is able to build non-judgmental, equal contact that will help the child better understand the origins of his hostility, learn to control his own behavior and express his anger in acceptable circumstances and in an adequate form.

A problem for a teacher can be strong emotional manifestationschildren: tears, fights, tantrums, fears. Often times, educators are very confused when faced with these situations. In each such case, there is, as a rule, its own background. Often only the tip of the iceberg is seen. Without knowing everything that is hidden under the water, it is easy to make mistakes. In any case, without finding out all the causes of the accident, it is better to avoid any conclusions and assessments. This can injure the student due to injustice, worsen his condition, and deepen his psychological trauma.

The basis for such behavior can be the widest range of events: from purely personal and very dramatic, to illusory, taking place only in children's imagination. In order for these reasons to be voiced and addressed, the child sometimes lacks trust and a sense of security.

If the teacher does not have a trusting relationship with a student in a difficult situation, it is worth entrusting him to the adult with whom communication is most beneficial. Such a person can also be a psychologist, because he does not participate in the teacher-student relationship, but, as a rule, has important information about this child, knows how to establish contact, inspire confidence and get out of a difficult situation.

Another layer of problems: learning difficulties.The inability of individual children to meet the requirements of the school curriculum can also be caused by various reasons: physiological, medical, social, psychological.

A student may, for example, have an individual rate of perception and processing of information. Often, inevitable in school, the average pace can make it difficult for children to meet the general requirements of the system. Guys with a phlegmatic temperament, for example, do everything slowly but thoroughly. Melancholic people sometimes fall behind due to the fact that they are focused on their experiences and trying to do everything “super-excellent”. For choleric people, the pace may seem too slow, they inevitably begin to be distracted, wanting to save themselves from boredom, interfering with the rest of the children. Perhaps only sanguine people are most adapted to the average pace, provided that today is not the day of their energy decline. Changes in the weather, quality of food, rest and sleep, physical well-being and previous illnesses can also significantly affect a child's ability to perceive material or respond to tests.

Some children are unable to concentrate in large classes. Someone is knocked out of the state of psychological stability by the constant change of teachers, frequent changes in the schedule, continuous innovations and changes in requirements.

Psychological reasons also include: difficulties in communication, a difficult family situation, low self-esteem and lack of faith in oneself, high anxiety, strong dependence on external assessments, fear of possible mistakes, fear of losing the respect and love of parents or other significant adults. Neuropsychological: underdevelopment of certain areas of the brain and, as a result, a lag in the normal development of mental functions: attention, logic, perception, memory, imagination.

A school with a personal, personal approach to learning is able to organize assistance for a child with learning difficulties: to conduct consultations and classes with certain specialists, vary the composition and number of students in a class, dividing them into mini-groups of a certain level, and, if necessary, conduct individual lessons. All these activities make it possible to cope with the tasks of the educational process without feeling like a loser and an outsider, unable to follow everyone.

Psychologist at school

Psychology has a long past
but a short story.
Hermann Ebbinghaus

Psychology, as a helping profession, has long accompanied social life in many developed countries. In Russia, after a long break of seventy years, it has again become not only a subject of scientific interest, but also a separate service sector, capable of professionally and purposefully performing both diagnostic and psychotherapeutic functions. For a long time, the work of psychologists at the school was done as best they could by teachers, doctors and the administration. Many of them were rescued by intuition, common human wisdom, great desire help. Therefore, students, most often, did not remain without participation and support. But in school life there have always been and will be certain problems and difficulties that are practically impossible to solve without a professional psychologist.

There was no place for psychological assistance as a service in the Soviet authoritarian state. Ideology, which considered a person not as a separate person with their own rights, peculiarities, views of the world, but as a cog for certain functions of the state, did not need specialists and feared them. Of all the methods, theories and practical approaches that have been used for many years in the West, only one has been implemented in Russia: the activity approach aimed at treating any disorders and dysfunctions by labor. Anything that was not corrected by labor, or did not fit into the ideological framework, was declared laziness, licentiousness, or the object of psychiatric treatment.

Gradually, the issues of the formation of a person's personality, morality, morality and value concepts became independent and very personal. And then psychology as a science was able to continue to study personality and its manifestations widely, not being limited by the framework of the activity approach, but as a service sector began to help people understand their own values, to solve the issues of their individual, unique being.

