Training and professional regulation of psychology in education: A challenge within our reach

Abstract

Several issues are discussed which have an influence on the role of the Educational Psychologist (PE): The professional activities or competences, the professional regulation, and the possible integration in the field of school counseling. Regarding competences, special emphasis is placed on the need to start from the demands of the context in which one works, and especially when it comes to school as a highly institutionalized scenario. The need for regulation of the profession is demanded, and the need to parallelize the basic training of PEs is emphasized. It is therefore necessary to strengthen their basic training, establishing specialization options that enable Educational Psychologist to perform quality work in both formal and informal educational settings. Once Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology degree is finished, there should be the option of accessing the school counseling through a Master Degree of Educational Psychology with two different itineraries. On the one hand, the one corresponding to the profile of General Educational Psychologist, which would accredit those who want to practice as more general professionals in the field of education. On the other hand, the specialty of School Psychology to access the school counseling until the recognition of the profession of school psychologist as it happens in other European countries.