The Importance of Psychology of Education

The growing complexities in society and the concomitant effects on the school system and the learners invite a clearer understanding of psychology.

However, it is believed without any shadow of a doubt that psychology enhances teacher education in the following ways:

Psychology provides a valid rationale. 

An understanding of the psychological changes in the child provides a valid rationale for sympathetic awareness of the problems of the learner.

Psychology provides clear knowledge for pupils.

The knowledge of psychology provides a lucid understanding of pupils’ growth and developmental stages, the associated problems, and the corresponding solutions.

Psychology gives teachers understanding.

The knowledge of psychology affords the teacher the opportunity to understand peculiarities and personality variations in the learners. For example, there are variations in height, weight, size, emotion, and intellect. The teacher will know how to cater to the variations.

Psychology promotes creativity.

Since the establishment of an early school by the Christian missionaries, dogmatism, and conservation were encouraged but psychology now promotes the spirit of creativity, inquiry, and inquisitiveness.

Psychology changes the teaching-learning process.

In the past, learning had been the chalk pattern but psychology has changed the teaching-learning process to the application of the major senses, e.g. seeing, hearing, tasting, and doing.

Psychology emphasizes learning.

The knowledge of psychology emphasizes the involvement of learners in the teaching-learning process thus making them active recipients of knowledge rather than the passive recipients of learning.

Psychology adds more knowledge.

Teachers now become not only custodians or repositories of knowledge but also motivators, organizers, facilitators, team leaders, or resource persons. These changes are the resultant effect of the introduction of psychology to teacher education programs

Psychology understands the developmental process of children.

The understanding of the developmental process of children is quite relevant to a teacher. Greta (1978) claimed that developmental psychology helps the teacher to understand the process that underlies the growth and changes that we see taking place in the child, the young person, and even in the adult.

Psychology gives the teacher a clear picture of a child’s growth.

The knowledge of psychology the teacher gives a clear picture of a child’s growth from conception to adulthood. This therefore could have a positive effect on how he relates with the learners.

Faw (1980) noted that Development Psychology is more than a descriptive study of how children look, act, think, feel, and talk. It is the study of the processes by which each human being develops from a single cell at conception into a mature adult.

Psychology promotes a more conducive freedom climate.

Teachers’ knowledge of psychology promotes a more conducive freedom climate, and better group dynamics and allows for better freedom and interaction between the leader and the learners rather than the structured regimentalised classroom environment.

This is because the teacher will know the relevance of a free classroom atmosphere to effective learning. Therefore, the teacher-pupil relationship is promoted.

Psychology makes learning interesting.

The knowledge of psychology makes learners become learner-centered. Individuals’ needs are identified and taken care of during the teaching-learning process.

Psychology promotes innovations.

Psychology promotes changes and innovations in the classroom, especially in teaching-learning techniques, the design and use of instructional materials, the preparation of lesson plans, and the acquisition of knowledge and learners’ motivation.

Psychology facilitates society and the l milieu.

Psychology facilitates the understanding of our social milieu as they affect teaching and learning and how precautions could be taken to prevent the predicaments from becoming counter-productive to learning.

Psychology enhances the training and provision of qualified teachers.

Psychology enhances the training and provision of professionally qualified teachers who could offer practical guidance services to pupils, adopt effective teaching techniques to reinforce pupils learning, and prevent moral laxity, disobedience, delinquency, drug addiction, promiscuity, examination malpractice, and truancy.

Psychology helps teachers become responsible parents.

Development psychology will help the teachers to become responsible parents in the home by way of properly diagnosing the child’s learning problems which may probably be associated with the home environment such as physical, social, and emotional.

If the source of the problem is highly identified, proffering a feasible solution to the problem might not constitute a serious problem.

Psychology provides professional services.

The knowledge of psychology provides professional services for formally adjusted individuals or clients to identify and utilize their latent potential and to provide assistance in solving psychological, social, educational, emotional, vocational, and marital problems.

Psychology helps in the aspect of applied psychology.

Psychology helps in the aspect of applied psychology that covers a broad area such as child growth and development, heredity and environment, social, emotional, physical, and cognitive developments, individual differences, and personality development.

It also includes the applications of psychological theories, techniques, principles, research findings, and experiments to the improvement of teaching-learning processes and to assist teachers in solving psychologically related problems as they affect teaching and learning.

Psychology develops the academic interest of the teachers.

An area of special interest to teachers is the varied academic performance of members of the same class.

There are differences in the students’ rate of growth, motivation, personality, qualities, and emotional adjustment. These variables account for students’ varied performance in the class.

Psychology helps the teachers with the assessment.

The knowledge of psychology assists the teachers to identify the learning process and assess each student to know where he stands and how he has grown.

Psychology provides vital information for teachers.

Psychology provides vital information for teachers to assist them in creating educational experiences, measuring learning, and improving student motivation.