Where to start your work as an educational psychologist at an educational institution

1. Study the legal framework (see the section “For a beginning psychologist”), as well as:

uRegulations on the service of practical psychology in the education system dated October 22, 1999 No. 636 (or later editions);

urights and responsibilities of a school psychologist;

upsychologist's code of ethics (for example, in the newspaper “School Psychologist” No. 44, 2001);

2. Since your immediate boss is a director, discuss with him your work schedule, the availability of a methodological day, priority areas of work, etc.

3. Find out from the director the goals and objectives of the school and draw up your work plan based on these goals and objectives. The principal and head teachers take part in the discussion of your annual plan, since it is part of the school's annual plan. The director must certify with his signature and seal your annual plan and job responsibilities.

4. Your main assistant at work newspaper "School Psychologist". A lot of useful information can be found in magazines "Questions of Psychology" And "Psychological Science and Education" .

5. If you are the only psychologist at school, then it is better to organize activities based on a plan approved by the school administration. Take for work the main points of child development: 1st grade (adaptation to school), 4th grade (psychological and intellectual readiness for transition to secondary education), 5th grade (adaptation to secondary education), 8th grade ( the most acute period of adolescence), grades 9–11 (career guidance work, psychological preparation for exams).

6. Build your activities along the main areas:

uDiagnostics. Diagnostics and subsequent processing of data takes a lot of time, but often this is the traditional direction in the work of an educational psychologist. After processing the results, they must be discussed at a pedagogical council, which includes head teachers, a psychologist, a speech therapist, and a school doctor, and ways must be outlined that will be effective in solving the identified problems. The results obtained must be discussed taking into account the code of ethics and the principle of “Do no harm.”

uConsulting direction . Don’t think that people will immediately come to you with questions and problems. Go “to the masses” yourself. Conducted a diagnosis - discuss, give recommendations, advise specialists who can be contacted if necessary.

uEducational work . These include teacher councils, parent-teacher meetings, conversations, lectures, etc. you can set up a stand where you can place articles from newspapers and magazines that help teachers conduct themed class hours, parent-teacher meetings, understand age characteristics, etc.

uCorrectively-developmental work.

7. Create a folder with documentation where you can, for example, attach:

uRegulations on the service of practical psychology in the education system dated October 22, 1999. №636

uJob responsibilities (certified by the seal and signature of the director)

uLong-term planning for the year (certified with the seal and signature of the director, with the goals of the school, the goal and objectives of the psychologist or service, types of activities and deadlines)

uCode of Ethics for Psychologist (“School Psychologist” No. 44, 2001)

uTopics for parent meetings for the year.

uSchedule of parent meetings (included every month)

uPlan of the school's psychological, medical and pedagogical council.

uVarious orders, instructions.

8. Keep a work journal for the main types of activities (see the section “Methodological recommendations for maintaining accounting and reporting documentation “Work journal of a teacher-psychologist of an educational institution”)

9. Create a separate folder for storing examination results.

10. You can also create a folder with teaching materials, as well as folders for various sections: working with parents, working with teachers, working with students, methodological developments, fairytale therapy, counseling.

11. To avoid routine documentation, fill out journals at the end of each working day and summarize everything on Friday. At the end of the month, all that remains is to analyze whether everything has been accomplished, the effectiveness of the work, and count the number of consultations, parent meetings, correctional or developmental classes, and trainings conducted.

Openness, smiling, sincerity, the ability to get out of a sticky situation - all this ensures your authority. The style of your behavior is also important: how you invite children to come for an examination, how you walk along the corridor during recess, how you react to provocations, aggression, the unexpected arrival of teenagers, etc.

The position of educational psychologist appeared in secondary schools about 10 years ago, but now it is already a common occurrence. Some schools have created psychological services where several psychologists work.

Let's take a closer look at the features of the activity under discussion using the example of the experience of a psychologist - Marina Mikhailovna Kravtsova, a graduate of the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University, specializing in the Department of Developmental Psychology. Her responsibilities include working with students in grades 1-5, their parents and teachers. The goal of the work is to improve the educational process. The work is structured not only in general with the aim of optimizing the educational process, but also taking into account specific difficulties that arise in the learning process, relationships in the triad “student - parent - teacher”. Individual and group lessons are conducted with schoolchildren (increasing motivation for educational activities, establishing interpersonal relationships). M. Kravtsova notes: “It is important for me that every child feels comfortable at school, that he wants to go to it and does not feel lonely and unhappy. It is important that parents and teachers see his real problems, want to help him and, most importantly, understand how to do it.”

