Critical Educational Psychology

The first textbook of its kind, Critical Educational Psychology is a forward–thinking approach to educational psychology that uses critical perspectives to challenge current ways of thinking and improve practice. Written by practitioners engaged in theory, this text uses a broad range of theoretical resources from outside mainstream psychology to examine issues at the forefront of educational psychology. The chapters discuss the role of education, the relationship between teaching and learning, the impact of gender, faith and ethics in educational settings, the construction of rich learning environments, and notions of normalcy, difference, and disability. Contributors employ phenomenology, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, discursive psychology, social constructionism, narrative psychology, disability studies theory, among other theoretical resources.

This serves as a foundational text for trainees in educational and school psychology as well as an essential resource for those practicing and researching in those fields and related ones across psychology and education. Students will benefit from pedagogical features, such as discussion points, mini exercises, essay questions, key terminology, theoretical starting points, and further readings. By calling into question and reconceptualizing traditional models, this text illuminates an exciting new frontier in educational psychology.

List of Contributors iv
1 Introduction: Educational Psychology towards a human science 1
Antony Williams, Tom Billington, Dan Goodley and Tim Corcoran

Part I: Reflexive Foundationalism: Critical Psychological Resources   14
2 Psychology and Education: Unquestionable goods 15
Ansgar Allan
3 Ontological constructionism 27
Tim Corcoran
4 What use is a story? Narrative, in practice 37
Penny Fogg
5 Postconventionalism: Towards a Productive Critical Educational Psychology 49
Dan Goodley
6 Psychoanalysis 59
Antony Williams

Part II: Ethics and Values and their implications for Practice 69
7 Critical educational psychology and disability studies: Theoretical, practical and empirical allies 70
Dan Goodley and Tom Billington
8 Thinking critically about professional ethics 89
Pat Bennett
9 The Ethical Demand in an Impossible Profession 99
Niall Devlin
10 EP becoming phronimos: the virtue of phronêsis in educational psychology 112     
Daniela Mercieca and Duncan P. Mercieca
11 Traversing the expert non–expert binary: the fluid and contested nature of expertise 122
Catherine Beal
12 Joining the Q: What Q methodology offers to a critical educational psychology 134
Martin Hughes
13 Are we all psychologists now? 145
Antony Williams   
                                                                                     
Part III: Putting critical psychological resources to work in Educational Psychology   153
14  Epidemic or psychiatrization? Children s mental health in a global context 154
China Mills
15 The Teacher s Role in Supporting Student Mental Health and Wellbeing 165
Helen Monkman
16 Towards Restorative Justice 177
 Vicki Harold
17  Faith and Educational Psychology: Empowering Islamic Perspectives of Muslim Parents 189                               Samana Saxton
18  Gender, Non–normativity and Young Women who have been Excluded 199
Dawn Bradley
19 A Mindful Educational Psychology Practice 209                                                              
Sahaja Davis
20 Some Reflections on Educational Psychology Practice 218
 Majid Khoshkhoo
21 Finding attunement and promoting positive attachments 228                                            
Kathryn Pomerantz
22 Social Theatre for Social Change: The Relevance of Performance Art in Educational Psychology  239                     Nick Hammond
23 Being dyslexic in higher education: reflections on discourse and identity 250
Harriet Cameron
24  A future? Why educational psychologists should engage with a critical neuroscience  260                                   Tom Billington

 

Antony Williams is the Academic Director for the Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology at the School of Education at the University of Sheffield, UK. He also works as a practicing educational psychologist. His research interests are focused in the area of subjectivity and intersubjectivity, with a particular interest in how psychoanalytic concepts and theory may inform as well as potentially disturb psychological practice.

Tom Billington is Professor of Educational and Child Psychology at the School of Education at the University of Sheffield, UK. A critical psychologist, practitioner and academic, his research focuses on the nature of psychological work conducted with young people and the theoretical bases upon which practice is justified, in particular in the fields of autism and child protection, utilizing qualitative research methodologies, primarily discourse analytic, psychodynamic and narrative approaches. His books include Working with Children: Assessment, Representation, and Intervention (2006), Children at the Margins: Supporting Children, Supporting Schools (2004), and Separating, Losing, and Excluding Children: Narratives of Difference (2000).

Dan Goodley is Professor of Disability Studies and Education at the School of Education at the University of Sheffield, UK. He directs the Masters in Psychology and Education, and teaches in the Doctorate of Education and the undergraduate Education, Culture and Childhood programs. His research interests include critical disability studies, critical psychological and sociological theory, and non–normative childhoods. He is the author or editor of many books in the field, including, most recently, Dis/ability Studies: Theorising Disablism and Ableism (2014), Disability and Social Theory (2012), and Disability Studies: An Inter–disciplinary Introduction (2011).