The Educational Psychology Workforce Survey 2015

National Association of Principal Educational Psychologists The Educational Psychology Workforce Survey 2015 June 2015 NAPEP National Executive Committee

Contents Forward 4 Summary 5 Introduction 8 Current local authority educational psychology workforce 10 Current commissioning and funding of Educational Psychology Services 16 Service delivery 19 Service demand 21 Conclusions 24 2

List of Figures Figure 1: Breakdown of qualified educational psychologists by age group 12 Figure 2: How are your educational psychology services currently commissioned? 16 Figure 3: How do you currently fund your educational psychology services? 17 Figure 4: How are trainee educational psychologist post funded in your organisation? 18 Figure 5: In which of the following settings are your qualified educational psychologists working? 19 Figure 6: In which of the following settings are your trainees working? 20 Figure 7: Is there currently a greater demand for your service than can currently be met? 21 List of tables Table 1: Breakdown of qualified educational psychologist headcount 10 Table 2: Breakdown of qualified educational psychologists by gender 11 Table 3: Breakdown of qualified educational psychologists by age range 11 Table 4: Breakdown of year two and three trainee educational psychologists reported 13 Table 5: Vacancies for permanent and temporary posts reported 13 Table 6: Are you experiencing any difficulties recruiting to vacant posts? 14 Table 7: Is there currently a greater demand for your services than can currently be met? 21 Table 8: Are any of your qualified Educational Psychologists also working as private Educational Psychologists? Table 9: Are any of your temporary staff also employed by other private providers on a part time basis. 22 Table 10: Do you anticipate any change to the size of your educational psychology service(s) over the next year? 23 3

Forward This survey has been supported through the dedicated work of the Principal Educational Psychologists from the National Executive. This is the first time that we have undertaken this work and as with all research we have had to plan it with care. We have built upon our experience of previous surveys as responders to help us frame the questions in this survey. We hope that we will be able to repeat the survey in the future. The information gathered from this survey is essential in informing discussions about workforce planning and the future role of Educational Psychologists. There has been a great deal of interest in the findings from other organisations including the Department for Education. The National Executive Committee of the National Association of Principal Educational Psychologists is very grateful for the level of response to the survey and hope that more services will be encouraged to respond in future. Dr Ruth Illman NAPEP Chair 2014-2016 www.napep.org 4

Summary The National Association of Principal Educational Psychologists (NAPEP) has compiled this report to set out the findings of a survey of Local Authority Educational Psychologists undertaken in 2015, following a pilot in 2014. This report continues the practice of collecting demographic information on Educational Psychologists previously undertaken by the Children s Workforce Development Council and the National College of School Leadership, now the National College of Leadership and Learning. Previous reports can be found on the NAPEP website www.napep.org. A conscious effort has been made to replicate the questions of previous surveys as far as it is possible so that direct comparisons can be made between the results. The survey was undertaken in Spring 2015, with responses closing in March 2015. The data was collated between March and June 2015. A total of 75 responses were made to the survey. Workforce demographics The total headcount of qualified educational psychologists recorded in the survey was 1,089 across 75 responding services. This figure represents 892 (82%) female and 198 (18 %) male educational psychologists. This trend reflects a 2% decrease in female educational psychologists since the 2014 survey and a 2% increase in male educational psychologists. The majority of educational psychologists were aged between 30 and 64 years old The survey recorded that 156 year 2 and year 3 trainees were working across the 75 services who participated in the survey. In 2014 this was recorded as 209 across 115 Local Authorities. This averages to 2.04 per service in 2015 and 1.05 in 2013. Vacancies and Recruitment Fifty-five Educational Psychology Services from the 75 responding reported that they had vacancies. This reflects almost 75% of responding services having vacancies. The responding services indicated that they were actively trying to recruit to 92.4 full time permanent posts and 29.4 temporary posts. This contrasts with the previous survey which reported that although there were vacancies only 38 respondents reported actively recruiting to permanent and / or fixed-term posts. The survey identified that the majority of those responding (53%) were expecting to experience difficulties in recruiting but that 21% of responders were more confident about recruitment. 5