It is necessary that the child, parents and teachers are not “isolated” from each other, so that there is no confrontation between them. They must work together on emerging problems, because only in this case is an optimal solution possible. The main task of a school psychologist is not to solve the problem for them, but to unite their efforts to solve it.

Literally in the last few years, the administration of an increasing number of schools understands the need for the participation of a psychologist in the school process. Specific tasks are emerging more and more clearly, the solutions of which are expected from the school psychologist. In this regard, the profession of a school psychologist is becoming one of the most in demand. However, a psychologist is in demand not only at school, but also in other children’s institutions (for example, in kindergartens, children’s homes, early development centers, etc.), that is, wherever the ability to work with the triad “child – parents – teacher” is necessary ( teacher)".

The functions of a school psychologist include: psychological diagnostics; correctional work; counseling parents and teachers; psychological education; participation in teacher councils and parent meetings; participation in the recruitment of first-graders; psychological prevention.

Psychological diagnostics includes conducting frontal (group) and individual examinations of students using special techniques. Diagnostics are carried out at the preliminary request of teachers or parents, as well as at the initiative of a psychologist for research or preventive purposes.

The psychologist selects a methodology aimed at studying the abilities and characteristics of the child (group of students) that interest him. These can be techniques aimed at studying the level of development of attention, thinking, memory, emotional sphere, personality traits and relationships with others. The school psychologist also uses methods to study parent-child relationships and the nature of interaction between the teacher and the class.

The data obtained allow the psychologist to build further work: identify students in the so-called “risk group” who need remedial classes; prepare recommendations for teachers and parents on interaction with students.

Correctional classes can be individual or group. During the process, the psychologist tries to correct undesirable features of the child’s mental development. These classes can be aimed both at the development of cognitive processes (memory, attention, thinking), and at solving problems in the emotional-volitional sphere, in the sphere of communication and the problem of self-esteem of students.

The school psychologist uses existing lesson programs and also develops them independently, taking into account the specifics of each specific case. Classes include a variety of exercises: developmental, gaming, drawing and other tasks - depending on the goals and age of the students.

Consulting parents and teachers is work on a specific request. The psychologist acquaints parents or teachers with the diagnostic results, gives a certain prognosis, and warns about what difficulties the student may have in the future in learning and communication; At the same time, recommendations are jointly developed for solving emerging problems and interacting with the student.

Psychological education consists of introducing teachers and parents to the basic patterns and conditions for the favorable mental development of a child. This is carried out through consultations, speeches at pedagogical councils and parent-teacher meetings.

In addition, at pedagogical councils, the psychologist participates in making decisions about the possibility of teaching a given child according to a specific program, about transferring a student from class to class, about the possibility of a child “stepping over” through a class (for example, a very capable or prepared student can be transferred from first grade immediately to third).

One of the tasks of a psychologist is to draw up a program interviews with future first-graders, conducting that part of the interview that concerns the psychological aspects of the child’s readiness for school (the level of development of volition, the presence of motivation to learn, the level of development of thinking). The psychologist also gives recommendations to parents of future first-graders.

All of the above functions of a school psychologist make it possible to maintain at school the psychological conditions necessary for the full mental development and formation of the child’s personality, that is, they serve the goals psychological prevention.

The work of a school psychologist includes methodological part. A psychologist must constantly work with literature, including periodicals, in order to track new scientific achievements, deepen his theoretical knowledge, and become familiar with new techniques. Any diagnostic technique requires the ability to process and summarize the data obtained. The school psychologist tests new methods in practice and finds the most optimal methods of practical work. He tries to select literature on psychology for the school library in order to introduce teachers, parents and students to psychology. In his daily work, he uses such expressive means of behavior and speech as intonation, posture, gestures, facial expressions; is guided by the rules of professional ethics, the work experience of himself and his colleagues.

A big problem for a school psychologist is that often the school does not provide him with a separate office. In this regard, many difficulties arise. A psychologist must store literature, teaching aids, work papers, and, finally, his personal belongings somewhere. He needs a room for conversations and classes. For some activities, the room must meet certain requirements (for example, be spacious for physical exercise). The psychologist has difficulties with all this. Usually he is allocated the premises that are free at the moment, temporarily. As a result, a situation may arise when a conversation with a student is conducted in one office, and the necessary literature and methods are located in another. Due to the large volume of information processed, it would be desirable for a school psychologist to have access to a computer, which the school often cannot provide him with.

