Summary of evaluation of the
educational psychology service
A report by HM Inspectorate of Education
Argyll and Bute Council
1 February 2011
Definition of terms used in this report.
HM Inspectors use published criteria when making evaluations. They are published as
quality indicators which relate evaluations to six levels. HMIE began using a six-point
scale to make evaluations in August 2005. The table below shows how the six-point
scale relates to the four-point scale that we used previously.
Old level
Very good
Good
New level
Excellent
Very good
Good
Fair
Unsatisfactory
Satisfactory
Weak
Unsatisfactory
Description
Outstanding, sector leading
Major strengths
Important strengths with some areas for
improvement
Strengths just outweigh weaknesses
Important weaknesses
Major weaknesses
This report also uses the following words to describe numbers and proportions:
almost all
most
majority
less than half
few
over 90%
75-90%
50-74%
15-49%
up to 15%
Contents
Page
1.
The aims, nature and scope of the inspection
1
2.
What key outcomes has the service achieved?
1
3.
How well does the service meet the needs of its
stakeholders?
2
4.
How good is the service’s delivery of key processes?
3
5.
How good is the service’s management?
4
6.
How good is leadership?
5
Appendix 1 - Quality indicators
1. The aims, nature and scope of the inspection
Recommendation 20 of the Review of Provision of Educational Psychology Services in
Scotland (2002) charged HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), on behalf of the
Scottish Ministers, to provide an external evaluation of the effectiveness of the
Educational Psychology Service (EPS) in improving the impact and outcomes for
children, young people and families. From June 2010, in line with recommendations
from the Crerar Review (2007) the volume of inspection activity was reduced with the
inspection providing evaluations on 14, rather than 19, quality indicators.
The inspection of Argyll and Bute educational psychology provision was undertaken on
behalf of stakeholders. The evaluation of EPS was conducted within a framework of
quality indicators which embody the Government’s policy on Best Value. The inspection
team also included an Associate Assessor who was a principal educational psychologist
(PEP) serving in another Scottish local authority.
This web-based report should be read alongside other strategic inspections of
Argyll and Bute Council which sets out the wider context in which EPS are delivered.
The Educational Psychology Service
Argyll and Bute EPS was based across five centres in Oban, Lochgilphead,
Campbeltown, Dunoon and Helensburgh. At the time of the inspection, the complement
of educational psychologists (EP) was 7.9 full-time equivalents (FTE), which included a
0.5 temporary position for post school psychological services. Promoted staff consisted
of a recently appointed PEP. The service received administrative support from one
full-time senior administrator and additional part-time clerical support across the offices.
Overall, the administrative support for the EPS was 1.6 FTE.
2. What key outcomes has the service achieved?
The EPS had made a positive contribution to the authority’s strategic targets. For
example, it had played an effective role in supporting the authority’s implementation and
upholding of The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004
through its contribution to the development of policies and procedures. It had led on
training to support schools to more effectively meet the additional needs of children and
young people. The EPS had carried out some promising planning work in managing
transitions for young people leaving school. The service should now implement these
plans fully.
In partnership with the quality improvement team, the EPS had successfully reviewed
and developed authority policy to provide more effective support for children and young
people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in schools. This had contributed to a
reduction in the number of children and young people being placed in educational
establishments outwith the authority. The EPS had also made a helpful contribution to
the formation of multi-agency Autism Assessment Teams. This had resulted in a
significant reduction in waiting times for this specialised assessment. The EPS should
now take steps to increase its impact at an authority level by aligning its service
1
objectives more closely with those of the Children Services’ and Education Service
plans. The service should set up procedures in its planning process to enable it to track
trends and improvement in its performance more effectively
The service had begun to contribute to the Curriculum for Excellence through its work
with individual and small groups of children and young people. For example, it had
used cognitive behavioural approaches to effectively promote wellbeing and confidence.
It should now consider working more closely with senior education officers to increase
its impact in wellbeing across schools in all areas of the authority. The service had led
on the authority’s Literacy Initiative. However, its impact still had to be evaluated.
The service had played a valuable role in supporting the authority’s implementation of
Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC)1 with EPs contributing well to area
multi-agency teams such as pre-school assessment (PRESCAT). All staff had a sound
knowledge and understanding of procedures to protect children. The service required
to have discussions with the Children’s Reporter to ensure that all its statutory duties
were being met.