At the beginning of its journey through Russia, practical psychology was mystified, it was given, in my opinion, a shade of almost secret knowledge, capable in some special ways to penetrate into the depths of the human soul and exert a dark or light influence on it. The psychologist was equated with a shaman or an esotericist, a magician, capable of mysterious manipulations to solve all problems and cope with the difficulties of life. Psychology seemed like an unknown land on which anything could grow. And perhaps that is why she inspired such different feelings: from awe and unlimited faith in her capabilities to mistrust and the announcement of all psychologists as sectarians and charlatans.

Now, in my opinion, psychology is gradually freeing itself from its mystical trail and becoming what it is meant to be: a field of knowledge and a service sector, it inspires confidence and opens up opportunities to use scientific knowledge and methods in search of a better life.

Gradually, at school, the psychologist ceased to be an unusual figure, a fashionable, piquant seasoning for the learning process, as a few years ago. He became who he should be: a professional providing services in accordance with the requests of this school.

From the experience of colleagues in different educational institutions, I know that these requests can be very diverse: conducting general testing sometimes with unclear goals, drawing up reports that allow you to maintain the status of a separate leader or institution, individual and group work with students, helping parents, training for teachers. In any case, a psychologist who comes to work at school must understand what his activities are aimed at and correspond to the tasks set.

Some young psychologists come to school and immediately try to subordinate the established system to their psychological goals. Often, their initiatives do not find support from the administration and fail, which is quite natural. The school as a system and its individual parts are clients, objects of psychological services. If it is possible to clearly and accurately determine the needs of the customer, which, as a rule, are the school administration or representatives of the pedagogical team, then the psychologist has the opportunity to decide whether he can and wants to do the proposed work.

Sometimes representatives of the school system cannot clearly articulate their order. Sometimes they do not know what result can be obtained from the work of the psychological service, they do not want to figure it out in an elementary way, they trust the psychologist to choose for himself where to apply their knowledge and skills. In this case, the school psychologist has to independently outline the terms of reference and responsibilities. With which most successfully cope. But, nevertheless, it seems to me very important to have periodic, or better constant, feedback from the administration and agreeing on the further direction of joint work.

Beginning psychologists like to go to schools to work, but realizing oneself here is not at all simple task... A young specialist, as a rule, comes to a team where more mature people work, occupying a completely different professional niche. It can be difficult for teachers who have briefly studied psychology, and for some it is even impossible to give a newly minted colleague the right to take an expert position in their specialty. Such teachers willy-nilly begin to compete with psychologists not only on issues general order, but also on highly specialized topics, the study of which psychologists spend more than one year.

Another problem is that most psychologists do not teach lessons, and this is the main activity in school. Many educators believe that a psychologist who is not involved in the educational process does not deserve encouragement, since he is only engaged in "meaningless conversations." And this, of course, is unfair. First, the psychologist should not engage in training unless there is a special need for this, since the mixing of roles often affects the building of good psychotherapeutic, helping relationships. And secondly, verbal communication, colloquially speaking, is the main method of a psychologist's work, not counting games and methods of art therapy (drawing, modeling, origami, etc.).

Differences in professional positions may be another problem. The teaching system, adopted almost everywhere, still recognizes as effective unequal "I-Him" relations, where there is an expert position of the teacher and an attentive position of the student. This type of relationship always builds a significant distance, may not cause the most positive feelings in the one who is “from below”. And the “I-Thou” connection between the psychologist and the one who turned to him for help is based on equality, mutual active participation and sharing of responsibility. This equal relationship often elicits a positive response from children, a desire to communicate, gratitude, and sometimes affection. This often gives rise to jealousy and suspicion of the teaching staff. Only a truly true Teacher succeeds in an equal position, which guarantees not only the constant interest of students in his subject, but also human closeness, deep respect, recognition.

Another difficulty arises from setting different goals. A psychological service dedicated to helping the school and meeting its learning needs is often expected to have immediate results or final solutions to any pressing problems. But a psychologist works in a system where there are a lot of basic and additional variables (if you can call it teachers, parents and other school employees). Very often the efforts of one specialist or even the entire service cannot be crowned with success, since the participation of all parts of the system is required. A parent's unwillingness to make changes in his own life or the teacher's inability to look at the child's problem from a different angle can lead to the fact that the work of a psychologist will be ineffective.

For one child, a simple conversation or the opportunity to pour out accumulated feelings is enough; to help another, it will take more than one year of weekly classes with the involvement of people from the system. Each problem is individual and does not accept standard solutions, no matter how obvious they seem at first glance.

But all of the above issues become easily resolved if the psychologist and school representatives are in constant contact. If a psychologist is able to explain the specifics of his work, talk about its opportunities, difficulties and prospects, and teachers and the administration are able to hear, take into account and establish interaction, then together they will be able to work for common goals, and do their work not only effectively, but also with pleasure, allowing students to receive not only education, but in a sense, care and participation.

