Educational Psychology Service

Aims of the Service

The Educational Psychology Service aims to enhance the learning, development and emotional wellbeing of children and young people in Perth and Kinross. The primary focus is on overcoming barriers to learning, with interventions to promote learning, development, resilience and wellbeing.

About us

The Educational Psychology Service aims to enhance the learning, development and wellbeing of children and young people in Perth and Kinross.

A team of Education Psychologists are led by the Principal Educational Psychologist, who holds a dual role as an Inclusion Manager and who retains a small allocation of school-based practitioner work. All Educational Psychologists must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, who regulate the work of the profession on behalf of the government. Educational Psychologists must undertake a specified amount of professional learning on an annual basis. Professional practice is also guided by standards published in the British Psychological Society's Code of Conduct and Ethics.

What do we do?

Every Perth and Kinross school has an Educational Psychologist. Educational Psychologists operate a consultation service which provides an opportunity to seek least intrusive and early stage solutions through discussion with key adults in children's lives, as well as to agree and plan further work as appropriate. Partner provider nurseries are also able to contact the service for consultation. Young people, parents and carers can contact the service directly. Educational Psychologists also offer a consultation service to partner agencies offering support to young people post-school, such as Perth College, Skills Development Scotland and Services for Young People.

When working at the casework level (PDF, 45 KB) with children, young people and families, the primary focus is on overcoming barriers to learning, with interventions to promote learning, development, resilience and wellbeing. Consultation is the starting point for casework. Decisions about the extent and nature of Educational Psychologist involvement, beyond statutory requests, are based on the professional judgement of the Educational Psychologist following discussion and consideration of impact, vulnerability, young person's views, readiness to change and professional boundaries.

Parental and/or young person's consent is required for Educational Psychologist involvement and information storage where:

• ongoing consultation about a child or young person is agreed
• direct involvement with the child, young person or family is agreed

The information provided by you will be used by Perth and Kinross Council to allow you or your child to access Educational Psychology services. The information may be shared with third parties including the Scottish Children's Reporter's Administration or the NHS when it is necessary or appropriate for us to do so. For further information on how the Council uses your information, please look at our data protection web page, email DataProtection@pkc.gov.uk or phone 01738 477933.

As well as working to link schools, Educational Psychologists also apply their psychological skills and knowledge by working to support staff training and development, project-based interventions, and undertaking pieces of research on behalf of the authority. In this way, a large number of children and young people benefit from Educational Psychology Service support.

Consultations

We offer a consultation service to professionals and parents who are concerned about children and young people. Children and young people can also request a meeting with a psychologist in their own right. The aim of the consultation is that, through discussion, users of the service will:

• reach a clearer view of the issues
• feel better able to consider the actions open to them
• have greater confidence in the course of action they choose to follow

A consultation with a psychologist may be enough to help clarify what further steps the client should take.

Assessment

Assessment is a process involving the gathering of information from a variety of sources, in a range of settings, over a period of time. The purpose of assessment is to inform future intervention and promote learning and the wellbeing of the child or young person in their school, family and community. Assessment involves partnership with parents, carers, teachers, young people,children and may also involve other agencies. As part of the process of negotiating an assessment, a referral agreement is drawn up, including information about how feedback will be given on the work.

We may be requested by the Reporter to the Children's Panel to make an assessment of a young person. Within the context of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 we may be asked to assist in the identification and assessment of children who have additional support needs.

The Act also gives parents the right to request a psychological assessment when the education authority has agreed to determine whether the child has additional support needs and/or requires a co-ordinated support plan.

Intervention

Interventions are planned strategies which aim to promote positive learning experiences and support psychological wellbeing. The psychologist may be directly involved in implementing the intervention, or may work alongside others who are delivering the intervention. Interventions are informed by evidence-based practice and subsequent evaluation of the outcomes.

Research and development

We undertake a range and variety of research on behalf of schools, the education authority, and other organisations, eg services working in the post-school sector. We have training and experience in qualitative and qualitative research methods. We use techniques such as action research, questionnaires and surveys. These methods can be used for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions and for carrying out surveys to determine opinions and needs.

Training services

We offer training to schools, parents, young people, ECS staff, voluntary agencies and other organisations. Training is delivered according to the needs of the group, often to link to local priorities in development plans, and may be delivered centrally or locally.

What are we working on just now?

We undertake a range of research and development in partnership with schools, the education authority, and other organisations, and in response to national priorities. We have training and experience in qualitative and quantitative research methods. For more detailed information, please see our latest Standard and Qualities Poster (PDF, 226 KB). What we are working on provides more information on what the service in working on.

The Educational Psychology Service worked in collaboration with schools to improve school engagement through action research projects in 2014 to 2015 and 2015 to 2016, with evidenced impact on areas of school engagement. A full report (PDF, 288 KB) and briefing paper (PDF, 117 KB) is available with further details about the school action research projects and tools to measure engagement.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of things can a psychologist help with?

These are only some of the many areas where psychologists can be involved:

• Family difficulties
• Challenging behaviour
• Learning difficulties
• Support for staff
• Raising attainment for a group of children
• Developing emotional wellbeing on a school-wide level

How can I access the Psychology Service?

Access to services is identified following consultation, usually through ongoing links with school communities and other establishments. The service can also be accessed directly via the contact details on this page.

What about confidentiality?

We work within the policies of Perth & Kinross Council and the Health and Care Professions Council, with regards to Child Protection and sharing information. We will respect the confidentiality of information unless the safety and wellbeing of any child or young people may be at risk.

Young people can request a confidential consultation and have the right to be consulted about the involvement of the psychology service.

What if I have any concerns about the service provided?

The matter should firstly be taken up with the relevant psychologist. If this fails to answer your concerns, the matter should be discussed with the Principal Psychologist

How are we doing?

Evaluation of our service

Perth and Kinross Educational Psychology Service undertook a validated self-evaluation in collaboration with local and neighbouring education authority staff and HM Inspectors, Education Scotland in June 2016.

The Perth and Kinross Educational Psychology Service draws upon on the concept of 'learning organisations' whereby we actively seek knowledge about our effectiveness and operate systems which transfer the learning into better practice (Senge 1990). We aim to gather, process, and act upon information in ways best suited to their purposes, get feedback on services, continuously refine ourselves and are "open systems" sensitive to the external context (Brandt, 1997).

We operate a model of continuous improvement of service delivery. This is achieved through robust self-evaluation, consultation with stakeholders, practitioner reflection and professional development. The Service therefore aims to have a self-evaluation framework that gathers proportionate but robust data, in order to learn more about the extent that it meets its aims and those of Education and Learning, and the impact it has on outcomes for children, young people and families.

Giving us feedback

We welcome feedback. If you have a comment or complaint, you are encouraged to discuss this with your psychologist. If you prefer, you can contact EdPsychologists@pkc.gov.uk.