Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T08:33:18.388Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Commentary on the Current and Future Status of Educational and Developmental Psychology in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2013

Linda Gilmore ,
Janet Fletcher  and
Alan Hudson
Linda Gilmore*
Affiliation:
Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Janet Fletcher
Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, Australia
Alan Hudson
Affiliation:
RMIT University, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Linda Gilmore, Child and Youth Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove QLD 4059, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Educational and developmental psychology faces a number of current and future challenges and opportunities in Australia. In this commentary we consider the identity of educational and developmental psychology in terms of the features that distinguish it from other specialisations, and address issues related to training, specialist endorsement, supervision and rebating under the Australian government's Medicare system. The current status of training in Australia is considered through a review of the four university programs in educational and developmental psychology currently offered, and the employment destinations of their graduates. Although the need for traditional services in settings such as schools, hospitals, disability and community organisations will undoubtedly continue, the role of educational and developmental psychologists is being influenced and to some extent redefined by advances in technology, medicine, genetics, and neuroscience. We review some of these advances and conclude with recommendations for training and professional development that will enable Australian educational and developmental psychologists to meet the challenges ahead.

Keywords

educational psychologydevelopmental psychologytrainingfuture directions
Type
Article Commentary
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 30 , Issue 1: Educational Psychology: Looking to the Future , July 2013 , pp. 1 - 12
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society Ltd 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychological Association. (2012). Guidelines for assessment or and intervention with persons with disabilities. American Psychologist, 67, 43–62.Google Scholar
Aylward, G.P. (2009). Neonatology, prematurity, and developmental issues. In Roberts, M.C. & Steele, R.G. (Eds.), Handbook of pediatric psychology (4th ed., pp. 241–253). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Beach, S.R.H., Brody, G.H., Lei, M.K., Gibbons, F.X., Gerrard, M., Simons, R.L., Cutrona, C.E., & Philibert, R.A. (2013). Impact of child sex abuse on adult psychopathology: A genetically and epigenetically informed investigation. Journal of Family Psychology, 27, 3–11.Google Scholar
Cherniack, E.P. (2011). Not just fun and games: Applications of virtual reality in the identification and rehabilitation of cognitive disorders of the elderly. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 6, 283–289.Google ScholarPubMed
Cohen, R.A., & Sweet, L.H. (Eds.) (2011). Brain imaging in behavioral medicine and clinical neuroscience. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Cook, A.M., Adams, K., Volden, J., Harbottle, N., & Harbottle, C. (2011). Using Lego robots to estimate cognitive ability in children who have severe physical disabilities. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 6, 338–346.Google Scholar
Danilovic, S. (2009). Review of ‘Autism and second life — An introduction’. Journal on Developmental Disabilities, 15, 125–129.Google Scholar
DeAngelis, T. (2009). Can second life therapy help with autism? Monitor on Psychology, 40, 40.Google Scholar
Fisher, K.W., Goswami, U., Geake, J., & the Task Force on the Future of Educational Neuroscience. (2010). The future of educational neuroscience. Mind, Brain, and Education, 4, 68–80.Google Scholar
Geake, J. (2009). The brain at school: Educational neuroscience in the classroom. Maidenhead: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Gentile, D.A. (2011). The multiple dimensions of video game effects. Child Development Perspectives, 5, 75–81.Google Scholar
Heiman, T., & Shemesh, D.O. (2012). Students with learning disabilities in higher education: Use and contribution of assistive technology and website courses and their correlation to students’ hope and well-being. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45, 308–318.Google Scholar
Kelly, S.M. (2011). The use of assistive technology by high school students with visual impairments: A second look at the current problem. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 105, 235–239.Google Scholar