What can a psychologist at school

The true cost of helping is always found
in direct proportion to whether
how it is rendered.
Samuel Johnson

The activity of a psychologist at school can be determined and limited only by his capabilities and the needs of the given educational institution.

One of the extremely rarely requested work is to track processes, with the ability to see and eliminate failures and malfunctions that can occur in any system, including the school one. Such activity of a psychologist as an organizational consultant allows you to bring the system into harmonious balance and, conversely, to set it the right direction in the implementation of urgent and necessary changes. Organizational consulting, as a way of working, requires a great deal of motivation, personal maturity and the ability to change from the headmaster, starting, as a rule, with himself.

The most popular practice of using psychology in school has become testing.For reasons I do not understand, it is often the only indicator of the work done by the psychologist for the administration, or it is necessary only for reporting. Testing very often deprives a specialist of the opportunity to do much more useful things: individual psychotherapy or correction with children, counseling, and training. And if testing, especially group testing, is the only area of \u200b\u200bwork, then it can do much more harm than good: often children do not want to communicate with psychologists later, rightly not wanting to be tested again.

Group testing very often violates the basic rules of communication with the client. After it, children are not given feedback. The child gives the psychologist very personal information, but at the same time does not have the opportunity to find out why he did it, what the results are, and how the school system will react to it. Individual testing with follow-up feedback allows the student to learn something new about himself, to better understand himself, to identify the points of his growth or the need for certain changes. He does not have, as after group testing, the feeling of wasted effort and time. In addition, the student gets a sense of greater trust and support from adequate feedback.

Another rule often violated by psychologists when testing at school is confidentiality. Despite the fact that the psychologist is focused on the goals of the school as an organization, he does not have the right to provide all the information received from the student at the disposal of teachers or administration, but only that which relates to his teaching activities and only in the form of conclusions, generalizations, recommendations.

I witnessed the indignant story of one mother about how, at a parent meeting, the class teacher (!) Publicly discussed family test drawings made by some students. Moreover, this was accompanied by condemnation, negative assessments of the parents and the demand to "immediately improve." Such a blatant violation of confidentiality by the psychologist and the inability to explain the necessary rules to the teacher, of course, did all the participants in the process much more harm than good.

It is important for a psychologist to understand the differences between tests, which describe a trend in the whole class, and individual test tasks, in which the child reveals important subconscious information, often hidden from himself. Collective indicators and trends may be of interest to the school administration or the class teacher to carry out any correction in conjunction with a psychologist. Individual information should be used very carefully, only by the leading psychologist and exclusively to help him cope with the difficulties that have arisen in life.

Individualprolonged or one-time work with a child- Another important, in my opinion, direction in school. One-time work, as a rule, is situational: a sudden conflict, stress, misunderstanding, failure can be resolved in the course of one meeting with a psychologist. In this case, there is no need, and there is no possibility to obtain the prior permission of the parents. The situation often requires immediate intervention, and its analysis does not always lead to a deep and lengthy analysis that requires the participation of the family or school.

Long-term work with a child usually involves the consent of the parents or people who replace them, for whom it is important to know about the direction of psychological activity and, if possible, support the changes taking place with their child. Or, conversely, refuse to help, not wanting to set your family system in an inevitable movement and transform it. Prolonged classes with a child are also impossible without the consent and support of the class teacher or curator, who are able to provide the student with time and place for such communication with a specialist, and skillfully track further changes in the child's behavior.

Consultingis also a common form of work of a psychologist at school. It involves one-time or few meetings with the child's parents or teachers about the difficulties that have developed. In this case, the psychologist has the right to some kind of expert opinion. His task is to listen to the story of a parent or teacher, consider the current situation, express his opinion on this matter, issue recommendations or outline measures to help the child. When consulting, it is important to remember that the search for a solution can begin only when all parties have spoken out, they are heard, feelings are expressed and understood. Then the chances for a joint and most correct decision will be maximized. When consulting, you should also remember about confidentiality and not carry the information received beyond the meeting place.

The holding of trainings- an important and necessary form of work of a psychologist at school. Trainings can be either thematic, aimed at resolving difficulties that have arisen in the classroom, or regular, with the goal of developing certain psychological skills: effective communication, increasing the level of tolerance, strengthening leadership qualities, developing creativity, and so on. For adolescent children, trainings or group work are absolutely necessary, since they usually help to solve the problems of their own crisis: the search for "I", establishing relationships with the outside world and understanding the origins of their own aggression, anxiety, fears.

