Rehal, Ashok Kumar (2011) The educational psychologist as a pedagogue for pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. PhD thesis, University of Greenwich.

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Abstract

This thesis reflects my personal and professional journey from teacher to educational psychologist through significant periods in the education of children with Social Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBDs) in the UK. It also draws of on lessons learnt from my experience working in North America in the early years of my career.

The main aims of my research were to: (1) Appraise the contribution an educational psychologist could make in assessing the learning potential of children and young people with SEBDs, and (2) Consider the „added value‟ that an educational psychologist might bring to enable these children as better learners and teachers as better teachers of children with SEBDs.

45 Children and young people with Social Emotional Behavioural Difficulties and their parents and teachers participated in the research. A mixed methods approach was employed to undertake three related case studies and a reflexive and narrative analysis was employed.

Main outcomes of the research were (i) SEBDs were almost always accompanied by often unrecognised learning difficulties; (ii) A cognitive assessment by an educational psychologist had an added value in understanding the needs of the child; (iii) When parents and teachers of children who participated in an especially designed intervention, it changed their views of their children‟s behaviours. They reported significant improvement in their children‟s social skills and behaviour.

I conclude the thesis by considering the implications of findings for the benefit of children with SEBDs. It is crucial that teachers identify and assess learning difficulties in all children and young people and clearly differentiate these from matters of and interventions for behaviour difficulties.

Teachers and parents can be empowered to deal with their children‟s behavioural difficulties by involving the Educational Psychologist as a pedagogue, sitting as he or she does at the crossroads of education and psychology.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information:	uk.bl.ethos.547165
Uncontrolled Keywords:	special education, social, emotional and behavioural difficulties,
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education L Education > LC Special aspects of education
Pre-2014 Departments:	School of Health & Social Care School of Health & Social Care > Department of Health Development
Last Modified:	14 Oct 2016 09:18
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/7140

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