Educational psychologists' perceptions of their role in the ...

educational psychology such as inclusive education. With the South African context as well
as factors associated with psychological theory in mind, EPs suggested the kinds of work the
profession should engage in, in the future. Similar to their current practice, this encompassed
a broad range of activities. Indeed, it was suggested that there is no set answer to a question
regarding the future role of EPs. As one participant expressed when asked about plausible
work in educational psychology:
P4: It's not formalised, you've got to kind of make it up as you go along.
For this reason perhaps, various suggestions were made.
4.6.1 Individual Work
The first role suggested by EPs as essential to their profession, entails work with individual
clients, primarily children, although some EPs enjoy some work with adult clients. This sort
of role involves both assessments and therapy with children with a range of educational,
emotional and behavioural difficulties. Such work was discussed above as a part of the work
EPs are already engaged in.
P5: So, ja, in terms of kids urn, a large portion of what 1 do with children and
I'm talking about uh... ja I suppose, primary, senior-primary, pre-primary,
junior primary, senior school, but a large portion of that is assessment work its
when a child is not coping
P8: if they come in with some kind of scholastic problem we'll do the
emotional (assessment)
Although the primary client is generally viewed by EPs to be the child, or index patient, it is
widely observed (as mentioned above) that work with the child's parents (and in some cases
family) is both essential and indeed already occurring. This work could involve parenting
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