Another area of \u200b\u200bsuch activity is career guidance. The game training form allows children to better understand their abilities, inclinations, talents. It makes it possible to "try on" different professions and bring the future closer to you.

The next type of training work is preventive. Having learned the necessary information about alcoholism, drug addiction, smoking, AIDS, many children not only think about these phenomena and their consequences, but also try to explore their own tendencies towards this kind of addiction and the possibilities for eliminating their root causes.

Seminars, lectures, psychological groups for teachers, curators, class teachersthey can also provide informational and psychological assistance, but their organization is impossible without the support and explicit desire of the category of school employees for whom classes are held. Despite the fact that many teachers are prone to emotional burnout and need the support of a specialist, the school team often treats such events with obvious distrust and without much enthusiasm. It seems to teachers that such work not only takes up their personal time, but it is also unsafe, because it requires self-disclosure and immersion in oneself, and this is sometimes fraught with complications in relationships in the team. In addition, the psychologist conducting such seminars must be an authoritative and credible figure for them.

Obviously, topics for classes in such groups and at seminars are offered by customers, and if they are not announced in advance, they arise directly in the process. The psychologist should be as correct as possible, helping the group members to open up, to know themselves, not to forget about safety issues during such events and to maintain confidentiality.

Information activities for parents, involve the participation of a psychologist in parenting meetings, holding special clubs, seminars, discussions. Parents are not required to know the specifics of the psychology of a child at different ages, the peculiarities of the formation of his self-esteem or the stages of overcoming the adolescent crisis, but they sometimes have a desire to learn about these phenomena when raising their own children.

As a rule, a parent involved in the life of his own child has many questions for a psychologist, sometimes there is a need to discuss something, complain or be proud, ask for advice. School psychologist is in a non-evaluating position, has knowledge of developmental psychology and its components, therefore it can be very useful to a parent. Feeling that the school is not indifferent to his own child and himself, the parent is more willing and more free to build relationships with the educational system, and cooperate with teachers. The school also feels the parent's interest, his support and active participation in the child's academic life. This allows the teaching staff to effectively build and implement the learning process for each specific student.

Psychology lessonswill certainly be different from your usual activities. It makes no sense to conduct them in the usual passive format. Games for junior and early high school, trainings and seminars for teenagers and high school students are acceptable. As already mentioned, it is undesirable for a psychologist to teach psychology lessons and simultaneously carry out psychocorrection or psychotherapy in the same class. Although sometimes this is impossible due to the lack of specialists.

Scientific worka psychologist at school is not only possible, but also important. Analysis, research, identification of patterns is most often carried out using standard tests or tests specially designed for a specific topic. During scientific testing, all the rules for communicating with the client must also be observed: explaining the goals and objectives of these events, personally informing about their results in accordance with the student's desire. Scientific details should not obscure the personality and uniqueness of each individual child in the process of dialogue with him.

Participation in school-wide projectsit is no less important for a psychologist, since it helps to better navigate school life, allows you to see both children and teachers in a different, non-educational, environment, and also gives you the opportunity to appear in a new role yourself. In addition, a psychologist can bring fresh ideas into the usual course of events, diversify them, add something of his own.

Organization of your own projects.In some schools, psychologists have the opportunity to carry out thematic field programs aimed at solving various psychological and general educational problems. Someone organizes psychological field camps, someone spends weeks of psychology in their schools, arranges special theatrical performances. With the trust and support of the administration, a clearly set goal and well-thought-out tasks, with a formed and cohesive team, such events bring not only a lot of pleasure to the participants, but also a lot of benefit, since in the process a creative approach is applied to solving very complex problems.

Summing up, I will say that the work of a psychologist at school can be an exciting and rewarding activity, provided there are well-built relationships with the administration and the teaching staff, with the awareness of their place in the team as an auxiliary service, with constant professional and personal growth and development.

The work of a practical psychologist requires constant professional development: attendance at seminars and conferences, mutual enrichment of specialists, study of new literature, personal development, participation as a client in various thematic trainings, groups, programs. All this is important to take into account the school administration if it wants to have a good professional on its staff, and not to treat such events as insignificant or unnecessary.

© Mlodik I.Yu. School and how to survive in it: the view of a humanistic psychologist. - M .: Genesis, 2011.
© Published with permission of the publisher

1 ... Carries out psychological and pedagogical study of children in order to provide an individual approach to them throughout the entire period of study in a secondary school. Based on the use of the achievements of psychological science, it helps to ensure the full-fledged personal and intellectual development of students.

