Training Educational Psychologists: A Model of Working with Diagnostic Case

The paper describes a model of working with a diagnostic case in educational psychological practice and analyses its compliance with the requirements of the professional standard for educational psychologists as well as with the theoretical bases of psychological assessment as a form of professional activity of a psychologist. The paper reviews the possibilities for making the requirements of the professional standard more specific by means of relating its components to the stages of the diagnostic process. As it is shown, a number of aspects in the diagnostic activity are deficient and require to be specially developed during professional and advanced training. The paper analyses the necessity of designing the content of psychodiagnostic disciplines so that they involve working with diagnostic hypotheses. It also outlines the tasks of mastering psychodiagnostic disciplines which, if solved successfully, would prevent students from making typical diagnostic mistakes. Finally, the paper discusses the difficulties with the development of the gnostic component of diagnostic activity in graduate students with bachelor degrees in a non-psychology field.

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