The Virtues of becoming an Educational Psychologist

Abstract

This thesis describes qualitative, interview research with professional educational psychologists. An overarching aim of the research was to practise a method derived particularly from the writings of Mikhail Bakhtin and Alasdair MacIntyre, in order to realize three other research purposes: to consider, first, those life experiences that might have contributed to a person becoming an educational psychologist; second, what is important to a person about practising as an educational psychologist; and, third, what a person finds problematic about their work.

Drawing upon the interviews, it is suggested that some persons become educational psychologists to practise virtues that they have learnt through everyday life experiences, and that this is part of a narrative quest to become an independent practical reasoner. It is supposed that since educational psychologists are paid to be virtuous, a number of paradoxes are inherent in this, and those contribute to what some educational psychologists find problematic about their work. The research provides tentative conclusions, drawing out some of the theory, policy, and practice implications for human science research and for the profession of educational psychology.

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