It is difficult to correlate the school schedule, the distribution of a student’s extracurricular activities and psychological work with him. For example, the conversation cannot be interrupted, but at this time the student needs to go to class or go to the sports section.

The psychologist is visible most of the time, in contact with teachers, parents or students. This is a lot of stress, especially if there is no separate room where you can rest. Problems arise even with having a snack during the working day.

The interviewed school psychologist’s relationship with the team is mostly smooth. It is very important that there are no conflicts in the team; the psychologist must be unbiased, he must be ready to listen to the polar opinions of colleagues about each other.

A psychologist is constantly in a stream of numerous and often contradictory information in which he needs to navigate. At the same time, sometimes information about the problem can be excessive, and sometimes insufficient (for example, some teachers are afraid to let a psychologist into their lesson, believing that the psychologist will evaluate their work and not observe the behavior of students in the lesson).

Naturally, the workplace of a school psychologist is not only at school, but also in the library and at home.

The salary, unfortunately, is low, lower than that of most teachers. The situation is complicated by the fact that you have to buy the necessary literature and methodological support with your own money.

Of course, the school psychologist must be mentally healthy. He must be resilient and withstand great physical and psychological stress. To work as a school psychologist, you need to have certain qualities, namely: the ability to listen and empathize. When working with people, it is important to formulate your thoughts clearly and clearly, to be hardworking, sociable, responsible, tactful, contactable, erudite, and tolerant. It is important for a psychologist to have a sense of humor, have broad professional knowledge, and love children. In the process of work, such qualities as the ability to communicate with different people, understand their problems and interests, analyze, and find a compromise are developed; observation and professional knowledge develop.

The profession is attractive due to the variety of tasks that arise, its unconditional social significance (real help is provided to real people), the opportunity to constantly discover something new and improve, it is full of impressions.

At the same time, the school psychologist is constantly involved in various conflict and problem situations; his position may not coincide with the position of the school administration; he has to overcome the mistrust of teachers, parents, and sometimes students. You constantly have to quickly find a way out of difficult, ambiguous situations. Sometimes a psychologist is expected to do more than he can do.

The profession of a school psychologist can be obtained by studying at any department of the Faculty of Psychology, but for successful initial adaptation it is useful to specialize at the university in the field of developmental psychology and educational psychology. Improvement of qualifications is facilitated by:

• attending psychological seminars and master classes, including those dedicated to correctional work with children;
• participation in scientific conferences and round tables dedicated to the work of psychologists in the education system;
• regular visits to the library and bookstores to familiarize yourself with new psychological literature;
• familiarization with new methods and research related to problems of child development and learning;
• postgraduate studies.

Thus, the profession of a school psychologist today is necessary, in demand, interesting, but difficult.

The text was prepared by a student at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University A. Kruglov based on an interview with a psychologist working at the school - M.M. Kravtsova.

Part I General issues of organization and activities of school psychological services (I.V. Dubrovina)

Chapter 2. Contents of the work of a school psychologist

I.2.1. Where to start?

What advice can you give to a psychologist just starting school? First of all, take your time and look around.

The first period of work of a practical psychologist can be conditionally called a period of adaptation: the psychologist must adapt to the school, and the school to the psychologist. After all, they know each other very poorly. Conversations with the school administration, students, their parents, visits to lessons, extracurricular activities, pioneer gatherings, Komsomol meetings, meetings of teachers' councils, parent meetings, study of documentation, etc. would be appropriate here. At the same time, in conversations and at meetings, it is necessary to introduce teachers, students and their parents with the tasks and methods of work of a school psychologist (in the most general form).

A psychologist at school is a new phenomenon for us, and many teachers may not immediately recognize a psychologist. What is needed is patience, benevolent calm, and a tactful attitude towards everyone. Every person has the right to doubt, and the teacher, class teacher, school director - even more so. Why should they immediately believe in a psychologist? Everything depends on him and, most importantly, on his professional training and ability to work professionally. Therefore, in our opinion, one should start with what the psychologist knows and can do best. For example, if he has extensive experience working with primary schoolchildren, then he should start with them; if he previously had to deal with the development of the intellectual sphere of children, then he should try his hand at working with lagging or capable children, etc.

But in all cases there is no need to rush, strive at all costs to show what you are capable of as soon as possible. The psychologist has come to school for a long time, forever, and the teaching staff should immediately develop the attitude that the psychologist is not a magician and cannot solve everything right away. And such psychological processes as correction and development generally take a long time. And finding out the causes of a particular psychological problem requires different amounts of time each time - from several minutes to several months.

