Core and non-core Educational Psychology Services - who decides? Over to you Table Group Exercise Facilitators: t Lynn Fletcher & Chris Lewis NAPEP Conference York 15th May 2012
What the Minister Said Much more can and should be done to raise the attainment of children with special educational needs and disability as well as to raise expectations of achievement. Key to all those areas of reform will be educational psychologists. We need to make much better use of their skills in assessment, advising teachers and schools, and working with families and children. The role of educational psychologists might change depending on what we do with the assessment system. I would like them to play a greater role in offering therapeutic advice rather than just being used by local authorities as a gatekeeper to services, as happens all too often. Sarah Teather (Hansard October 2010)
Statutory Minimum and There is a duty for educational psychologists to provide advice to the statutory assessment of children under Section 323 of the 1996 Education Act and Regulation 10 of the 2001 Education (Special Educational Needs) (England) (Consolidation) Regulations. However, the work EPs undertake goes far wider than this statutory duty.
LACSEG Technical Note (DfE) ANNEX A FY11-12 12 section 251 budget Table 1 Lines Line 2.0.1 Educational Psychology Service not LACSEG relevant, LA Budget funded - Not included d as the provision i of an educational psychology service is a statutory t t responsibility of the local l authority.
Stages in the Statutory Process School Action Plus School concern SA, SA+ adaptations/adjustments in the whole school context FFT RAISEOnline pupil progress EP consultation/assessment - Recommendation/advice for reasonable adjustments Parental involvement interview/consultation/feedback Move to Statement of Special Educational Needs request. Statement Advice & Support SA(D)s Observation, Assessment, collation and writing up report EP advice - pupil observation assessment including Teacher, parent interview liaison with other professionals as appropriate. SEN Team liaison/advice. Note in Lieu/Strategy meetings (if there are parental appeals to SEND Tribunal). Contribution to (and attendance at) Tribunals as LA Witness. Statement/Post SSEN Review and monitoring functions. First Annual Review after SSEN. Liaison with SEN Officers. Advice to SEN Panel re additional resourcing requests. Targeted reviews to inform transition EY to school entry, KS2/3/Post 16 Out County monitoring to ensure, pupil progress, well being, best value & safeguarding.
Statutory & Beyond Currently EPs make a significant contribution to statutory SEN assessments. However the tendency to focus on the statutory role to provide a written contribution to the assessment and the associated monitoring and follow-up work means that much of what EPs have to offer more widely is not taken up or commissioned by LAs or schools.
Economics and Ethics The most vulnerable children must be able to access appropriate support. Commissioning enables schools and other bodies bodestobuy buy in additional addto a EP services often to meet a well-defined need. However, we must make sure non- sponsored children are also able to access EP support. Mechanisms will be agreed locally, but as we move towards a more traded public sector economy, there is a risk that some children might not get the support they need.
An Invitation There is little consensus neither on what constitutes LA statutory responsibilities or core services nor on the proportion of universal versus targeted support. We believe there is value in the profession taking these issues forward to try to agree a level of consistency.
Statutory & Core Questions What should EP services and LAs agree as statutory? What additional work should EP services undertake as part of their core duties? How can EP services support non sponsored children as part of their core duties? What EP services should NOT be part of core services?