2 ... Acts as a participant in the educational process in working with the family and the child.

3 ... Conducts psycho-preventive and diagnostic work:
1) at the request of teachers, school administration, parents of students, studies the intellectual, personal, interpersonal, emotional and volitional characteristics of students, their interests, inclinations;
2) participates in the admission of children to the 1st grades of school with the aim of early detection of insufficient psychological readiness for schooling;
3) conducts psychological examination of children during the transition from primary school to junior secondary;
4) uses the most effective diagnostic methods to establish the causes of academic failure and indiscipline of students, the causes of violations interpersonal relationships schoolchildren with peers in order to provide timely psychological assistance and support;
5) conducts an in-depth psychological examination of students sent to the PMPK.

4 ... Together with teachers, he develops a program of individual work with students to ensure their full inclusion in educational activities from the first days of their stay at school and during learning at the new school stage.

5 ... Carries out the necessary psychocorrectional work.

6 ... Predicts and supports the development of individual and creative abilities of students.

7 ... Conducts individual and group consultations for students on issues of education, culture of mental work, development, life self-determination, self-education, vocational guidance, relationships with adults and peers.

8 ... Consults school administration, teachers, parents of students on the problems of teaching and upbringing of children.

9 ... At the request of the people's courts, the police, the guardianship and guardianship authorities, the commission on juvenile affairs, it conducts a psychological examination of the child's mental state and the conditions of family education.

10 ... Takes part in the work of teachers' councils, methodological associations. Prepares the necessary information for the pedagogical council and the pedagogical council to resolve the main problems associated with ensuring an individual approach to students.

11 ... Conducts psychological work with teachers (seminars, trainings, methodological studies).

12 ... Works in close contact with class teachers, social educator, speech therapist, school administration.

13 ... Promotes psychological and pedagogical knowledge among parents of students (school-wide and class parent meetings).

14 ... He is responsible for the safety of the documentation and equipment of the school psychological office, and ensures its correct use.

15 ... It takes into account the results of psycho-long-pedagogical work in strict accordance with the forms established by the scientific and methodological centers of the school psychological service.

I am familiar with functional duties:

"___" ______________ 2010

Hello dear parents! I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember from my school life that a psychologist worked on a permanent basis in our school. Yes, there were some lessons with the participation of a specialist in this area, but there was no such thing to have a specially taken person on the school staff and sit in the office waiting for "patients".

It's different today. The state cares for a healthy generation, including worries about its emotional state. Therefore, it is not uncommon to find a professional psychologist among teachers at school, but this phenomenon is still far from clear for many parents.

Why is this specialist in school, what are the duties of a school psychologist and when you can turn to him for help - this is what we are talking about today.

Lesson plan:

My child is healthy, why should we see a psychologist ?!

Not taking into account the specialized correctional institutions, where this person simply must be, we note that the full-time position of a teacher of psychological orientation was introduced into Russian school education about a dozen years ago.

They appeared in a number of schools, and subsequently many educational institutions, either in order to keep up and be “in trend,” or really convinced of the positive effect of their work, introduced this unit into their states. Moreover, some educational institutions in this regard have moved noticeably forward and acquired whole psychological services, numbering more than one specialist.

If earlier everyone worked as psychologists in a friendly school collective - the school director, head teachers, teachers, and even the school cleaner Baba Klava tried to take part in our social development, today this responsible business is entrusted to experts with professional education.

However, the Russian educational system still in most cases considers such a teacher as a formality, and the school administration is often only interested in formal replies in the form of documentary reports.

Only when a loud emergency occurs within the walls of an educational institution, everyone immediately remembers about a full-time psychologist and looks into the eyes: "Why didn't you pay attention to this problem student in time ?!"

A school psychologist is not a doctor. Unlike a clinic worker, he does not make diagnoses or prescribe pills. In general, the main task of a psychologist is to be able to find in time a problem in the development of an absolutely psychologically healthy child and eliminate it not with medication, but with a pedagogical method. At school, this person is the connecting link in the chain of the teacher-student-parent triad.

It is very important to build relationships in primary school, when only the acquaintance and grinding of the main participants in the learning process occurs, when adaptation to school takes place and the level of self-esteem is established. But the observant role of a specialist is no less important in high school, when the so-called "transitional age" comes, everyone is known for its emotional outbursts and difficulties in finding a "common language."

Learning difficulties, problems with classmates, quarrels with teachers and parents, lack of educational motivation, anxiety and fear - this is what a school psychologist faces.

