Interview with Alicia - Educational Psychology

Alicia is a Psychopedagogue and has been practicing her career for almost twenty years. Below, she answers the most frequent questions you may ask yourself when thinking about which degree to choose for your future:

What do you do as a Psychopedagogue?

I work in a public secondary school, where people from all kinds of backgrounds live together, each with their conflicts and their limitations. I deal with very specific cases, such as people with attention disorders or teenage pregnancies, to much more complex cases involving their most intimate environments, such as family violence, extreme poverty or real and symbolic orphanhood. All of these issues directly affect the attitude the student takes at school and, sometimes, it is very difficult to address each aspect. I worked for a long time in special schools, where the work is also very hard, but extremely satisfying, since concrete things can indeed be achieved, which is not so certain when it comes to other types of realities.

Why did you choose to study Psychopedagogy?

Actually I wanted to study Psychology, but the city where I lived did not offer the degree and my parents could not pay for a move. However, as I trained and worked on practical cases, I understood the true importance of my career, which basically has to do with institutional inclusion.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of studying Psychopedagogy?

The advantages are linked to being able to do for others. Childhood and adolescence as school years are fundamental in the formation of adults and, if they do not take place within a framework of support, the consequences will be seen in the future. As a disadvantage, but this depends on each person, we psychopedagogues sometimes get too involved with some cases and it affects our personal lives.