Educational psychology service

The educational psychology service promotes learning, attainment and the healthy emotional development of children and young people aged 0 to 19, through the application of psychology, by working with early years settings, schools (and other education providers), children and their families, other local authority officers, practitioners and other agencies.

Context

The educational psychology service (or education psychology service) is a statutory service provided by the local authority.

In February 2005, the government announced its intention to commission a "fundamental review" of the function of educational psychologists, to be carried out within the wider context of the changes taking place in children's services as a whole.

Precise terms of reference for the review will be agreed with the local authority employers. The government expects most of the work for the review to be completed in 2005.

Who is in it?

The service comprises a team of educational psychologists. In some teams, educational psychologists may be supported by other team members, such as special needs assistants.

Although most educational psychologists are employed by the local authority as part of the educational psychology service, some are self-employed and work as independent consultants for parents, social services departments and voluntary agencies.

What do they do?

The educational psychology service provides assessment, consultation, advice and training to early years settings, schools, families and the local authority.

The service assesses the educational needs of children and advises on how those needs should be met; this can mean advising teachers and other school staff on how to support the educational needs of an individual child or young person, or advising a school or the education authority on how best to meet the needs of particular groups of children. In other words, interventions range from working with the individual child to work at the level of the organisation or whole school system.

The service provides support for children and young people who have learning difficulties, behavioural difficulties or emotional problems for example, children having problems with overall development or particular areas of learning (such as reading), children with medical problems that affect their learning, children with hearing or vision impairment, children displaying temper outbursts or tantrums, children who are anxious or withdrawn, children with communication problems (speaking, listening or writing), children at risk of exclusion.

Within the educational psychology service, each educational psychologist is generally responsible for a particular group of schools that falls within a defined geographical area, so that in effect every maintained school has a named educational psychologist.

Educational psychologists visit schools and early years settings regularly to offer support, advice and consultation; the frequency of visits will vary (perhaps once a month or so) from one area to another, and will also depend on the needs of children attending a particular school. Concerns about children are often first raised during these visits.

Educational psychologists can work directly with individual children and with groups of children. Assessment takes place within the context of the school and may involve, for example, observing (in the classroom and playground), discussion with parents, teachers and others who know the child well, and the use of standardised psychometric tests and measures.

Direct support work is usually carried out in partnership with other practitioners, including teachers, teaching assistants, therapists and paediatricians, as well as parents.

The educational psychology service is also likely to provide training for teachers and other school staff, governors and parent groups on a wide range of issues for example, training school staff in effective behaviour management techniques; organising courses or workshops for teachers on issues such as bullying, stress management or specific learning difficulties; and helping schools draw up SEN or behaviour policies.

In practice, a good deal of the work of the educational psychology service is about helping others to understand children's difficulties more thoroughly so that they can provide more effective teaching, support and care.

The duties of the service, then, are varied but will generally include:

• Focusing on early problem identification and early intervention
• Undertaking therapeutic work with children and young people and their parents or carers
• Assisting schools with the development of SEN policies so that the performance of the whole school is enhanced
• Assisting local authorities with their own education development planning so that performance is enhanced across each area.
• Engaging in action research to promote increased teacher knowledge of good practice in the areas of inclusion and raised achievement
• Engaging in projects to raise achievement and improve provision for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties
• Helping to develop knowledge and skills for teachers, learning support assistants and governors
• Working in multiagency contexts with health, social services, voluntary services and other agencies
• Supporting parents as 'key partners'

In most local authorities, the educational psychology service is likely to be involved in a range of other areas, such as:

• Intervention work in areas of literacy development, thinking skills and self-esteem as a learner
• Management training for schools and local authority staff
• Responding to critical incidents in the community where sudden death occurs
• Management of trauma following child abuse
• Support for carers of looked after children

How do you access the service?

In most cases, requests for help for individual children are made by schools. Educational psychology services do not usually operate an open referral service; parents concerned about a child are normally encouraged to discuss their worries first with the school. However, referrals may sometimes be accepted from parents, social workers and GPs, for example. The exact procedures will be determined locally.

Special educational needs

The educational psychology service is responsible for contributing psychological advice on individual children and young people with special educational needs who are being assessed in accordance with the Education Act 1996.

Legislation

The Education Act 1996 imposes duties on schools and local authorities to identify, assess and meet children's special educational needs. The presumption is that, wherever possible, those needs will be met within a mainstream school.

The legislation also places a duty on local authorities and health authorities to assist a local authority where any child has special educational needs.

Training

Educational psychologists are also qualified teachers with significant teaching experience, usually spanning both mainstream and special schools. An educational psychologist has undertaken a minimum of seven years training. This includes a first degree in psychology, at least two years as a qualified teacher, and postgraduate training in educational psychology.

As part of their postgraduate training, educational psychologists study normal child development, the psychology of teaching and learning, and the psychological aspects of teaching children with special educational needs; they also study how groups function, and how people communicate and maintain relationships. They also learn about assessment, solving problems, training others, counselling and research methods.

In February 2005, ministers decided that proposals for a new six-year entry training route for educational psychologists (as recommended by the Educational Psychology Working Group) were not feasible. Although the proposed route was shorter than the existing route, ministers said it would have been considerably more expensive. Training will now be considered as part of the review into the functions of educational pyschologists (see above).