Commissioning and Funding Respondents were asked to select from a list of options about how their Educational Psychology Services were commissioned. Services were asked to select all options that applied to them. In total 75 services responded to the questionnaire, of which 64 (85%) services reported that they were commissioned by the Local Authority, this is followed by 43 (57%) services being commissioned by Academies and 41 (54%) by Maintained Schools. The survey demonstrated that Local Authorities remain the most common source of commissioning but that the vast majority of services are now commissioned through at least two income sources. Respondents were asked about how their service was funded. They were asked to choose as many of the options which applied. The two most common income streams were core budget (71 services: 94%) and income generation streams i.e. traded services (52 services: 66%). This is similar to levels reported in 2013. The majority of Trainee Educational Psychologist placements were funded through core budget (43 placements) followed by income generation (29 placements). This presents an increase in funding through income generation since the last survey when 62 % of respondents to this question stated that trainees are funded through core budget and 33% through income generation streams. Service delivery The survey did not request information about the management or structure of educational psychology services as a separate survey was planned for the 2015 NAPEP conference. NAPEP has the benefit of having an overview of trends in development through regional representatives and can confirm that educational psychologists work closely with a range of other services to meet the needs of children and young people. Respondents were asked about the settings that educational psychologists worked in. The information received through the survey shows that maintained schools, academies and early years settings remain the key environments in which educational psychologist work, followed by further education and children looked after. Trainees were reported as working predominantly in educational psychology services, maintained schools, academies, and early years settings with under 50% of trainees working in further education settings. Service demand Respondents were asked about the demand for their services. From the returns received 84% of services reported a demand for services above their normal offer. This represents a proportional increase of 4% in demand for educational psychology service delivery, in local authorities from the previous survey. 6

In response to the question do you anticipate any change to the size of your educational psychology service over the next year, 31 responders reported a total increase of 51.1 qualified staff, and 10 responders reported a total increase of 14.6 trainees. Some services reported a decrease i.e. 8 services were decreasing by 8.4 staff and 8 services were decreasing trainee numbers by 9.6. Some services reported no anticipated change in the number of qualified educational psychologists employed and the majority reported no change to the numbers of trainees. 7

Introduction The Department for Education (DfE) commissioned an annual survey of the educational psychology workforce between 2009 and 2014. The earlier surveys were undertaken by the Children s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) and the more recent ones by the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL). No further surveys were planned after 2014. The National Executive Committee of the National Association of Principal Educational Psychologists (NAPEP) made a decision to continue to gather information which they felt would be useful to the profession. This report sets out the main findings from the 2015 survey of the local authority educational psychology workforce and where possible refers to previous survey results. Aims of the survey The 2015 survey sets out to provide data which can be compared with previous data, giving an overview of educational psychology services in England by gathering the following: Demographic information on the educational psychology workforce Information on commissioning and funding Information on the context of service delivery Information on demand and recruitment. Methodology The questions and structure of surveys have varied over the past five years but every attempt has been made to ensure that the questions for the 2015 survey would enable comparisons to be made with previous surveys. Earlier surveys were developed in partnership with other interested parties, this included NAPEP. We have learnt a great deal from this process and therefore any changes to questions have been made to ensure that the information received from this survey is more precise and takes into account the diversity of service delivery. The 2015 survey has retained a focus on collecting demographic information about services, on recruitment, how services are commissioned, the nature of service delivery and service demand. Questions have allowed for multiple answers in order to reflect the diversity of service delivery, the impact of commissioning and to demonstrate how service delivery has responded to market forces. The survey was undertaken using Survey Monkey in Spring 2015 following a pilot survey in Autumn 2014. All services participating in the pilot were asked to take part in the final survey. The purpose of the pilot was to evaluate the questions and make any adjustments to wording before circulating the final survey. 8

