How do Educational Psychologists Construct ‘the Child’ in Psychological Assessments? A Postmodern Discourse Analysis

Language has profound implications for the construction of our realities, constraining what is possible to think, say and do. Words are foundational in how we construct our psychological worlds, with Educational Psychologists (EPs) playing a fundamental role in constructing the psychological worlds of children and young people. This research enquires into how EPs construct children and young people within the written psychological advice conducted as part of the Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment process.

Adopting a postmodern approach to discourse analysis, EPs can be read to draw upon a wide range of discourses in their constructions of the child. Examples include: humanistic, behaviourist, developmental, cognitive, educational and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) discourses; the latter appearing to form a meta-discourse in which the assessments sat within. Seven key constructions arose from my readings which are discussed in detail. These include child as human, mechanistic, object of investigation, SEND, idealised, subordinate and meaning-maker. Explorations look to the less visible and taken for granted assumptions which may lie implicitly within constructions – assumptions which hold the potential for real effects on children’s lives.

Discussions explore the possible implications for the child’s subjective experience and ways of being. Close consideration is given to the ways in which power may operate in the lives of children and young people as a result of these constructions, alongside attending to the potential functions and gains that may arise as a result. Possible implications for EP practice are considered throughout, culminating in some final thoughts and reflections on the themes of power, not knowing and creating space for young people to create their own meanings. Further reflections consider the masking of political, economic and socio-cultural factors, the institutional creation and reinforcement of deficit identities, alongside advocating a role for the EP profession in facilitating deeper, systemic change within the education system at an institutional level. Aiming to shake the ground of what we think we know, this thesis seeks to invoke deeper questioning into the potential implications of the words we choose, closing with the question:

‘What stories will you tell?’