Educational psychology

What do Educational Psychologists do?

The Psychological Service works within Children's Services. They apply psychology to help people solve problems and improve learning. This may be at an individual level where young people are having difficulty at school. It may also be at an institutional level, working on wider issues with schools or other settings to help all children be as successful as possible.

An educational psychologist's main job is to assess your child's strengths and needs, and support schools, teachers and the local authority to recommend strategies, plans and approaches to ensure your child is achieving to the best of their ability in education, and beyond. Educational Psychologists must conduct an assessment of a child's strengths and needs as part of an EHCP assessment. 

How are these services delivered?

Educational Psychologists sometimes work directly with young people in the age range 0 to 25 years on a wide variety of issues relating to their progress and development. However, much of their work is done with other people who know and work with children and young people.

Educational Psychologists offer a range of services. They offer:

• training to schools and support with whole school initiatives
• consultation and advice to staff in schools and early years settings
• consultation to parents and carers
• observation and assessment of groups or individual pupils
• work with schools to develop interventions and approaches for groups or for individuals who are referred via the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice
• Psychological advice that is required for all Statutory Assessments of children's special educational needs (SEN)
• contribute to selected Annual Reviews of children with educational, health and care plans (EHCPs)
• work with other agencies within Children's Services and beyond, for example the voluntary sector and health
• support  for schools when they have particular needs, for example, following critical incidents such as bereavement, staff stress or in terms of particular school improvement issues

• development work, research, training and project work for the local authority

   

What might an Education Psychologist Assessment consist of?

Each child is different and each assessment is different, however we may do the following:

• Observe your child in natural settings, such as in the classroom, playground, or at home if appropriate.
• Set tasks to explore how your child approaches them, how they problem-solve, and how they learn. This may include how they learn with support, not just what they know. Some tasks may be play-based, drawing, telling us a story etc.
• Assess your child's numeracy and literacy skills, as well as their speech, language and communication skills if appropriate. We may also speak with their teacher to find out more about how their progress. 
• Speak with your child/ young person to capture their views, interests, and aspirations.
• Speak with you as a parent/ carer for more backrground information about your child's history and what they are like at home.
• Review existing information about your child, such as their reports, attendance and behavior data, relevant health or therapy reports (occupational therapy reports, etc.)

Our advice is always focused on your child and what works best for them. We want to work with you, your child and their school to ensure they are achieving the best possible outcomes. 

Why is it taking so long to get an Educational Psychologist Assessment for my child?

There is a national educational psychologist shortage currently - as you may have seen in the news, there is increasing demand for EHCPs nationally. We have recently hired more Educational Psychologists in Cumberland. We are doing everything we can in Cumberland to ensure assessments are completed as thoroughly and quickly as we possibly can and we really appreciate your cooperation and patience with us. 

I've recently had a private Educational Psychologist Assessment conducted for my child; why is this not being considered?

Please note that all private reports must be considered by the Local Authority as part of an EHCP needs assessment. It may be that some families feel their private report is being 'rejected' or ignored, however this is due to us following current legislation and ensuring best practice. 

• When conducting an EHCP need assessment we must have advice/contributions from an EP who is normally employed by or commissioned by the local authority (SEND Code of Practice)
• Where private EP reports are available, these must be considered by the LA (SEND regulations)
• If a private EP has been involved with a child/young person they must be consulted with (SEND Code of Practice)
• A private EP report can be used as the sole psychological advice, but only if everyone involved (the author, the family, and the LA) agrees that it is sufficient (SEND regulations)

In practice, families and private EPs often feel confident that the report is sufficient, because they know the young person well and have invested in the assessment. However, the LA may not have had much involvement with them and may need more information to make that judgment. This is why a consultation or assessment by a local authority EP is often needed. They may write a contributing report to support it. This means the EHC needs assessment will include input from both EPs.

We try to be as clear as possible about how we manage EP capacity. To ensure fairness, requests are handled on a ‘first-come-first-served’ basis, and having a private EP report doesn’t affect this process.

We appreciate the time, effort, and financial commitment families invest in obtaining informative private EP reports and understand it can be disappointing to learn that further local authority EP involvement is still necessary. However, to ensure a fair and consistent service for all children and young people, we have to adhere to legal frameworks.

Resources for children and young people