The survey was circulated to Local Authority services via NAPEP-L. Regional representatives on the National Executive Committee of NAPEP were tasked to ensure that all principal educational psychologists were aware of the survey and completed it. The total number of completed surveys submitted was 75. This is a reduced number of responses in contrast to the 2013 survey which was 112, including 3 joint responses, from a total of 152 Local Authorities. http://www.napep.org/educational_psychology_workforce_survey_april_2013.pdf Comparisons have been made with previous surveys, where appropriate, but it has to be remembered that circumstances have changed and since the development of earlier surveys we have seen a rise in the numbers of academies and decrease in the number of maintained schools, the extension of the age range from 0-19 to 0-25, the pressures of converting Statements of Special Educational Needs to Education, Health and Care Plans and the greater availability of posts than in previous years when vacancies were frozen. The percentages used throughout the report relate to the total number of responses to individual questions, rather than the survey population as a whole unless specified. The questions in the 2013 and 2015 workforce surveys have both been themed under three main headings: The workforce, (focusing on workforce demographics, for example FTE, headcount, gender, trainees and recruitment to posts). Commissioning and funding (investigating current commissioning and funding of EP services, and working across boundaries). Service delivery (investigating the types of settings educational psychologists are currently working in). Demand for services ((investigating the demand for services, and managing that demand). 9

1. Current local authority educational psychology workforce Qualified educational psychologists The total headcount of qualified educational psychologists on a permanent contract recorded in the 2015 survey was 1089 across 75 LAs, this included staff on maternity/paternity leave at the time of the survey. This number of staff were covering the equivalent of 904.02 posts. The total population was made up of 47% part time staff and 53% full time staff. This represents an average ratio of 12.05 fully qualified educational psychologists per service in 2015 instead of 16.06 in 2013. This reflects a reduction of fully qualified educational psychologists per service area. A small number of educational psychologists were on maternity leave. Table 1: Breakdown of qualified educational psychologist headcount Question 2013 result across 115 LAs 2015 results 1,799 1089 Total headcount of qualified educational psychologists on a permanent contract 1 Total FTE figure for total headcount reported 1,446 904.02 Total No. of part-time educational psychologists 844 (47%) 510 (47%) Total No. of educational psychologists currently on 75 (4%) 52 (5%) maternity/paternity leave Total reported No. of qualified educational 85 (5%) psychologists known to also be working as for Return is 44% for Reported by 33 private providers (reported by 43 respondents). permanent staff responders only, reported by 43 responders Total No. of qualified educational psychologists on 163 (5%) 90 (8%) a temporary / fixed-term contract Total FTE for temporary educational psychologists 103 64.1 The 2015 survey shows a small rise in the percentage of male educational psychologists and a similar decrease in the numbers of female educational psychologists (2%) since the 2013 survey. 1 Figure includes qualified educational psychologists on maternity/paternity leave. 10

Table 2: Breakdown of qualified educational psychologists by gender Gender Headcount and Headcount percentage 2013 Percentage 2015 Male 296 (16%) 198 (18%) and Female 1,501 (84%) 892 (82%) Total 2 1,797 (100%) 1090 (100%) Respondents were asked about the age spread of educational psychologists across the service. The figures relate to the number of people employed rather than full time equivalent posts. The results given below as a percentage allow for comparison to be made with the 2013 survey. Table 3: Breakdown of qualified educational psychologists by age range Age range 2013 Headcount and 2015 Headcount and percentage Percentage 29 and under 87 (5%) 60 (6%) 30-34 254 (15%) 146 (15%) 35-39 285 (17%) 121 (12%) 40-44 271 (16%) 182 (18%) 45-49 213 (12%) 114 (11)% 50-54 209 (12%) 128 (12% ) 55-59 220 (13%) 121 (12%) 60-64 144 (8%) 97 (10% ) 65 and above 31 (2%) 25 (3% ) Total 3 1,714 (100%) 994 (100%) The largest number of educational psychologists recorded now falls into the 40-44 age range. In the 2013 survey the most dominate age range was 35-39. It would be a valid assumption to make that some of the increase of educational psychologists in the 40-44 age range by 2% is linked to educational psychologists moving from the previous age 11

bracket or to numbers joining the profession. The possible 2% movement still leaves a 3% difference in the 35-39 age population which is not accounted for by this survey. The least represented age range is the 65 years and above categories, however there is a 2% increase in the 60-64 age bracket and a 1% increase shown in the over 65s since the previous survey. It is too early to confirm whether this increase is a rising trend linked to changes in the retirement age. Conclusions from the tables support the view that there is a representation of different age groups in the profession and that figures remains relatively stable. Figure 1: Breakdown of qualified educational psychologists by age group Trainee educational psychologists The total headcount for year two and three trainees recorded in the 2015 survey was 147 across 75 respondents. In the 2013 survey this was 209, across 112 respondents. In the 2015 survey the questions differed from the 2013 survey by referring to placement rather than contract. The 2015 question reflects the growing trend of bursary placements for trainees and a significantly reduced employment opportunities, as evidenced in the table below. The data represents the current situation. Table 4 gives the breakdown according to the data collected. The data shows that not all year 2 trainees remain with the same service for year 3. 12