According to the experience of school psychologists, such an adaptation period can take from three months to a year.

I.2.2. So, why does a practical psychologist come to school?

Adults working at school all together solve one common task - to provide training and education for the younger generation. Moreover, each of them occupies its own specific place in the educational process and has its own specific tasks, goals and methods. For example, the specific tasks and methods of work of a history teacher differ from the tasks and methods of work of a teacher of biology, mathematics, physical education, labor, etc. In turn, the tasks and methods of work of all subject teachers change fundamentally when they act as class teachers.

So, each school teacher has his own functional responsibilities based on professional specialization. But what about a practical psychologist? Maybe those at school are right who perceive him either as an “ambulance” for the teacher, or as a “nanny” for the students, i.e. as a useful person, even interesting in some ways, but without specific, clearly defined responsibilities - it’s good to have him, but you can do without him? Of course, this is completely inconsistent with the meaning of his activities.

A practical psychologist also comes to school as a specialist - a specialist in the field of child, educational and social psychology. In his work, he relies on professional knowledge about age patterns and individual uniqueness of mental development, about the origins of mental activity and motives of human behavior, about the psychological conditions for the formation of personality in ontogenesis. A psychologist is an equal member of the school team and is responsible for that aspect of the pedagogical process that no one else can provide professionally, namely, he controls the mental development of students and contributes to this development as much as possible.

The effectiveness of a school psychologist’s work is determined primarily by the extent to which he can provide the basic psychological conditions that contribute to the development of students. The following can be mentioned as the main conditions.

1. Maximum implementation in the work of the teaching staff with students of age-related capabilities and development reserves (seisivity of a particular age period, “zone of proximal development”, etc.). A practical psychologist should contribute to ensuring that age-related characteristics are not simply taken into account (these words are already accustomed to at school), but that these characteristics (or new formations) are actively formed and serve as the basis for the further development of schoolchildren’s capabilities.

Thus, at primary school age, targeted education and upbringing of the child begins. The main type of his activity is educational activity, which plays an important role in the formation and development of all mental properties and qualities. It is this age that is sensitive for the development of such psychological formations as arbitrariness of mental processes, an internal plan of action, reflection on the ways of one’s behavior, the need for active mental activity or a tendency to cognitive activity, and the mastery of educational skills. In other words, by the end of primary school age, a child should be able to learn, want to learn and believe in his abilities.

The optimal basis for successful learning is the harmonious correspondence of educational and intellectual skills and abilities with such personality parameters as self-esteem and cognitive or educational motivation. This correspondence is laid precisely at primary school age. Almost all problems (including underachievement, academic overload, etc.) that arise at subsequent stages of education are determined by the fact that the child either does not know how to study, or learning is not interesting to him, and his prospects are not visible.

There is a huge variety of activities, each of which requires certain abilities for its implementation at a sufficiently high level. The formation of abilities has its own characteristics at each age stage and is closely related to the development of the child’s interests, self-assessment of his successes or failures in a particular activity. The mental development of a child is impossible without the development of his abilities. But the development of these abilities requires patience on the part of adults, attention and careful attitude towards the slightest successes of the child, and adults often lack this! And they soothe their conscience with the common formula that ability is the exception, not the rule. Having such a belief, a school psychologist cannot work; his main task is to identify and develop everyone’s abilities at the individual level of achievement.

At the same time, the psychologist should keep in mind that children have different bases for assessing their abilities: they evaluate their comrades by their success in classes (objective criterion), and themselves by their emotional attitude to classes (subjective criterion). Therefore, children’s achievements should be considered in two ways - in terms of their objective and subjective significance.

Objectively significant achievements are clearly visible to others: teachers, parents, friends. For example, a student learns the material quickly, “on the fly,” immediately understands the teacher’s explanation, and operates with knowledge freely. He stands out among his classmates, his self-esteem coincides with real high success, and is constantly reinforced.

Subjectively significant achievements are those successes that are often invisible to others, but are of high value for the child himself. There are children (this is the bulk of students - the so-called “average” students) who do not have any great, noticeable achievements in a certain area of ​​​​knowledge; in the class they are not only not better, but worse than many in mastering this subject, but they have feelings for it great interest, they are happy to carry out tasks on it. Subjectively, for themselves, they achieve some success in this area of ​​​​knowledge, unlike others. The self-assessment of such a child’s capabilities is often supported only by his own positive attitude towards the subject. Thus, we can say that there are different conditions for the formation of self-esteem - under the influence and support of the teacher or contrary to the teacher’s assessment (and then the child has to overcome significant difficulties to assert himself, or he “gives up”).

