Questionnaire On School/educational Psychology Training And Practice

Sweden

Question 2: Approximately how many school/educational psychologists work in your country? Number of educational Psychologists
N.B. Numbers below are mostly estimates.

Answer:
550


Question 3: What is the ratio of school/educational Psychologists in your country?
N.B. Numbers below are estimates

Answer:
1600


Question 4: Who are the main employers of school/educational Psychologists?

Answer:
local schools and local authorities


Question 5: Are school/educational psychologists represented by any general or specific association or union in your country?

Answer:
Division of School Psychologists within the General Psychological Association


Question 6: How do school/educational psychologists become trained?
Include details of length of the training period, the additional qualifications and professional experience which are required (e.g. teaching), whether and how your training courses link with other courses of training in professional psychology.

Answer:
no special training differing from other psychologists.
Program: 5 yrs university, followed by 1 yr supervised practice.


Question 7: How many universities provide this training for school/educational psychologists?

Answer:
6 universities.


Question 8: What are the employment prospect for newly trained school/educational psychologists?

Answer:
poor in university cities, better in rural areas


Question 9: How many school/educational psychologists are currently unemployed in your country?

Answer:
very few unemployed educational psychologists


Question 10: What are the key tasks that are undertaken by school/educational psychologists?
(e.g. assessment, recommending special provision for children, consultation, counselling…)

Answer:

  • diagnosis of pupils’ problems
  • support and treatment of pupils
  • counselling to parents, teachers and headteachers
  • consultation
  • organisational work, e.g. developing programmes for special education crisis intervention

Question 11: Are school /educational psychologists licensed? Is this a legal rquirement?

Answer:
License given by government, i.e. Social Department: after 5 yrs university study + 1 yr. supervised practice


Question 12: What are the current issues facing school / educational psychologists at the present?

Answer:

  • a lot of organizational changes at the local level for political and economic reasons (e.g. a “buy and sell” system has been introduce in nine cities)
  • decentralisation of power and money into schools, but school psychologists prefer a central organisation to maintain professional quality
  • exploring new professional fields, e.g. evaluation of work in school
  • how to get a better salary.