Table 4: Breakdown of year two and three trainee educational psychologists reported Total No. of trainee educational psychologists recorded in the survey Total number of trainees in a 1 year placement 43 Total number of trainees in a 2 year placement 95 Total No. of year 3 trainee educational psychologists in the service 61 How many of these were working as a year 2 trainee last 55 year. Number of trainees on a contract of employment Yes 3% No 97% Recruitment Respondents were asked to report the total number of vacancies for permanent and temporary/fixed term posts in their services. The number of services indicating they had vacancies was 55, this represented 73% of the responding services. This is a significant increase since the 2013 survey when 46% of respondents reported vacancies. The figures can be broken down into 117 vacancies for permanent posts across the responding services and 65.35 vacancies for temporary or fixed term posts. Services reported that they were actively recruiting to 92.4 permanent posts and 29.4 fixed term or temporary posts. Table 5: Vacancies for permanent and temporary posts reported Total number of respondents reporting vacancies 55 5 (73%) Total number of vacancies for permanent posts currently in your service Total number of fte vacancies for temporary or fixed term posts currently in the service Number of fte vacancies for permanent posts to which you are actively recruiting Number of fte vacancies for temporary or fixed term posts to which you are actively recruiting 117 65.35 92.4 29.4 13

Respondents were also asked if they were currently experiencing difficulties recruiting to vacant posts. Table 6 provides a breakdown of responses received. The number of services experiencing difficulties in recruiting has risen by 10% from the 2013 survey and a 20% increase since the 2012 survey. The number of services who have not experienced difficulties recruiting has fallen from 52% to 21% Table 6: Are you experiencing any difficulties recruiting to vacant posts? Options No of responses Percentage Yes 40 53% No 16 21% Not actively recruiting 10 14% No response 9 12% Total 75 100% It appears that a number of factors continue to impact on recruitment. Over the last 7-8 years recruitment has been affected by the availability of qualified educational psychologists, triggered by the move to three year training when there was a significant gap before newly qualified educational psychologists could enter the profession. This was followed by recruitment freezes in many local authorities. Principal Educational Psychologists report that there is emerging flexibility in recruiting and posts are being released but that there is a shortage of educational psychologists to fill roles. Additional pressures and opportunities have arisen through trading and with the introduction of the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities reforms some services are hoping to expand service delivery. Some services report that their location is thought to be barrier to recruitment. The survey supports the theory that educational psychologists may work in more than one setting. 14

2. Current Commissioning and Funding of Educational Psychology Services Commissioning of educational psychology services The questions about commissioning and funding have been updated since the 2013 survey to reflect the current systems within local authorities. The respondents were asked to select all applicable funding options from the list provided. Figure 2 provides the figures for each response from 75 responding services. Figure 2: How are your educational psychology services currently commissioned and funded? Funding of Educational Psychology Services The 75 respondents were asked to select from a list of options how their educational psychology services are currently funded. Figure 3 below presents the total number of 15

responses for each funding source. Respondents could select more than one category (i.e. all that apply to their local authority). Figure 3: How do you fund your educational psychology service? The majority of the 75 services responding indicated that they were funded through core budget. A significant number were also funded through income generation and a number through central expenditure e.g. DSG or other grants. Respondents were also asked to select from a list of options how their educational psychology trainees were currently funded. Figure 4 below presents the total number of responses for each funding source. Again, respondents could select all categories that applied. 16

