About Us

History of Educational Psychology Training at UCL

The establishment at UCL in 1897 of the first psychological laboratory in the country (and the second in the world after Leipzig) has been hailed as a landmark in the history of British psychology. The most recent Higher Education Funding Council research assessment exercise confirmed the College’s reputation for excellence in psychological research. We pride ourselves on maintaining strengths across the whole range of the discipline and have a long and distinguished tradition in the teaching of applied psychology. The one-year professional training Diploma in Educational Psychology introduced at UCL by Sir Cyril Burt in 1946 was the first of its kind in Britain. 

Sir Cyril Burt - The School Psychology Service, its History and Development - lecture delivered in 1964

The history of educational psychology at UCL tells a story about the history of psychology as a separate discipline and the development of academic and professional educational psychology in Britain. It is a story about the value of academic and subsequently professional networks and connections in driving forward this new discipline, with UCL effectively providing a hub.

The origin of psychology at UCL is almost as old as the founding of the College itself, when in 1892, James Sully became Professor of Philosophy of Mind and Language. He had a reputation for studying psychology, had published the first British psychology textbook and was seen as ‘one of the moving spirits behind the child study movement’. By 1898 he had set up the first major psychological lab in Britain. He encouraged teachers and others ‘to bring their more difficult pupils for examination’. He also stressed the importance of training psychologists as a “‘new kind of specialist’, who he claimed must have both the ‘gift of sympathetic insight’ and specific ‘psychological training’”.

This created firm foundations for what followed. By 1928, the psychology lab had grown into the Department of Psychology. When Sir Cyril Burt took over as Professor in 1931, he did so having already worked as the UK’s first professional educational psychologist and shown a commitment to training educational psychologists. This was formalised when an Academic Diploma in Psychology, which he had set up, became a recognised qualification in educational psychology. In 1947, one educational psychologist completed training at UCL and in 1948, a further five completed their professional qualification and graduated from the Diploma course.

By the 1970s, the diploma had become a one-year, full-time Master’s degree, which is how it remained until 2006 when initial educational psychologist training changed to a three-year doctoral programme. In addition to initial training, in 1999, the tradition of promoting educational psychologists’ professional development was considerably strengthened by the creation of a four-year part time doctoral programme for qualified educational psychologists.

The story of educational psychology at UCL, then, is a story about innovative psychology research and practice going back over 120 years, inspired by realising the transformative power of psychology for the lives of children and young people.

Our Research Department and Division

The UCL Educational Psychology Group is situated within the Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, part of the 83% REF research rated ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ UCL Division of Psychology & Language Sciences - the largest such division in the country with over 120 academic staff and 1500 students studying at undergraduate and postgraduate level. The Division forms part of the Faculty of Brain Sciences. The Faculty ranks second globally for research in neuroscience/behaviour and psychiatry/psychology. UCL is the top-ranked university in the UK for research in Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience.