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Psychologists in (Neoliberal) Schools – What Kind of Marriage?

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Abstract

The paper aims to discuss how school psychology broadly is influenced by neoliberalism. Neoliberalism has attracted great attention among sociologists and economist, but less so among psychologists. This is a paradox since the psychological reach of neoliberalism is massive. The paper analyzes how new (neoliberal) school reforms place new professional demands on schools and therefore also new kinds of professional demands on school psychologists. Among other things, it is discussed whether the notion of resilience can act as a future guiding principle for school psychologists. The paper concludes with three suggestions as to how school psychologists can cope with some of the challenges imposed by neoliberalism. I suggest that school psychologists; 1) have to start asking educational questions to educational matters, 2) that they have to be aware of the political aspects of school psychology and 3) that they start acting against the corrosion of professional identity.

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Notes

  1. http://www.google.dk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCsQFjACahUKEwjn54HYqI3IAhWKa3IKHWHJALo&url=http%3A%2F%2Freferater.aalborgkommune.dk%2FPdf.aspx%3Fpdfnavn%3D18187163.PDF%26type%3Dpunkt%26moedeid%3D4984&usg=AFQjCNHRM3bEIfDBixIuZf3Qgo4z69WScg

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Correspondence to Thomas Szulevicz.

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Szulevicz, T. Psychologists in (Neoliberal) Schools – What Kind of Marriage?. Integr. psych. behav. 52, 366–376 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-018-9444-8

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