Psicologia escolar: das práticas disciplinares ao discurso psicológico

Abstract

This study discusses the meaning of Educational Psychology within the school practice contex.. Based on Michel Foucault's study on relations of power, a historical analysis of the construction of psychological discourse on education is conducted through studying disciplinary needs currend in educative practice. Comparison betwen that discourse and aspects of school practice reveals a contradiction and shows the importance of the chool, as an institution, for constructing psychological knowledge. The study supports the idea that the contradiction caught is an integral part of the process of constant redefinition of Educational Psychology , as a theoretical and practice knowledge, and also an essential aspect of searching the identity of the educational psychologist. Furthermore, the study shows that the specificity of the educational psychologist has to do with the institutional dimension of school where it is important to look for understanding relations of power more than individual behaviors and conducts.