Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences in intelligence, cognitive development, affect, motivation, self-regulation, and self-concept, as well as their role in learning. The field of educational psychology relies heavily on quantitative methods, including testing and measurement, to enhance educational activities related to instructional design, classroom management, and assessment, which serve to facilitate learning processes in various educational settings across the lifespan.
Edward Lee Thorndike was an American psychologist who spent nearly his entire career at Teachers College, Columbia University. His work on comparative psychology and the learning process led to the theory of connectionism and helped lay the scientific foundation for educational psychology. He also worked on solving industrial problems, such as employee exams and testing. He was a member of the board of the Psychological Corporation and served as president of the American Psychological Association in 1912. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Thorndike as the ninth-most cited psychologist of the 20th century. Edward Thorndike had a powerful impact on reinforcement theory and behavior analysis, providing the basic framework for empirical laws in behavior psychology with his law of effect. Through his contributions to the behavioral psychology field came his major impacts on education, where the law of effect has great influence in the classroom.
School psychology is a field that applies principles from educational psychology, developmental psychology, clinical psychology, community psychology, and behavior analysis to meet the learning and behavioral health needs of children and adolescents. It is an area of applied psychology practiced by a school psychologist. They often collaborate with educators, families, school leaders, community members, and other professionals to create safe and supportive school environments.
Arnold Lucius Gesell was an American psychologist, pediatrician and professor at Yale University known for his research and contributions to the fields of child hygiene and child development.
The Elementary Education Act 1870, commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 12 in England and Wales. It established local education authorities with defined powers, authorized public money to improve existing schools, and tried to frame conditions attached to this aid so as to earn the goodwill of managers. It has long been seen as a milestone in educational development, but recent commentators have stressed that it brought neither free nor compulsory education, and its importance has thus tended to be diminished rather than increased.
An educational psychologist is a psychologist whose differentiating functions may include diagnostic and psycho-educational assessment, psychological counseling in educational communities, community-type psycho-educational intervention, and mediation, coordination, and referral to other professionals, at all levels of the educational system. Many countries use this term to signify those who provide services to students, their teachers, and families, while other countries use this term to signify academic expertise in teaching Educational Psychology.
Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical skills, with focus on imagination and creativity. Individual teachers have a great deal of autonomy in curriculum content, teaching methods, and governance. Qualitative assessments of student work are integrated into the daily life of the classroom, with standardized testing limited to what is required to enter post-secondary education.
Sir John William Dawson (1820–1899) was a Canadian geologist and university administrator.
Haim G. Ginott was a school teacher, a child psychologist and psychotherapist and a parent educator. He pioneered techniques for conversing with children that are still taught today. His book, Between Parent and Child, stayed on the best seller list for over a year and is still popular today. This book sets out to give "specific advice derived from basic communication principles that will guide parents in living with children in mutual respect and dignity."
Kingstanding is an area in north Birmingham, England. It gives its name to a ward in the Erdington council constituency. Kingstanding ward includes the areas; Perry Common, Witton Lakes. The other part of Kingstanding falls under the Oscott ward.
The Centre for International Education and Research (CIER) evolved in the 1950s, at the University of Birmingham UK, in the context of the involvement of British academics in the new international educational role of the United Nations.
Special educational needs (SEN), also known as special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the United Kingdom refers to the education of children who require different education provision to the mainstream system.
Ferenc Mérei was a Hungarian psychologist and educator.
Michele Irmiter Elliott OBE is an author, psychologist, teacher and the founder and director of child protection charity Kidscape. She has chaired World Health Organization and Home Office working groups and is a Winston Churchill fellow.
Nicholas Hobbs was an American psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA).
Keith James Topping is a researcher in education. He designs intervention programs for teachers, parents and others to help children, then researches whether and how they work.
Waveney Bushell is a Guyanese-born teacher, activist and "arguably the first Black educational psychologist in the UK". She is most notable for her role in exposing racism and inequality in the British educational system.
Rita Ruth Jordan is an academic and researcher in the field of autism. She worked with children with special educational needs and started training programmes for their parents before moving into academia.
Vera Southgate was a British pedagogist who tried to improve the way children were taught to read English from the late-1950s until the mid-1980s. This was an important time for the discipline as many disparate and distinct methods were being practiced including the initial teaching alphabet, phonics and whole language, which was known as "look and say" at the time. Vera Southgate published a large number of academic papers, developed the Southgate reading tests and sat on the Bullock government inquiry, she also evaluated the initial teaching alphabet on behalf of the British government. Her final major research exercise was to lead a half decade study into improving the reading skills of older children, the resulting publication, extended beginning reading, won the UK reading association book of the year.
Professor John Downing (1922–1987) was a British educational psychologist who started his career as a teacher then worked as an academic from 1960 until his death in 1987. He published over 300 academic papers in his 27 year academic career, specialising in both how children read and how they learn to read. His three main fields of study were the initial teaching alphabet, the psychology of reading and the comparison of reading methods across different languages and cultures. His principle works in each of these fields were Evaluating the Initial Teaching Alphabet, Reading & Reasoning and Comparative Reading. Fundamentally, Downing was an educational psychologist and his main lifetime achievement was the formulation of the cognitive clarity theory of learning to read.
