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Best path to Educational Psychology?

  • 05-09-2012 7:57am
    #1
    NeonCookies
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 509 ✭✭✭


    Hi everyone,

    First, mods I'm sorry if this should be in the professions sticky - feel free to move it if so!

    I want to become an Educational Psychologist and I'm just wondering which route I should go down to get on the course. I already have a 2.1 BA in Psychology. I'm currently in the middle of getting 1 year experience teaching English abroad to adults and teenagers one to one. Apart from that I have 2 months volunteering in a primary school, and I also worked as a cinire in an Irish college. I'm not really sure how relevant my TEFL experience will be? I'll be home in early 2013, so I'm trying to get a plan sorted for when I get home. As I see it, I have 3 options... I'd really appreciate any feedback on what route you recommend.

    1. Get a teaching qualification (H.Dip Primary Teaching) and then work for a few years - maybe the longest route, but seems to be the most 'concrete'. Unfortunately, I think it'd be very difficult to get a teaching job the way things are now, and I don't want to have wasted 2 years getting the H.Dip at the expense of getting experience.

    2. Devote myself entirely to volunteering (I know paid work would be difficult to come by). Options I've uncovered atm include Childline, volunteering in a primary school as before, working with a children's hospice, volunteering with Barnardos etc. I know that you really need to show what you have learned from your experience, and how you've applied psychological knowledge to it. I was thinking I could maybe keep a 'Reflection Journal' to strengthen this. While this route is very interesting, it seems a bit..all over the place? I'd be worried what I choose wouldn't be relevant enough, and without the structure of some sort of course it might not be very useful.

    3. Do a Masters while continuing the volunteering mentioned above. This has the added advantage of increased chances of Assistant Psychologist work after graduating. I'm a bit confused as to what course would be best though. I was thinking of the MA Applied Psychology in Trinity, but I've also heard that this is mainly geared towards Clinical. While the two disciplines are similar, are there any courses that would be better for me to do?

    I know all of these options are feasible, but I'd really appreciate any feedback, personal experience or otherwise and what you'd recommend. Thank you very much.

    tl;dr - What is the best way to go about getting into an Educational Psychology course?


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