At school, unfortunately, they do not approach the so-called “average” student correctly enough. Most “average” junior schoolchildren already have their favorite subjects, there are (certain areas where they achieve relatively high results. But the general level of development for many of them is not high enough due to a number of circumstances (for example, deficiencies in the development of imagination, etc.) If you don’t immediately pay attention to them, don’t support their interest and success in one area or another, then they can (as often happens) remain “average” until the end of school, losing faith in their abilities and interest in their studies.

An approach to the problem of abilities, based on the recognition of the existence of not only objectively, but also subjectively significant abilities of the child, makes it possible to build the educational process taking into account the subjectively most successful area of ​​knowledge or activity for each student. Usually, the main attention during learning and development is proposed to be paid to the weakest points, the areas of retardation that the child has. Meanwhile, relying specifically on the area that is subjectively successful for the child has the most progressive influence on the formation of personality, allows everyone to develop their interests and abilities, and improves lagging abilities not directly, but indirectly.

3. Creating a school that is favorable for the development of children psychological climate, which is determined primarily by productive communication, interaction between the child and adults (teachers, parents), the child and the children's team, and the immediate circle of peers.

Full-fledged communication is least of all oriented toward any type of evaluation or evaluative situations; it is characterized by non-evaluation. The highest value in communication is the other person with whom we communicate, with all his qualities, properties, moods, etc., i.e. the right to individuality.

A favorable psychological climate and relationships have their own specifics at each age.

In the lower grades The nature of the teacher’s communication creates different attitudes towards him in children: positive, in which the student accepts the teacher’s personality, showing goodwill and openness in communicating with him; negative, in which the student does not accept the teacher’s personality, showing aggressiveness, rudeness or withdrawal in communication with him; conflictual, in which students have a contradiction between rejection of the teacher’s personality and a hidden but acute interest in his personality. At the same time, there is a close connection between the characteristics of communication between younger schoolchildren and teachers and the formation of their learning motives. A positive attitude and trust in the teacher create a desire to engage in educational activities and contribute to the formation of a cognitive motive for learning; a negative attitude does not help this.

A negative attitude towards a teacher among younger schoolchildren is quite rare, but a conflictual attitude is quite common (about 30% of children). In these children, the formation of cognitive motivation is delayed, since the need for confidential communication with the teacher is combined with distrust of him, and, consequently, of the activity in which he is engaged, in some cases - with fear of him. These children are most often withdrawn, vulnerable or, conversely, indifferent, unresponsive to the teacher’s instructions, and lack initiative. When communicating with the teacher, they show forced obedience, humility, and sometimes a desire to adapt. Moreover, usually children themselves do not realize the reasons for their own experiences, unsettlement, and grief; unfortunately, adults often do not realize this either. First-graders, due to insufficient life experience, tend to exaggerate and deeply experience the apparent severity on the part of the teacher. This phenomenon is often underestimated by teachers at the very beginning of children’s education. Meanwhile, this is extremely important: in subsequent grades, negative emotions can take hold and can be transferred to educational activities in general, to relationships with teachers and friends. All this leads to serious deviations in the mental and personal development of schoolchildren.

In the relationships of adolescents, the most significant feelings are the feelings of sympathy and antipathy they experience towards peers, assessments and self-esteem of abilities. Failures in communicating with peers lead to a state of internal discomfort, which cannot be compensated for by any objectively high indicators in other areas of life. Communication is subjectively perceived by adolescents as something very important: this is evidenced by their sensitive attention to the form of communication, attempts to comprehend and analyze their relationships with peers and adults. It is in communication with peers that the formation of value orientations of adolescents begins, which are an important indicator of their social maturity. In communicating with peers, such needs of adolescents as the desire for self-affirmation among peers, the desire to get to know oneself and the interlocutor better, to understand the world around them, to defend independence in thoughts, actions and actions, to test one’s own courage and breadth of knowledge in defending one’s opinion, to show in in fact, such personal qualities as honesty, willpower, responsiveness or severity, etc. Teenagers who, for one reason or another, do not have good communication with their peers, often lag behind in age-related personal development and, in any case, feel very uncomfortable at school.