Figure 4: How are trainee educational psychologist post (s) funded in your organisation? The data collected reflects the variety of ways in which services have continued to support the training of educational psychologists during periods of financial challenge. Other local authority educational psychology services working across boundaries Respondents were asked if they were aware of any other local authority educational psychology services working in their area. A total of 9 (12%) services responded yes 17

and 65 (87%) responded no. The question in the 2013 survey focused on non-local authority services therefore a comparison cannot be made with earlier surveys. 3. Service Delivery Service/settings Respondents were asked to select which services/settings their educational psychologists and educational psychology trainees are working. The 75 respondents could select more than one category. The results indicate a range of settings with maintained schools, academies and early years settings being the most common places followed by further education and looked after children. In 2013 the data had indicated a similar trend in school settings followed by children looked after teams and integrated services/teams with a reduced number working in further education. The majority of educational psychology trainees appear to be working in educational psychology services (52), with schools (49), academies (46) and in early years (45) settings. Some (21) have had opportunities to work in further education settings. Figure 5: In which of the following settings are your qualified educational psychologists working? 18

Figure 6: In which of the following settings are your trainees working? 19

4. Service Demand Demand for services Respondents were asked whether there was currently a greater demand for their educational psychology services than could be met. Breakdown of responses to the question are presented in Table 8 and Figure 7 below. Table 8 shows an increase in demand by 4% from the 2013 survey. Table 7: Is there currently a greater demand for your services than can currently be met? Response Frequency Percentage Yes 64 85% No 9 12% Non response 2 3% Total 75 100% Figure 7: Is there currently a greater demand for your service than can currently be met? The increased demand for Educational Psychology Service comes at a time when some Local Authorities report that a significant number of their qualified educational psychologists are working for more than one provider. This reflects the position that educational psychologists are taking advantage of the wider opportunities available to them, including working as private providers. The 2015 survey highlighted that 33 of 20

the 75 responding Local Authority Educational Psychology Services have staff working for both a Local Authority and other providers on a private basis. The number of staff working for providers other than the responding service is much greater than in the 2013 survey. In that survey the figure was reported to be 5% but in the 2013 survey the question was targeted at permanent staff whereas the 2015 survey has targeted all qualified staff. The results suggest that a significant number of part time staff employed by a service are likely to work for more than one agency. Responders report that 56% of their educational psychologists are only employed by their local authority. Table 8: Are any of your qualified Educational Psychologists also working as private Educational Psychologists? Option Responses Percentage a)yes 33 44% b)no 42 56% c) Non response 0 0% Total 75 100% Information gathered through the survey shows that only 23% of temporary staff are working for more than one service provider whereas 62% do not. Table 9 Are any of your temporary staff also employed by other private providers on a part time basis? Option Responses Percentage a)yes 17 23% b)no 46 62% c) Non response 12 15% Total 75 100% 21

Respondents were asked if they anticipated any private providers working in their local authority schools or settings over the next twelve months. A similar question was posed in the 3013 survey where the yes response was 61% and the no response was 28%. The proportion of services giving a yes response in this survey was 65% and 31% stated no. This reflects an increase of 4% from the 2013 survey in yes responses but also an increase in no responses. The conclusion to be drawn is that some local authorities are affected more than others and the trend is not consistent across all responding services taking part in the survey. Plans to meet increased demand for services Respondents were asked to state whether they anticipated any change to the size of their services over the next year. The following table reflects the responses made. Table 9: Do you anticipate any change to the size of your educational psychology service(s) over the next year? Response Qualified educational psychologists (FTE) Trainees (FTE) Increase Decrease 31 responses reporting a total increase of 51.1 posts 8 responses reporting a total of 8.4 posts 10 respondents reporting a total increase of 14.6 posts 8 responses reporting a decrease of 9.6 posts No change /unsure 15 responses 40 responses Nor sure 17 responses 10 responses These results reflect the desire to recruit and increase service delivery linked to demand in a climate where educational psychologists are considered to be valued services. 22

5. Conclusions Conclusions from the survey indicate that educational psychology services are most likely to be commissioned through local authorities and schools. The numbers of educational psychologists employed by Local Authorities is relatively stable but that there are a significant number of vacancies. A significant number of services anticipate difficulties in recruiting to their service. The age group most represented in Local Authority services is 40 to 44 years. The numbers of educational psychologists in the 60 and above age range is 13% of which 3% more have remained employed by Local Authorities than in the 2013 survey. Local Authority Educational Psychology services continue to support training places but largely through bursary places. Local Authority Educational Psychology services are employing staff who work for their service and staff who may work for other providers or as sole traders. In some Local Authorities educational psychology may be delivered by more than one provider. 23