An Exploratory Examination of School Psychology Recruitment Practices among bipoc and white students within introductory psychology courses

Year: 2023

Issue: Vol. 39 Issue. 3,4

Journal Name: School Psychology Training and Pedagogy

Title: An Exploratory Examination of School Psychology Recruitment Practices among BIPOC and White Students within Introductory Psychology Courses

Citation: Gubi, A. A., Bocanegra, J. O., Dobbins, A., Mims, A., & Reminick, D. (2023) An Exploratory Examination of School Psychology Recruitment Practices among BIPOC and White Students within Introductory Psychology Courses. School Psychology Training and Pedagogy, 39 (3-4), 27-37. 

Abstract: There has been a noticeable shortage of personnel in school psychology, particularly with regards to students from black and indigenous backgrounds, and among people of color (BIPOC). Many contend that this may be due to a lack of inclusion of the profession within undergraduate psychology curricula, as most school psychology faculty and trainers do not teach at this level. Increasing general knowledge of and exposure to school psychology at the undergraduate level should increase the applicant pool for graduate training programs and alleviate the shortages challenge. The current study examines 55 undergraduate students using measures of knowledge, exposure, self-efficacy, outcome-expectation, interest, and choice-intentions both at the beginning and end of their Introductory Psychology course, to see if there were any significant changes noted within these areas. Results showed that students did not display any significant changes across all scales except for interest, which showed a significant decrease from pre- to post-course. Upon examination, no differences were found between BIPOC and White students. Findings suggest that concerted efforts should be made in exposing undergraduate students to the profession using various methods, such as increasing coverage of school psychology within undergraduate textbooks and creating school psychology courses or materials to increase the intention of students to enter the profession, particularly among BIPOC students.

Keywords:  minority recruitment; school psychology; undergraduate students; social cognitive career theory

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