Relationships between high school students are characterized by special attention to communication with representatives of the opposite sex, the presence or absence of informal communication with teachers and other adults. Communication with adults is a basic communicative need and a main factor in the moral development of high school students. Communication with peers, undoubtedly, plays a role in personality development here, however, a feeling of self-importance, uniqueness and self-worth can arise in a young man (and even in a teenager) only when he feels respect for himself as a person with a more developed consciousness and greater life experience. Parents and teachers, therefore, act not only as transmitters of knowledge, but also as bearers of the moral experience of humanity, which can only be transmitted in direct and even informal communication. However, parents and teachers actually fail to fulfill this role: students’ satisfaction with informal communication with adults is extremely low. This indicates an unfavorable spiritual state of society, a breakdown in the spiritual connection between the older and younger generations.

In modern schools, psychological conditions that ensure full communication of students with adults and peers at all stages of school childhood are not met. Hence, some students of primary school age and many teenagers and high school students develop a negative attitude towards school, towards learning, and an inadequate attitude towards themselves and towards the people around them. Effective learning and progressive personal development are impossible in such conditions.

Therefore, creating a favorable psychological climate, in the center of which is personal, interested communication between adults and students, is one of the main tasks of a school psychologist. But he can successfully solve it only by working together with teachers, in creative communication with them, setting specific content and productive forms of such communication.

A school psychologist is located directly within the social organism where both positive and negative aspects of the relationship between teachers, students and their parents arise, exist and develop. He sees each child or teacher not on his own, but in a complex system of interaction (see Fig. 1).

This is a kind of “field” of interaction between a practical psychologist and students of different ages, their teachers and parents, at the center of which are the interests of the child as an emerging personality. It is clear that at all stages of work both with individual students and with the children's team, close cooperation between the psychologist and all adults related to these children is necessary.

I.2.3. Main types of work of a school psychologist.

The main activities of a school psychologist include:

1. psychological education as the very first introduction of the teaching staff, students and parents to psychological knowledge;
2. psychological prevention , which consists in the fact that the psychologist must carry out constant work to prevent possible troubles in the mental and personal development of schoolchildren;
3. psychological counseling , consisting of assistance in solving those problems with which teachers, students, and parents come to him themselves (or they are recommended to come, or a psychologist asks them to do so). Often they realize the existence of a problem after educational and preventive activities of a psychologist;
4. psychodiagnostics as an in-depth penetration of a psychologist into the inner world of a schoolchild. The results of a psychodiagnostic examination provide grounds for a conclusion about the further correction or development of the student, about the effectiveness of preventive or advisory work carried out with him;
5. psychocorrection how to eliminate deviations in the mental and personal development of a student;
6. work to develop the child’s abilities , the formation of his personality.

In any specific situation, each type of work can be the main one, depending on the problem that the school psychologist is solving and on the specifics of the institution where he works. Thus, in boarding schools for children deprived of parental care, the psychologist first of all develops and implements developmental, psychocorrectional and psychoprophylactic programs that would compensate for the unfavorable experience and life circumstances of these children and contribute to the development of their personal resources.

Psychologists working at Rono mainly perform the following activities:

• organizing lecture series for teachers and parents in order to improve their psychological culture. Experience shows that it is after listening to a course of lectures that teachers and parents often turn to a psychologist, see more problems, and formulate them better. Lectures provide an opportunity to increase the motivation of teachers and parents to implement the psychologist’s recommendations, since the analysis of a similar case shows adults real ways to solve a particular problem. At the same time, it is important that the psychologist dwells on current issues that are interesting to the audience, and illustrates the lectures with examples from practice (of course, without indicating names). This increases interest not only in psychological knowledge, but also in counseling; parents and teachers begin to imagine what the work of a psychologist consists of, and cease to be afraid when they are invited to a conversation with a psychologist about their child’s studies or behavior;
• conducting consultations for teachers and parents on psychological problems of interest to them and providing information assistance. A psychologist is often asked to tell him where he can get advice on special issues affecting the interests of the child. Depending on the request, the psychologist recommends specialized psychological, defectological, legal, medical and other consultations;
• carrying out in-depth work in any class in order to help the class teacher in identifying specific reasons for poor performance and indiscipline of students, determining, together with teachers, possible forms of behavior correction and development of schoolchildren;
• assistance in preparing and conducting pedagogical councils in individual schools;
• organization of a permanent seminar for district teachers on child and educational psychology, personality psychology and interpersonal relationships;
• creation of a psychological “asset” from among the teachers of the district schools. This is a mandatory condition for the work of the district psychological service. If in every school, or at least in the majority of schools in the district, there is not at least one teacher who can competently pose psychological questions and determine which children and for what problems it is advisable to show a psychologist for examination, then it will be almost impossible for the district psychological center to work: several people , which are in it, will not be able to independently determine the difficulties and problems that students have in schools;
• participation in admissions to the first grades to determine the level of readiness of children for school.

