Personal Constructs in School Psychology

Abstract

George Kelly's personal construct theory and Rep Grid technique was followed to analyse perceptions of some aspects of the role of psychologist in the schools. Differences in role subsystems for ‘trainees’ and ‘experts’ were examined in the light of personal construct corollaries. Subjects were 23 ‘trainees’ and 15 ‘experts’. Investigation of the results indicated tentative support for the existence of a specific subsystem for the role of psychologist in the schools. Subjects who had previous work experience were able to make more extreme and consistent characterizations than their inexperienced counterparts. More agreement was evident for both groups when role descriptions contained a positive aspect.