Educational psychologists could make a greater contribution to schools’ implementation of Curriculum for Excellence, according to an HMIE report published this week.
Educational Psychology in Scotland: Making a difference says there is potential for educational psychologists “to make wider contributions to the curriculum, working with colleagues in education services to identify areas where their expertise might have the greatest impact”.
This could include “improving learning, teaching and supporting transitions as part of the successful implementation of Curriculum for Excellence”.
The report identified other areas where progress needed to be made, recommending improvements to services’ approach to research, and highlighting the need to gather more evidence for the impact of educational psychologist’ work.
The result of a five-year programme that involved HMIE inspecting Scotland’s 32 local authority educational psychology services, the report is, overall, upbeat about their quality.
Senior chief inspector Bill Maxwell said almost all services helped shape the implementation of key national priorities, such as the new curriculum and additional support for learning legislation.
“The breadth of their work gives educational psychology services a pivotal position in assisting education authorities to raise educational standards for Scotland’s children and young people,” he said.
Bill O’Hara, chair of the Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists, welcomed the report.
Educational psychology services were ideally situated to build capacity within local authorities and schools through research and development work and supporting professional development, he said.
“With the increasing legislative and curricular demands on schools and education services, it is critical that local authorities ensure that educational psychology services can continue to contribute the depth of service delivery highlighted in the report as good practice.”
chris.small@tes.co.uk
www.hmie.gov.ukPublications.aspx.