The experience of the regional psychological center allows us to talk about it as a useful form of psychological service, given that it is difficult to provide all schools with psychologists in the near future.

Despite the fact that a more effective form of organizing psychological services is the work of a practical psychologist directly at school, a psychological center or office at the regional school could provide some psychological assistance to schools in the district. For the development of school psychological services, the interaction of a psychologist at school with psychologists from district (city) psychological offices is very important.

You have decided to work at school. Where to start?

1. Your boss is the director. It is to him that you obey, and it is he who gives instructions. 2. Find out from the director the goals and objectives of the school and draw up your work plan based on these goals and objectives.

Study the legal framework (Regulations on the service of practical psychology in the education system of October 22, 1999, No. 636; rights and responsibilities of a school psychologist; ethical code of a psychologist (newspaper “School Psychologist” No. 44, 2001); recommended temporary standards for diagnostic and correctional activities (newspaper “School Psychologist” No. 6, 2000)

Find out how the director sees the work of a psychologist, discuss your job responsibilities in detail (this is very important!), offer your version of the activity (what age group you would like to work with, the ratio of standard time to job responsibilities, justify your opinion).

Discuss in detail with the director: who will control your activities and how, the timing and forms of current reporting.

Discuss with the director your work schedule, the availability of a methodological day, and the possibility of processing data outside of school.

The director and head teachers take part in the discussion of your annual plan, since it is part of the school's annual plan.

The director must certify with his signature and seal your annual plan and job responsibilities.

3. Your main assistant in work is . A lot of useful information can be found in magazines And

4. Books by Marina Bityanova help make a successful start: a) The book by Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor M.R. Bityanova outlines the author’s holistic model of organizing psychological services in schools. The publication introduces the reader to the scheme for planning the work of a school psychologist during the school year, provides the author's options for the content of the main directions of his work: diagnostic, correctional and developmental, advisory, etc. Particular attention is paid to the issues of interaction between the psychologist and teachers, the children's community, and school administration. The book will be of interest to school psychologists, teachers, heads of educational organizations and methodologists.

b) The book outlines the system of work of a school psychologist with children 7-10 years old. Specific diagnostic, correctional, developmental and advisory methods and technologies are provided. The author's approach to organizing the work of a psychologist during the academic year, based on the idea of ​​psychological and pedagogical support, is proposed. The authors structured the book in such a way that psychologists could use it as a practical guide for organizing work with children, their parents and teachers.

5. There are some nuances in choosing activity priorities:

If the school has a psychological service, then you work according to the existing annual plan, having discussed in advance the features of your activities.

If you are the only psychologist at school, then it is better to organize activities based on a plan approved by the school administration. Take “under your wing” the main points of a child’s development: 1st grade (adaptation to school), 4th grade (psychological and intellectual readiness for transition to secondary education), 5th grade (adaptation to secondary education), 8th grade grades (the most acute period of adolescence), grades 9–11 (career guidance work, psychological preparation for exams).

6. Main activities:

Diagnostic is one of the traditional areas

TIP 1: Having worked as a school psychologist for more than 7 years, before making a diagnosis I ask myself the question: “Why?”, “What will I get as a result?”I carry it out in extreme cases (M. Bityanova recommends diagnostic minimums), because diagnosis, processing of results, interpretation takes a lot of time. I watch children more often, communicate with them, teachers, and parents. The results of the diagnostics are discussed (within the limits of what is permitted - “DO NOT HARM THE CHILD”) at a pedagogical council, which includes head teachers at secondary and primary levels, a psychologist, a speech therapist, a school doctor (ideally), and ways are outlined that will be effective in solving the identified problems.

Corrective and developmental work

Advisory direction

TIP 2: Don’t expect people to come to you right away with questions and problems. GO yourself. Conducted a diagnosis - discuss (within the limits of what is permitted - “DO NOT HARM THE CHILD”) with the teacher the reality of implementing the recommendations. If your child needs correctional or developmental activities, offer your help. If this type of activity is not provided for in your job responsibilities, then recommend a specialist who is ready to help.TIP 3: Your work schedule, when and at what time you conduct consultations for children, parents, teachers, should hang on the door of your office, in the teachers' room, in the school foyer.TIP 4: In the teachers' lounge, I recommend setting up your stand with an original name. I put there a plan for the month, a plan - a grid of parent meetings (empty, teachers sign up), an article from the School Psychologist newspaper, helping teachers conduct thematic classroom hours, a popular test for emotional release.

