Educational psychology in Ireland and its Psychological Society of Ireland division – a history

Abstract

This article considers the context in which the Division of Educational Psychology (DEP) of the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) and the profession of educational psychologist emerged in Ireland. Education itself provided the stimulus and locus for many important events in the history of psychology as a science and profession, and each discipline owes much to the other. Educational issues concerned PSI from the very beginning, and a committee or special interest group emerged in the 1970s. The article outlines three discourses that led to the growth of special needs education in Ireland in the latter half of the twentieth century, and these, influenced strongly by developments in other countries and by litigation against the state, led to radical change in government policy-making here. Ground-breaking legislation embodying a changed notion of what school education is, and marking a new relationship between the school and the individual pupil followed. Educational psychologists would be central to the emergence and realisation of these developments, and in increasing numbers. The first professional training course for educational psychologists in an Irish university was set up in 1995. In response to 30 years of campaigning by PSI in particular, the long-sought National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) was finally set up in 1999. This article outlines the major achievements of the Special Interest Group/DEP, including its influence on PSI policies in education, its contribution to the emergence of NEPS and its impact on national policy and on legislation itself. Its many continuing professional development activities are specified while developments of national importance in psycho-educational research are also indicated.

Keywords:

• psychology
• educational
• Ireland
• profession