What do Educational Psychologists do?

We work with adults who are concerned with children.

• We work in partnership with teachers to support children.
• We work with schools and pre-schools to plan support for children.
• We work jointly with a range of other professionals and sometimes directly with parents too.
• We work with parents as partners to help children.

We work directly with children (aged 0 to 19).

• Assessment work with a child might include: observation, tests, use of structured play activites and talking.
• We visit children (usually under 5) at home.
• We sometimes work with groups of children.
• We provide oral and written reports to parents and schools.

We work with the Local Authority (LA).

• We provide independent psychological advice to the LA for children undergoing statutory assessment. *
• We attend some Annual Reviews, both in-Borough and out-of-Borough schools.

* A statutory assessment is a detailed assessment of a child's educational needs by a Local Authority. It is carried out under the 1996 Education Act. These assessments are appropriate for a very small number of children with the most significant needs.

Who else do we work with? We do not only work with teachers, parents and children. The other professionals we might communicate or work with include:

• speech and language therapists
• psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses
• pre-school teacher counsellors
• specialist teachers
• physiotherapists
• occupational therapists
• doctors
• social workers and social work therapists

Other kinds of work we do . . .

• We set up and evaluate projects that support children's learning.
• We develop specific areas of interest and responsibility.
• We supervise EPs in training.
• We provide training to a range of agencies and devote time to developing project work with schools.
• We work with others within Education and can advise the LA on specific initiatives and policy development.

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