Personal profile of a modern educational psychologist

This article discusses the role of the personality of the teacher-psychologist in investigative actions. It should be noted that the investigative actions are different in content, for example: interrogation, experiment, search, identification, examination and others. In these investigative actions, the role of the teacher-psychologist is ambiguous and complex. During interrogation, the teacher-psychologist, with his presence, helps the child in the first place, so that he can calmly and truthfully answer the questions posed without fear and misunderstanding, and also helps the investigator, especially in cases where the questions are asked correctly. However, it seems that even when called to participate in the investigative action on the initiative of the investigator and helping him to establish psychological contact with the minor, the educational psychologist primarily shows concern for the interests of adolescents and not for the interests of the investigation. Consequently, while studying at a university, students, as future pedagogues- psychologists, need to master knowledge in the following subjects, juvenile pedagogy, juvenile psychology, etc. Also, during practical training, it is important to be able to use the knowledge gained in the above subjects.

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Beleweniswêreld van die straatkind in Hillbrow

Curationis ◽

10.4102/curationis.v21i1.612 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

R. Hatting ◽

M. Poggenpoel ◽

C.P.H. Myburgh

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Study ◽

Living Environment ◽

Point Of View ◽

Child Life ◽

Street Child ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Educational Psychologist ◽

The Family ◽

Developmental Opportunities ◽

Gaining Insight

The street child that is driven by circumstances to live outside the supportive structure of the family, is on his own. He doesn’t have the educational developmental opportunities that children who grow up in families and societies do. He finds himself in a unique educational and living environment. From an educational psychologist’s point of view, this environment is abnormal. It is therefore a great challenge for the educational psychologist to try and avoid or resolve negative effects of the child's living environment. An exploratory-, descriptive-, contextual- and qualitative study was done, with the aim of gaining insight and understanding into the life of the street child in Hillbrow as well as his experiences of his situation. The results obtained from the interviews were placed in four categories. These categories are: The street child’s continuous struggle to survive, his need for a “normal child life” , his inability to accept responsibility and the presence of a normative awareness within the street child. In conclusion it is clear that the experiential world of the street child is multi-facetted. In general it appears that the street child has many limitations and difficulties which he experiences, and that input by an educational psychologist can have meaningful influence in his life.

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