What a psychologist can and should do

Many people are mistaken when they think that the job duties of a school psychologist are reduced only to conducting tests and diagnosing them. This is far from the case. Here is a list of what is included in the service functions of a specialist.

Diagnostics

Let's start with this most common professional responsibility. Psychologists study the level of development, state of memory, thinking ability, communication skills, emotional component and "paint" a portrait of each individual student. They do it in groups or approach each one individually.

As a result of psychological diagnostics, the so-called "risk group" is formed. It will include pupils who would not be hurt by the correction of their behavior, so that they do not "break the wood" in the future.

Corrective activity

This is the official duty of a school specialist arising from diagnostics, otherwise why collect material in order to simply put it on a shelf in the school principal's office and wait "when it blows up"? No, the right psychologist will give recommendations to teachers, what to look for and how to behave with a problem student.

He will talk with the parents and suggest activities for the child that will allow him to correct his behavior and solve the existing painful problems in the emotional-volitional sphere.

Consulting

This is the job functionality that is present in both diagnostics and correction. Educating parents and educators about research findings, making predictions, and alerting them to potential difficulties that may be faced are all part of the daily job responsibilities of a school psychologist.

Psychology education

Yes, there is also such a professional function, which, alas, not all full-time teachers are engaged in, but the best of them do not miss this area.

Not only help when "well, it has begun," but tell parents and teachers in time about what can and must be done for the comfortable psychological development of the child at certain stages of his growing up, in order to reduce the number of requests for help when nothing works , - this is the task of the real docks of their business.

Conclusions.

The right school will definitely consult with its in-house psychologist when it is necessary to choose the right program for a student if he cannot cope with the academic load. Teachers will also turn to a specialist in the event that a particularly successful person intends to step over the classroom, and, for example, from the first to get right behind the school desk to the third.

In general, being ready to help, being around every day, every minute - this is what a real school psychologist can and should do.

What a psychologist can count on

As usual, we always remember the responsibilities of someone, but we often forget about the rights. So it is here, and completely in vain. After all, when something is done in relation to us and our children, we often shout: "You have no right!" And what is a school psychologist entitled to?

First of all, a full-time employee of the school has the right to observe, that is, to keep an eye on our children, how they behave in the lesson, at recess, while eating in the canteen.

Secondly, experts conduct tests and individual interviews. It can be group pictorial diagnostics and game assignments in primary school and group questioning of students in high school.

Note that in order to avoid conflicts with parents, teachers have taken the practice of taking the consent of legal representatives that they do not mind. And it is right! The right to test, diagnose, talk and correct, not in a group, but on an individual basis, arises for the teacher only at the request of the child's parents and only with their written permission!

The information collected in the process of psychological examination is a secret that the teacher does not tell "over a cup of tea." He has the right not to disclose the results to either the director, or the head teacher, or anyone else, no matter how much they want to know. To anyone, except for the legal representatives of the child.

Only in general terms, for example: low self-esteem, learning difficulties and others, a specialist can respond to the boring look of the school teaching staff.

What do you think, do you need a psychologist at school or is it easier for you to “wash dirty linen in public” by contacting a private specialist? Or maybe you had to seek help from a psychologist from your school? Let us know in the comments!

Do not forget to subscribe to the blog news to always be aware of new articles and do not miss anything interesting!

Conflicts at school and problems associated with the educational process are common. Teachers cannot always solve such problems due to their workload, and parents do not have enough knowledge in the field of child psychology to competently approach the solution of the problem that has arisen.

Profession teacher-psychologist

A teacher-psychologist is an employee of an educational institution who monitors the social adaptation of students, conducts work to correct deviant behavior of children, and takes measures aimed at preventing psychological deviations.

The school includes the management of personal files of students, supervision of children and activities to eliminate problem situations. The personal qualities of a psychologist play an important role in the organization of his work. Mutual understanding, the ability to listen and make decisions are essential qualities that a teacher-psychologist must possess.

The personal qualities of a psychologist must correspond to the position held. A child is more likely to make contact if the teacher-psychologist has the following qualities:

• communicativeness;
• friendliness;
• justice;
• tolerance;
• modernity;
• intelligence;
• optimism.

Not everyone can become a talented specialist in this area, since the productivity of a teacher-psychologist at school depends on the personal qualities of the person himself.

Job responsibilities of a teacher-psychologist

A specialist can hold this position only if he has a higher or secondary specialized education in the direction of "Pedagogy and Psychology". The federal state educational standard, or FSES, of a teacher-psychologist at a school is regulated by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

The functional duties of a teacher-psychologist at school are not limited only to resolving conflict situations and working with problem children.

