Educational psychologists and children in care: practices and issues

Abstract

The aims of this study were to examine the extent and nature of educational psychologist (EP) work related to children in care in five local authority educational psychology services in the south‐west region. The study involved an initial internet‐based questionnaire for the 107 EPs in these services (86% response rate), followed up by in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with four EPs in each service. This paper reports some of the findings from this study that show the range of EP work and their roles in regard to children in care. It also examines the kinds of issues and tensions experienced by EPs in their multi‐agency work with regards to children in care. The paper concludes with a brief summary of relevant recommendations arising from the findings.

Keywords:

• educational psychologist work
• multi‐professional collaboration
• children in care
• in‐depth semi‐structured interviews

Acknowledgement

This study was funded by the Children’s Workforce Development Council organised through the Association of Educational Psychologists.