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Shortage of educational psychologists means service could be taken out of council hands

Shortage of educational psychologists means service could be taken out of council hands

Scrapping bursaries for trainee educational psychologists has led to plummeting numbers and difficulties for schools seeking help for pupils

10th October 2016, 10:01am

Emma Seith

Education psychology services in Scotland could be removed from local council control and turned into a national service, TESS can reveal.

The proposal has been put forward amid fears that training courses could fold because of a lack of demand, exacerbating an already desperate situation for schools seeking psychological support for students.

Applications to study educational psychology have plummeted since the Scottish government scrapped a bursary of £49,000 - paid over two years - in 2012.

Scotland’s two training courses for educational psychologists are now in danger of closing unless action is taken to increase student numbers, according to Barry Syme, chair of the Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP).

Next year, just 12 newly qualified educational psychologists are expected to join the profession in Scotland - around half the number needed annually to fill vacancies. The following year it is expected that just 17 educational psychologists will graduate.

Councils are already reporting that they are struggling to fill educational psychology posts, and headteachers have hit out at cuts to educational psychology services.

‘There has to be an outcome’

Now, TESS can reveal, a group comprising Education Scotland, education directors and educational psychologists is investigating whether educational psychology should be removed from council control and instead run as a national service.

TESS understands that education secretary John Swinney’s recently announced review of school governance is being seen as the perfect vehicle for a shake-up.

The group is due to discuss its findings with Scottish government officials at a meeting on Tuesday of the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychology (NSSGEP).

Three other working groups are looking at changes to training to attract more people into educational psychology.

Mr Syme said that the groups’ recommendations must result in action. “I’m more optimistic now about the future than I have been for a long time because we are having these discussions with the Scottish government and Education Scotland. But there has to be an outcome,” he said.

The Scottish government said it was working with NSSGEP, which includes representatives from the profession and universities, to “ensure a sustainable supply of educational psychologists to meet potential future needs”.

This is an edited version of an article in the 7 October edition of TESS. Subscribers can view the full story here. To subscribe, click here. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here. You can also download the TES Reader app for Android or iOS. TESS magazine is available at all good newsagents.