Kowalski, R.M., Limber, S.P., & Agatston, P.W. (2012). Cyber bullying: Bullying in the digital age. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lancioni, G.E., Sigafoos, J., O'Reilly, M.F., & Singh, N.N. (2013). Assistive technology: Interventions for individuals with severe/profound and multiple disabilities. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
McCabe, D., & Castel, A. (2008). The effect of brain images on judgments of scientific reasoning. Cognition, 107, 343–352.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McClelland, S., Korosi, A., Cope, J., Ivy, A., & Baram, T.Z. (2011). Emerging roles of epigenetic mechanisms in the enduring effects of early-life stress and experience on learning and memory. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 96, 79–88.Google Scholar
McNamara, J.K., & Willoughby, T. (2010). A longitudinal study of risk-taking behavior in adolescents with learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 25, 11–24.Google Scholar
Miller, D.C., & Defina, P.A. (2009). The application of neuroscience to the practice of school neuropsychology. In Miller, D.C. (Ed.), Best practices in school neuropsychology (pp. 141–157). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Molinari, V. (2012). Application of the competency model to geropsychology. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 43, 403–409.Google Scholar
Monk, C.S., Spicer, J., & Champagne, F.A. (2012). Linking prenatal maternal adversity to developmental outcomes in infants: The role of epigenetic pathways. Development and Psychopathology, 24, 1361–1376.Google Scholar
Mundy, L. (2007). Everything conceivable: How assisted reproduction is changing men, women, and the world. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Murphy, P.K., & Benton, S.L. (2010). The new frontier of educational neuropsychology: Unknown opportunities and unfulfilled hopes. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 35, 153–155.Google Scholar
Opris, D., Pintea, S., Garcia-Palacios, A., Botella, C., Szamoskozi, S., & David, D. (2012). Virtual reality exposure therapy in anxiety disorders: A quantitative meta-analysis. Depression and Anxiety, 29, 85–93.Google Scholar
Plomin, R., & Walker, S.O. (2003). Genetics and educational psychology. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 3–14.Google Scholar
Rekkedal, A.M. (2012). Assistive hearing technologies among students with hearing impairment: Factors that promote satisfaction. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 17, 499–517.Google Scholar
Rijken, M., Wit, J. M., Le Cessie, S., & Veen, S. (2007). The effect of perinatal risk factors on growth in very preterm infants at 2 years of age: The Leiden follow-up project on prematurity. Early Human Development, 83, 527–534.Google Scholar
Riva, G., Bacchetta, M., Baruffi, M., & Molinari, E. (2001). Virtual reality-based multidimensional therapy for the treatment of body image disturbances in obesity: A controlled study. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 4, 511–526.Google Scholar
Sellers, D.M., & Markham, M.S. (2012). Raising awareness of assistive technology in older adults through a community-based cooperative extension program. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 33, 287–301.Google Scholar
Skiba, T., Landi, Wagner, R., & Grigorenko, E.L. (2011). In search of the perfect phenotype: An analysis of linkage and association studies of reading and reading-related processes. Behavioural Genetics, 41, 6–30.Google Scholar
Spence, S.H., Donovan, C.L., March, S., Gamble, A., Anbderson, R.E., Prosser, S., & Kenardy, J. (2011). A randomized controlled trial of online versus clinic-based CBT for adolescent anxiety. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79, 629–642.Google Scholar
Staiano, A.E., & Calvert, S.L. (2011). Exergames for physical education courses: Physical, social, and cognitive benefits. Child Development Perspectives, 5, 93–98.Google Scholar
Svetaz, M.V., Ireland, M., & Blum, R. (2000). Adolescents with learning disabilities: Risk and protective factors associated with emotional well-being: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Journal of Adolescent Health, 27, 340–348.Google Scholar
Walker, S.P., Wachs, T.D., Grantham-McGregor, S., Black, M.M., Nelson, C.A., Huffman, S.I., . . . Richter, L. (2011). Inequality in early childhood: Risk and protective factors for early child development. The Lancet, 378, 1325–1338.Google Scholar
Warschausky, S., Van Tubbergen, M., Asbell, S., Kaufman, J., Ayyangar, R., & Donders, J. (2012). Modified test administration using assistive technology: Preliminary psychometric findings. Assessment, 19, 472–479.Google Scholar