Community Engagement, Partnerships and Collaboration

The Department of Educational Psychology has partnerships with several institutions which serve as sites for practical training of BEd (Hons) and MEd (Educational Psychology) students, and/or where research projects are undertaken. Communities in turn gain from the services provided by the Department, addressing specified needs in the community.

The Department is currently partnering with the following institutions or partners:

  • Mamelodi Community Site

During practical work in Mamelodi, students provide family oriented intervention with vulnerable families in need of care. This entails a family-oriented assessment, clinical case conceptualisation from a family resilience framework, psychological hypotheses and family-oriented intervention.

  • Diepsloot Community – Shumbashaba Horses Helping People

Students are involved in the development of a parent support programme for families in the Diepsloot area. To this end, they have to demonstrate competence in terms of programme design and development that responds to the needs of a particular community, assessment, conceptualisation and intervention skills from a family-oriented intervention framework, and implementation of a parent support workshop by means of an equine assisted growth and learning programme.
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  • Ngilandi Secondary School (Mpumalanga)

This partnership was initiated in 2006. At this site in rural Mpumalanga, students have the opportunity to conduct interviews, conceptualise assessment procedures and choose appropriate psychological and educational tests, administer and interpret educational and psychological tests, make appropriate diagnoses, and conceptualise and conduct intervention in the area of family guidance, emotional and behavioural difficulties, as well as career development through the life span. In addition, research is conducted on resilience in rural schools. As a result, Grade 9 learners receive educational psychology services annually, while educational psychology students’ scope of practice training is expanded, research is conducted by postgraduate students, and knowledge is published on rural education and educational psychology, cross-cultural assessment and therapy, as well as community engagement in higher education.

  • Training Facility in the Department, Groenkloof Campus

The Department offers services to the community by providing educational psychological assessment and intervention as part of the practical work of honours and master’s degree students on the Groenkloof Campus. Students conduct assessments and interventions with individuals across the life span in terms of learning and development. Services are also provided for children for career counselling and development and for families during periods of adjustment. All assessments and interventions are conducted under the supervision of registered psychologists.

  • Clinic for High Risk Babies (CHRIB)

The second year master’s students in educational psychology, in collaboration with the Department of Communication Pathology, participate in multi-professional assessment and intervention with babies, toddlers and their families who are at risk of developing communication disorders. The main aim of this programme is to facilitate early intervention. Students attend and observe the assessment done by communication pathology specialists, contribute to multi-professional panel discussions and provide the panel and parents with an educational perspective on the child and family. They also assist with recommendations for further intervention by an educational psychologist.

  • Desmond Tutu Place of Safety

Students present workshops to caregivers with a specific focus on practical guidelines for dealing with children exposed to trauma.
  • Various schools in South Africa

Schools as partners provide opportunities for staff members and postgraduate students in the Department to conduct research and investigate various aspects related to educational psychology and effective teaching.

 

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