Translating reports: School psychologists, knowledge-making and pedagogy

Abstract

This paper is a post-qualitative inquiry (PQI) exploring how, and with what effect, school psychologists support the translation of psychoeducational reports into pedagogy for children who experience learning difficulties. Using the knowledge-making practices of three Australian school psychologists, and my own experience as a practicing school psychologist, Rhodes & Lancaster’s (2019) evidence-making framework is utilised to analyse reports through the theoretical perspectives of relational materialism. This analysis suggests acts of translation are produced by the way in which the authoring psychologist is positioned within relational assemblages of material (e.g., report format) and psychosocial (e.g., beliefs) components found at the intersection of education and psychology. By evidencing the utility of reports through theory and practice, the inquiry illustrates how the practical meaning, value and effect of reports is not pre-determined and fixed. Instead, it suggests their utility is relational and dependent on context-specific conditions and the way in which school psychologists respond within these conditions. Implications for practice are discussed.