Educational work (teacher councils, parent meetings, conversations with children, lectures, etc.)

TIP 5: Invite the class teacher of 7th and 8th grades to conduct, for example, communication, creativity or “Know Yourself” training with the class, intrigue both the teacher and the children. In the teachers' room, write an original announcement about holding parent meetings with approximate topics, hang up a plan - a grid (empty) for the month, where teachers can register their class. And they will be pleased that they are taken care of, and you will plan work for the month without overloading your time.TIP 6: And the head teacher of educational work and I began holding school-wide parent meetings on parallels. One month - one parallel. Very convenient and efficient.

Dispatcher work (a psychologist’s recommendation to contact parents and children for advice from a related specialist: speech therapist, psychoneurologist

7. Documentation: a) Folder with documentation (it’s convenient to have a folder with files):

Regulations on the service of practical psychology in the education system dated October 22, 1999. №636

Job responsibilities (certified by the seal and signature of the director)

Long-term planning for the year (certified with the seal and signature of the director, with the goals of the school, the goal and objectives of the psychologist or service, types of activities and deadlines)

Code of Ethics for Psychologist (“School Psychologist” No. 44, 2001)

Topics for parent meetings for the year.

Schedule of parent meetings (included every month)

Plan of the school's psychological, medical and pedagogical council.

Various orders, instructions.

b) Magazines

Work plans for the week, quarter.

Journal of consultations.

The consultation log can be formatted as a table that includes the following columns:Date/full name of the applicant/Problem/Ways to solve the problem/Recommendations TIP 7: In the journal under No. 2, I indicate who asked for consultation: teacher (T), child (r), parents (R) and class. This system helps save time when calculating the number of consultations per month.

Journal of group types of work.

The journal for recording group types of work can be formatted as a table that includes the following columns:Date/Class/Type of work/Recommendations/Note

Folders with examination results.

TIP 8: File folders are very convenient for storing examination results.

Folders with teaching materials.

TIP 9: I have folders in various sections: work with parents, work with teachers, work with students, methodological developments, fairy tale therapy, counseling. (I take interesting materials from magazines and newspapers, and I organize “School Psychologist” by topic.)TIP 10: To avoid routine documentation, fill out journals at the end of each working day and summarize everything on Friday. At the end of the month, all that remains is to analyze whether everything has been accomplished, the effectiveness of the work, and count the number of consultations, parent meetings, correctional or developmental classes, and trainings conducted.

8. Techniques I use standardized company methods

Diagnosis of a child’s readiness for learning in 1st grade (methodology by L.A. Yasyukova)

Diagnosis of a child’s readiness for learning in the 5th grade (methodology by L.A. Yasyukova)

Diagnostics of psychophysiological properties (Toulouse-Pieron test)

Diagnostics of intellectual abilities (R. Amthauer Intelligence Structure Test, Koss Cubes)

Diagnostics of personal qualities (M. Luscher Color Test, R. Cattell Factorial Personality Questionnaire, S. Rosenzweig Test, anxiety test, to study character accentuations)

9. Features of building relationships. a) Psychologist and school administration. Difficulties may arise due to the “eternal question”: to whom do you report, to whom do you report. It happens that an administrator burdens a psychologist with work that is not part of his job responsibilities. What to do?Carefully study point No. 2 of this article.

b) Psychologist and team of teachers. I think the essence of this relationship is equal cooperation. Both the teacher and the psychologist have a common goal - the CHILD, his development and well-being. Communication with the teacher should be based on the principles of respect for his experience and (or) age, diplomacy and compromise. There will always be a group of teachers in the team who will be interested in your joint activities. And you will have like-minded people.

c) Psychologist and students. Openness, smiling, sincerity, the ability to get out of a sticky situation - all this ensures your authority. The style of your behavior is also important: how you invite children to come for an examination, how you walk along the corridor during recess, how you react to provocations, aggression, and the unexpected arrival of teenagers.And finally, I close the door to the office only in case of a consultation or examination. During recess, I go out into the recreation area to chat with the kids, or the kids (especially in the lower grades) come running to me.

I have a collection of parables that have helped me out more than once, because teenagers love to test your competence and ability to get out of any situation.

I wish you GOOD LUCK, I sincerely hope that everything works out for you!