What do Educational Psychologists (EPs) do?
EPs work in nurseries, schools and colleges to improve outcomes for all children and young people. They support settings to create an inclusive culture, identify the strengths and needs of staff and students and develop programmes of support. They consider children and young people’s:
- Language and communication;
- Relationships and social skills;
- Emotional regulation (influencing behavior);
- Learning;
- Sensory differences;
- Physical needs.
EPs support settings at:
- An organisational (or whole school) level e.g. developing policy, training staff;
- A group level e.g. supporting a particular year group or students with a certain need;
- An individual level i.e. offering support around an identified student.
Barnet EP service use a consultation model of service delivery. This means that all work begins with a meeting between the EP and key stakeholders (e.g. senior leaders, teachers, parents/carers, other professionals) where we think collaboratively to identify desired outcomes, determine what is going well, think about current difficulties and plan next steps. For further information, please click here.
Following consultation, EPs may:
- Provide training to staff or parents;
- Deliver programmes of support (interventions) to staff, parents or students;
- Carry out assessments with children or young people;
- Engage in research e.g. to understand more about an issue within the school setting; to consider the impact of a particular intervention.
The EP team aim to work with settings over time and regularly review and evaluate their input alongside staff, parents and children and young people.
How to access the EP service?
Educational settings in Barnet buy EP time that is delivered by an allocated link professional. This is purchased through the BPSI trading catalogue which can be accessed by clicking here.
EPs also provide psychological advice for all children undergoing an assessment for an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This is funded centrally by the Local Authority. For further information about the EHCP process, please click here.
CONSENT AND ASSENT
When carrying out work around individual children within a setting, the EP service needs appropriate permission (or consent). Consent can be given directly by young people over the age of 16, but should be sought from parents/carers for children under 16. It is important that those giving consent understand the EP role and what EP involvement would mean. Information for parents/carers discussing the EP role can be found here and for children and young people here. After an initial discussion with your link EP, school staff, parents/carers and children/ young people, should complete the following form together to provide information and give consent in order to request EP involvement.
Educational Psychology Request for involvement form
Alongside consent, it is important that the agreement of children and young people regarding EP involvement is sought (this is known as assent).
CANCELLATION PROCEDURE
If you need to cancel a visit, we need as much notice as reasonably possible so that we can use the time for another visit. When more than two working days notice of cancellation is given there will be no loss of allocation of your time. A visit cancelled with less than one working day notice is fully charged to you, but rather than cancelling your visit you can choose to discuss with us a change in the work we will do on that visit. If the educational psychologist is unable to fulfil the number of school sessions due to illness or other unpreventable circumstances we will offer an alternative educational psychologist in order to carry out the agreed work. We appreciate your understanding that EPs may need to prioritise a critical incident, and may need to cancel a visit.
Training
CENTRAL TRAINING
The EP team periodically offer free training to parents/carers or professionals online or at a central Barnet location. This will be advertised in the "School circular."
Additionally, we are currently running the ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) programme. This is an evidence-based programme designed to build capacity within schools to support the needs of children and young people who experience social, emotional and mental health difficulties. ELSAs are trained to plan and deliver interventions to individuals and groups of children. ELSAs attend a 6-day training course and receive half-termly supervision, facilitated by Barnet Educational Psychologists. For further information and booking, click here.
TRAINING IDEAS
Many school settings regularly ask EPs to provide bespoke training to staff or parents in their setting. The following are a list of some of the sessions the team have offered previously:
- Supporting children with literacy or difficulties;
- Precision Teaching (an evidence based intervention to support children or young people to acquire and maintain specific academic skills);
- Metacognition (thinking about thinking);
- Emotion Coaching (a way to support children “in the moment” to manage their emotions and regulate their behaviour)
- Zones of Regulation (a visual approach supporting children to manage their emotions and physiological state enabling them to engage in their environment);
- Trauma informed Schools;
- Attachment and Relationships;
- Mindfulness;
- Supporting children to develop social skills;
- Down Syndrome.
Interventions
The EP team are trained and experienced in delivering programmes of support (or interventions) to individual/ groups of children, parents/carers and staff. Interventions use collaborative problem-solving approaches and are evidenced based. Examples of interventions currently on offer include:
- Play Based Therapeutic Approaches
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapeutic Approaches
- Down Syndrome training and support groups
- Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA)
- Video Interaction Guidance (VIG)
- Designated Safeguarding lead supervision
Further information about many interventions the EP team currently offer can be found by clicking here.
Participant feedback quotes:
"I have loved the opportunity to reflect and learning within a role that is even more ‘reactive’ than ever post-Covid. I have put what I have learnt to use in all aspects of my role. We have also built a community of ELSAs and our group supervision sessions enable us to keep learning and stay focused. Without the course, I would not have had the confidence to deliver individual sessions and am truly thankful that my school gave me (and the children I work with) this opportunity.” ELSA training participant
"When I first started, I was a bit nervous because I didn't know what to expect. VIG has helped me to notice how I am as a parent. It has pointed out a lot strengths to me so I can feel confident in what I am doing." VIG parent feedback
"I feel a lot more positive. This has given me more confidence and shows me I am doing things right." VIG Teaching Assistant feedback
"Having the time to explore my learning skills and my emotions and being able to decide what what I wanted to explore was the most helpful." CBT intervention feedback
"Our Nuture Group has had a huge impact on social behaviour - children sharing, playing for short periods together and initiating conversation. They can self-regulate better and use emotional vocabulary confidently." Nurture Group feedback
EPs within other services
The EP team has been commisioned to work within multi-discliplinary teams in other local authority services and in the National Health Service (NHS) including the:
Youth Justice Service: supporting young people who have come into contact youth justice/are engaging with youth justice services
Virtual School: working in service of looked after children
The Hub: supporting children in care who have experienced a significant tranistion
Resilient, Engaged, Achieving Children Hub (REACH): assessment and intervention for young people presenting with high risk/high vulnerability.
Autism Pathway: supporting health professionals in the assessment process for Autism
Feedback
The EP team would like to hear feedback from settings about their experience of working with an EP. If you would like to provide feedback, please use this form:
Setting staff feedback - working with an Educational Psychologist
Other useful information
EQUITY AND DIVERSITY
The EP team are commited to treating all service users fairly as well as promoting equity and diversity in the settings we work with. Our policy and position statement can be found by clicking here.
LITERACY DIFFICULTIES
The EP team continue to keep up to date with research related to supporting children with literacy difficulties. Our policy regarding supporting schools in this area, can be found here.
TRANS* TOOLKIT
The purpose of this toolkit is to provide information and guidance to educational professionals working with trans* children and young people in Barnet on how to help them create an inclusive environment. The toolkit can be found here.