A Structured Learning Environment: The Generic Nature of Recommendations in Psychoeducational Reports

This paper analyses the recommendation section in psychoeducational reports. With educational psychologists (EPs) spending increasing time writing psychoeducational reports, the present study was conducted to analyse and assess the recommendations made by EPs in psychoeducational reports. Based on analysis of 109 psychoeducational reports from two Danish municipalities a highly interesting pattern was identified, as the need for clear structure in the learning environment was part of the recommendation section in 107 (98, 2%) of 109 analysed reports. An almost similar and identical recommendation was thus repeated across the reports, and the finding is used to discuss what this pattern in the recommendation of EP indicates about EP practices in general and EP’s report writing practices more specifically. The article concludes with a discussion in which the repeated ‘need-for-clear-structure-recommendation’ is understood in light of recent socio-political and global transformations within educational systems.