Educational Psychology Service Operating Procedures

Transcription

1 Educational Psychology Service Operating Procedures Overall perspective Psychologists work within a chartered profession having ethical and practice guidelines set by the British Psychological Society. Derbyshire county council also maintains standards for all its employees in how they relate both to the public and to other employees. We are committed to Working only with the informed consent and active participation of those with whom we work Working only within the limits of our recognised competencies Taking active steps to promote the welfare, well-being and rights of those with whom we work Demonstrating and promoting equal opportunity and antioppressive practices We apply psychology Informed by evidence Using processes to facilitate change Drawing on a range of models Involving those we are working with in an open exchange Educational psychologists have degrees in psychology. They are also qualified as teachers and have taught successfully before doing a second psychology degree which is their educational psychology qualification. Thus they know about children and young people, schools, teaching and the education system, and can provide advice based on this breadth of knowledge. 1

2 Service organisation The service is managed by a principal educational psychologist. Five senior educational psychologists line manage the educational psychologists working in three area offices. One senior educational psychologist is responsible for specialist work we undertake in relation to early years and manages the County s Support Service for Preschool Children with SEN. Typically each psychologist has to serve a large area. There is approximately 1 psychologist per 6000 children (age range 0-19). Demand for us to work with large numbers of individual children simply far outstrips our capacity to undertake a quality job. Therefore, in order to plan effectively and to respond to the diverse range of needs in communities we have organised into cluster teams to serve communities of schools. We can then share expertise and do more joint work when necessary eg in relation to training and projects. Each area will have an experienced manager as leader who will plan with the psychologists their use of time. Time allocation Psychologists time is managed in terms of priority for certain vulnerable groups, for example, Early Years, Looked after children and those with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. The remaining time is allocated on behalf of children in schools and preschool settings (including direct time, administration, parents, LEA procedures, legal processes). 2

3 Working with schools The role of the educational psychologist has widened from a school based service. However, as most children spend a significant proportion of their time there, schools will remain a focus of educational psychology work. In evaluations schools have told us they want us to be involved in activities such as more consultation and training in addition to work with individual children. We expect to be working with children who have more complex needs where schools would like practical guidance (for example, children with complex learning disorders, children experiencing emotional and psychological distress and particularly children who experience both). We would be less involved with individual children having what might be termed high incidence needs, e.g. literacy difficulties, underachievement, low attainment levels. There will be other inputs we can offer regarding these, for example, consultation and advice; projects to support inclusion; training needs of teachers and support assistants; promoting the achievements and well-being of vulnerable groups. In particular, the service will focus on key priorities in the County Education Strategy: To raise attainment at all key To raise achievement of children in public care To raise the achievement of children with special educational needs To raise the attainment of children from vulnerable groups To reduce exclusions To ensure the active involvement of children and young people To provide support to parents and carers The value we add is based on our knowledge of psychology in solving school-based problems. We will undertake a broad range of activities related to: School improvement needs Support for schools in planning for individual pupils at school action plus or who have statements Supporting the LEA in fulfilling its statutory duties and strategic responsibilities The needs of schools communities 3

4 Each school will have a named link EP who will be part of a learning community team (where staffing permits). It will be the responsibility of members of the community team to balance the needs of the whole community with the demands from particular schools. The link EP will work with the school through SENST meetings to identify priorities that will assist the school s planning in relation to inclusion. Identified needs will be prioritised by the community EP teams and time allocated to work accordingly. To improve effectiveness in planning the LA is working to support the development of learning communities and we will try to link schools together where they have needs in common, and to offer support across their wider community. SENST meetings The "SENST" (Special Educational Needs Support Team) enables schools to plan with their educational psychologist. This year, we aim to use SENST meetings more creatively, working with schools to develop their scope and function. The basic allocation to all schools is two meetings per year. Schools with more than 100 pupils on roll can negotiate an additional meeting. We suggest schools use this meeting for planning, and limit it to about an hour and a half. The head, the SENCO or their nominee should represent the school. Sometimes it will be useful for members of other support services to join the planning meeting to assist in joint planning. We welcome appropriate colleagues joining the meeting. Because of the planning role laid down for the meeting, we suggest SEN training needs in the school are discussed at this meeting. The planning meetings are not the right setting for lengthy reviews of individuals. It would be inappropriate, for example, to use this meeting to hold the annual review of a child s statement. When schools consult us about an individual child at the meeting, their parent or carer needs to be told by the school, since data is being shared with an organisation not involved with every child. It needs to be explained to them that: The meeting is for planning what can be done in school The psychologist will not be seeing the child; only advice is being sought at this time Any outcomes will be shared with parents The meeting should be recorded. Some schools prefer the educational psychologist to do this, while in some schools the SENCO likes to make the record. Whoever makes it, the record should set out clearly what was discussed, what was agreed and what actions were to be undertaken. 4

