About

What do Educational Psychologists Do?

In addition to providing Psychological Advice as part of the Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment process, the Educational Psychology Service is involved in many different aspects of work within the Local Authority (LA). The core function of our role comprises five key elements: consultation, assessment, intervention, research and training. 

We work within the LA to develop and deliver strategies and initiatives to improve outcomes for children and young people. We also work to support other LA services through the application of psychology. Some of these services include: The Early Years Service, Youth Justice Service, Behaviour and Inclusion Service, and our Virtual School.

We also deliver nationally recognised training, such as the Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) training and the Mediated Learning Support Approach (MeLSA). In addition, we develop bespoke training packages to support the continuous professional development (CPD) of the Knowsley workforce. These training packages are available upon request.
 

Who do we work with?

Knowsley Educational Psychologists (EPs) work directly with or on behalf of children and young people aged 0-25. We work collaboratively with children and young people, their parents/carers and school settings ranging from early years to post-16 providers. We also work with a range of colleagues from agencies such as Health, e.g., Children and Young People's Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Social Care, and contribute within a range of multi-agency forums. We share our advice by either facilitating meetings or providing written feedback, e.g., consultation reports, action plans or more detailed psychological reports, depending on our level of involvement.
 
In Knowsley, several schools work directly with us through commissioning Service Level Agreements (SLA). These schools have a link EP who works with them at an individual (child), group or whole-school level, to carry out the core functions, as highlighted above.

If you feel your child warrants Educational Psychology involvement, please discuss this with your school's Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo). The SENCo will be able to share with you what support is currently in place, and whether EP involvement is appropriate at this time, within the Graduated Approach to meeting their special educational needs.

We also work with the North West University Consortia to support the development of Trainee Educational Psychologists (TEPs). Through our role as stakeholders within the doctoral training process and the employment and supervision of TEPs on placement, we are ensuring the recruitment of future EPs to the area. 

Meet the team