We list the main job responsibilities of a psychologist:

• Providing favorable conditions for the development, learning and socialization of students.
• Identification of the causes of problem situations between students.
• Providing psychological assistance to children who need it.
• Participation in the development of developmental and correctional programs.
• Control of the educational process.
• Consulting teachers and parents on the development, socialization and adaptation of children.
• Analysis of the creative and educational achievements of children, their academic performance.
• Assessment of the effectiveness of the work of teachers.

This is only a small part of the responsibilities of an educational psychologist. The complete list is prescribed in job descriptions when hiring a specialist for this position.

Educational Psychologist Program

The work program is drawn up for one academic year in accordance with the requirements of the Law "On Education". Each program is designed with a specific purpose. To achieve this goal, a list of tasks is assigned, the implementation of which leads to the desired result.

Each program has several areas of work, and the activity of a teacher-psychologist at school is subdivided into the following areas: correctional and developmental, psychological and pedagogical, analytical, counseling and education. A detailed action plan is drawn up for each activity category. The means and methods that must be applied to achieve this goal are listed.

Projected performance for each category of student is shown. The program is designed based on the individual and age characteristics of students. The program should include planning work with parents of students, taking into account the individual characteristics of families, identifying dysfunctional, single-parent families. at school is also supervision over the upbringing of the child in the family.

Psychological education

In order for socialization and personal development to proceed harmoniously, it is necessary to create everything for this the necessary conditions... In particular, to take care of the formation of positive attitudes towards psychological assistance to a child from parents, teachers and the children themselves. In most cases, parents who do not have knowledge of child psychology, in the event of conflict situations, do not know how to behave. Sometimes it happens that adults aggravate the situation with their reactions or inappropriate behavior. The duties of the educational psychologist at the school include conducting psychological education classes for teachers and parents at regular intervals. In the event of conflict situations, the psychologist must begin individual work with the student and his parents.

Psychological diagnostics

At this stage, the psychologist diagnoses the psychological state of the students. Reveals the features of the emotional state, the level of development, and in some cases the degree of social neglect or the presence of mental disorders. carried out in different variations. This can be testing, an event, a group lesson, etc. The educational psychologist processes the information obtained during the diagnosis and identifies a risk group. This group can include children who do not have friends among their peers, students who create conflict situations, children with weak emotional stability. Any deviation from the norm can be a reason to start. individual work with the child and his parents.

Psychological correction

After identifying the problem, the behavior correction phase begins. The educational psychologist must prepare a program to correct the existing deviation. The activities of a specialist, teachers should be carried out in conjunction with the activities of parents. The positive result of psychological correction will be a complete correction of deviant behavior.

Deviation correction is performed individually or within a group. In grade 1, for example, group correction is practiced, which allows children to get to know each other better and unite into one team. This type of event is held in the form of a game.

Correctional work is aimed at children who have the following deviations from normal behavior:

• hyperactivity;
• aggression;
• excessive anxiety;
• excessive shyness;
• the presence of constant fear;
• attention deficit;
• poor memory;
• difficulties in mastering the material;
• difficult thinking.

If the deviation manifests itself very sharply, does not lend itself to correction and at the same time there is a complex academic failure of the child within the framework of the school curriculum, then the psychologist should raise the question of transferring the student to a specialized educational institution.

Psychological prevention

Includes a set of measures aimed at creating favorable conditions for development, social adaptation and learning. The educational psychologist must prevent deviations or problems that may arise in a child when communicating with peers or teachers.

Preventive measures may include the following behavioral tactics:

• kindness in dealing with children;
• teaching correct behavior based on the personal example of an adult;
• showing more interest and attention in relation to hyperactive children;
• providing a state of rest for children who are prone to rapid fatigue;
• the gradual development of self-control skills in children.

Loyalty to children should be shown not only by school staff, but also by the parents and relatives of the child. Psychological prevention classes are held both within the classroom and between parallel classes.

Psychologist's work with students' parents

If situations occur in the child's family that provoke any deviations, then the teacher-psychologist is obliged to conduct a conversation with the student's parents. Without an integrated approach, deviant behavior cannot be corrected. The psychologist should pay special attention to children from disadvantaged families. Problem parents are not always ready to interact, therefore it is necessary to choose the appropriate communication tactics, to outline the arguments and prospects for effective cooperation.