5 SENST is currently under review to look at how the agencies can work effectively together in supporting schools. Task teams In addition to generic work with schools all psychologists have time allocated for development work in relation to the following tasks Emotional literacy Effective learning Children looked after Tasks commissioned by LEA planning and strategy Tasks that enhance professional skills Anti bullying Development of training materials Autism Spectrum Disorders Early Years Consultation It is not always appropriate or effective to see children individually. The DfEE Review of Educational Psychology Practice (2000) strongly advocates that psychologists use consultation models. This is where concerns are raised, eg by a teacher or other professional, and there then begins a shared process of exploration of the problem, suggestions for intervention, followed by review. We value this approach because it sees professionals as equals and can employ everyone s skills to best effect. Consultation sessions can be used for individual issues, family issues, class group issues, and whole school issues. Where we undertake any consultation sessions they will be properly planned with actions agreed and recorded. Working with SEN & Inclusion Administration Children with SEN are vulnerable, particularly in terms of their psychological well being. The psychology service is responsible to the County Council to apply psychology to the benefit of children, families and schools. It also has a particular requirement to enable the local education authority to fulfil its statutory duties under the Education Act (1996), the particular requirements being set out in the revised Code of Practice (2002). 5

6 Statutory advice from educational psychologists has to be submitted within statutory time limits. All statutory advice is potentially open to challenge within a Tribunal (SENDIST) or in a court of law. It is therefore imperative that we follow the good practice set out by our profession in relation to standards, evidence and ethics. In exceptional cases educational psychologists may be expected to appear as expert witnesses for the LA and for parents at tribunals or hearings. These activities arise unexpectedly and disrupt other planned work. Educational psychologists will only be expected to appear where it is clear that their psychological expertise is required. We will work with LA officers to: Participate in the county Statutory Assessment Moderation Group (SAMG) both in the application and development of consistent criteria Provide advice about the appropriate placements of young people Provide advice to assist the planning of provision and resources Provide evidence of the effectiveness of placements and provision Attend key reviews of children placed out of county Contribute to initiatives to improve procedures Working with other professionals We believe that where more than one professional is involved with a child or a school then there should be effective planning to improve outcomes. We will attempt to improve communication with professionals in other agencies by planned meetings, sharing information where we have permission, providing information about our service, and undertaking joint training for appropriate activities. We will always attempt to ascertain the network surrounding a child and make them aware of our involvement. We anticipate working within the Common Assessment Framework guidance soon to be released by government (2005). School improvement The psychology service works to support school improvement plans or to work with schools at risk of serious weakness or special measures. Schools should discuss their needs with their named psychologist. The EP may draw on the knowledge and resources of other psychologists in the community team. 6

7 Critical incidents A crisis (critical incident) is seen as a situation which is outside the range of normal human experience, which would be markedly distressing to anyone. When alerted to a possible critical incident, the Educational Psychology Service will always assess the nature of the incident, advise on the right level of response, and give the school a point of contact who can be referred to if the situation changes or develops. The EPS will respond promptly when potential critical incidents are reported to it. In all cases, it will investigate sufficiently to determine the level of response that will be made. The aims of the response will be to give school staff help in keeping the school functioning effectively, and to identify, help and assist individuals who are suffering particularly badly in the aftermath of the critical incident and/or may suffer longer term negative outcomes. 7

8 Working with individual children As many as 20% of children will experience emotional or learning problems/difficulties at some stage of their lives. For the most part they will be helped by teachers and other staff applying good teaching and pastoral interventions. A small number of children will experience extremely complex problems. As a service we are working on finding methods for identifying those children with more complex needs to ensure we are targeting the most vulnerable children. Assessment and intervention We recognise that what are often described to us as children s problems and difficulties actually take place against a wider backdrop of influences e.g. family support, school effectiveness, healthcare, economic factors, peer influences etc. Even where there are clearly within child factors, looking at the systems surrounding the child will help to identify what factors might be maintaining the problem and how the child can be supported more effectively. When assessing children therefore we have to look for information about those elements that can be changed to improve the situation. The goal of all assessment we undertake will be to identify a helpful intervention for those who have sought our help and to support them in doing it. To intervene We need to speak to the key people in the child s life Identify everyone s goals Plan/complete a relevant assessment Work with the key people to develop solutions Review the outcomes This is the process known as Plan Do Review. This is most likely to lead to successful outcomes. We will write down a contract with the referrer based on the Plan-Do- Review process and seek evaluative comments subsequently. In all cases where we have assessed an individual child we will write an account of this. Consent We see children only with parent/carer permission. The Derbyshire standard is that a parent will give informed consent. Derbyshire psychologists will, so as to make the consent real and informed, give those with parental responsibility the following rights: 8

9 To receive from the referrer or us a booklet setting out what educational psychologists are and what they do. To be given the opportunity to meet the Educational Psychologist at or around the time when their child is seen. To be present if they wish whenever their child is seen individually outside the classroom. Recording our involvement We will record what we do. When individual children are seen, we will produce a written record, setting out clearly: What we found What we think are the important issues What we advise should be done How we will follow this up, if necessary This may, when appropriate, be a full psychological report. In many instances, however, it will appropriately take the form of a briefer note, However, it must always address the listed areas. Reports that are about individual children will be routinely copied to their parents. We will store information in a confidential pupil file. We will record consultations we undertake with settings and parents. We will store these in a school or setting file. If this leads to direct work then we will open a pupil file. Schools should always seek parental consent when wishing to have a formal consultation. Anonymous consultation is possible eg a hypothetical situation. However, if it becomes clear that there is some risk to an individual we will seek to formalise the consultation. We work within an ethical code of confidentiality; issues relating to child protection would override this, as would a court order. 9