The psychologist should actively interact with the parents, help them resolve disputes with the child. Parenting counseling can take place on an individual basis, if necessary. The tactics of the parent's behavior should not differ from the pattern of behavior of teachers at school. Parents should consider the very process of cooperation with a school psychologist as an opportunity to replenish their knowledge in the field of child psychology and pedagogy. A psychologist should not overload parents with work, this can scare them away. Interest in such cooperation will quickly disappear.

Psychologist work in elementary school

The beginning of school is a very important stage for a child and his parents. It is at school that the baby begins to actively develop and adapt in society. Relationships with peers are built on the basis of a certain scheme, which is worked out by teachers and parents. Before the child enters the first grade, the psychologist must determine the readiness for schooling.

At the stage of the beginning of teaching children, the task of the psychologist will be to adapt the child to the environment of his peers and teachers. Gifted children with a high level of development need to be given special attention so that they do not lose interest in learning. Pupils who have difficulties in mastering the school curriculum need to be provided with timely assistance. Keeping track of the school performance of children is one of the responsibilities of an educational psychologist at school.

If a psychologist observes inappropriate behavior of children or teachers, he should immediately respond. The activity of a teacher-psychologist in elementary school is based on the characteristics of the perception and development of children of this age. A trusting and cooperative relationship should develop between the child and the teacher.

An extracurricular activity, depending on its specifics, may have different goals. The educational psychologist selects such tasks or games that can provide the necessary information about children. In this case, the purpose of the event will be diagnostics, identifying problem situations in the team, monitoring the communication of children. For this purpose, command assignments are suitable. The guys will immediately identify several leaders who will lead the teams.

If the children are already familiar with each other, but there are conflict situations between certain representatives of the class, then the purpose of the extracurricular activity will be to unite the team, to form friendly and trusting relationships between students. In this case, the participants in the conflict must be on the same team. It is necessary to create a situation that encourages children to cooperate.

The educational psychologist program at school should include various activities. They are held throughout the school year in all classes.

Analysis of the work of a psychologist at school

At the end of the school year, a detailed report is drawn up. An analysis of the work of a teacher-psychologist at school should include conclusions about the fulfillment of the goals and objectives. The report lists the activities that were carried out by the psychologist, provides a list of problem children, and details the progress of work with them. In the report, the psychologist indicates the names and surnames of the students with whom the individual lessons were conducted.

The analysis includes the conclusion of a psychologist about the readiness of high school students to choose a profession. A list of progress for each grade and a list of career guidance for students in grades 4 are compiled. This is done if the school provides vocational classes. The prospects for the development of children for the next academic year are also indicated.

Finally

The productivity of the work of a teacher-psychologist lies not only in reducing the occurrence of conflict situations, but also in increasing academic performance among schoolchildren. This is a very important person in the educational institution.

Does school need a psychologist? What is its role in the educational process? Does the work of a school psychologist consist only in working with children or should he work with both teachers and parents. Consider the role of the psychologist in school.

The role of the psychologist at school

What are the tasks of a school psychologist

The competence of a school psychologist includes not only conversations with little rowdy, but also diagnosing mental problems in children, as well as corrective work. The task of the psychologist is to diagnose cognitive processes (memory, thinking, attention), and to diagnose the emotional sphere of the child. If, during the diagnosis, the school psychologist found low indicators, he must carry out corrective work with such a child. Working with a child includes elements of play and drawing methods - this is determined by the psychologist depending on the age of the child.

Together with the class teacher, the school psychologist should compile the psychological and pedagogical characteristics of children. These characteristics should reveal the development of all spheres and mental processes, health, and also give a complete picture of the family climate, the interests of the child and much more.

The school psychologist is the link

The school psychologist is a kind of connecting link between teachers, parents and children. The psychologist helps the child to acquire and assimilate social experience through awareness of their behavior and building their own position - this helps the child to develop a conscious perception of the world. The main position of the psychologist is the creation of conditions for life systems and the choice of these systems for children. With the joint work of a psychologist and teachers, the child forms the conditions for creating a personal position: awareness of his own "I", self-confidence and the ability to form his own opinion. The school psychologist acts as an organizational link between children and teachers, as this is necessary to protect the interests and identify the opportunities of schoolchildren.

The formation of pedagogical tasks also directly depends on the successful work of a psychologist. It is the school psychologist who can identify the reasons for the failure, disinhibition or aggressiveness of a child. Subsequently, based on the results of his work with the child, he conducts work with the student's parents so that they can also understand his behavior. The cooperation of a psychologist, parents and school teachers often leads to positive changes in the child's behavior. The formation of the correct pedagogical tasks and the outline of ways to solve them make it possible not only to improve the performance of children in school, but also to improve the general climate in the educational institution.