3. How well does the service meet the needs of its stakeholders?
Almost all children and young people viewed the service positively and felt that it had
made a difference to their lives. All children and young people felt they had been
listened to and taken seriously by EPs.
Almost all parents were satisfied with the service that had been provided by EPs. They
felt that EPs had dealt with their concerns sensitively and that they had been supported
during stressful periods. Parents valued the knowledge and skills of EPs. However, the
majority of parents were unaware of any written information about the EPS. The EPS
was in the process of developing a website and revising its leaflets to ensure
stakeholders such as parents had greater access to a range of information about its
services. It should also consider ways to make EPs’ reports more accessible to all
parents. A few parents indicated that reports were not readily understandable without
further explanation from the EP. The service should ensure that authority stakeholders
have a clear understanding of the role of the EP in order that stakeholders can help to
convey this more effectively to parents.
External partners and authority staff highly valued the individual work carried out by the
EPS and saw it as making a positive difference to the lives of children, young people
and their families.
Almost all schools regarded highly the work of the EPS, particularly its contribution to
more positive outcomes for individual children and young people. Schools felt there
were good lines of communication with the EPS. They reported that EPs worked well
collaboratively and maintained high professional standards. Slightly more than half the
1
The GIRFEC approach aims to ensure that centres, schools and educational services
work more closely with partner agencies so that all children get the help that they
need when they need it.
2
schools valued the service’s research and development function. Over a quarter of
schools however, were unclear about the contribution that the EPS had made to staff
professional development and training and in helping schools achieve their strategic
objectives. The service should ensure that schools are fully aware of EPS core
functions and that there is a balance and breadth of work carried out across these.
Staff across the EPS were highly motivated. EPs were committed to improving the lives
of children and young people. The administrative staff reported that their work was
valued by EPs. Despite the geographical distance between EPS bases, EPs had used
regular staff meetings productively to develop strong team spirit. EPs were aware of the
significant contribution they could make to authority strategic initiatives such as
Curriculum for Excellence and were enthusiastic about taking on this role. EPs had
contributed to the National Professional Development Programme for EPs. A few
members of the service had made valuable contributions to educational psychology
practice at a national level. More EPs should be involved in developing educational
psychology practice in the wider community. The service should work with senior
education managers to ensure that more children and young people benefit from the
expertise and knowledge of the EPS.
4. How good is the service’s delivery of key processes?
Overall, the EPS had delivered a broad range of effective services across consultation
and advice, assessment, intervention, training and research.
Consultation was used extensively to determine the role and level of involvement of the
service when negotiating individual work within schools. Consultation was also used to
gather information and, in collaboration with school staff and parents, to problem solve
effectively. The service needed a greater shared understanding of its consultation
model in order to reduce variability in practice. The EPS had a clear view of the
principles of assessment and how these informed intervention. EPs used appropriate
assessment tools but needed to extend the range of tools which were being used. The
EPS should, in conjunction with the senior education officers, identify ways in which it
can best support school staff to strengthen skills in the assessment of literacy and
numeracy. This approach would complement the work that was being done in schools
on the Literacy Initiative and would also effectively support the authority’s staged
approach to intervention.
The EPS had developed innovative interventions to meet the needs of children and
young people. For example, the Friends for Life programme had been used creatively
in increasing the resilience of children moving from island schools to a large mainland
secondary. The service had a very strong commitment to the development of evidence
based therapeutic approaches. The innovative Homunculi programme based on
cognitive behavioural and metacognitive principles had been successfully developed in
a few schools to support children and young people with ASD.
The EPS had delivered a range of training which had been well-received by schools and
partner agencies. For example, the service had played a key role in training school staff
on a range of topics such as solution focused approaches, ASD, cognitive behavioural
3
therapy and attachment. Some EPs had shared their expertise and had jointly provided
well received training to schools and external partners. Effective training had been
delivered to area principal teachers of support on the amendments to The Education
(Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 legislation.
The service had carried out some high quality pieces of research on topics such as
literacy, therapeutic approaches and attachment. The EPS should now use its
expertise in research to inform strategic developments across the local authority as it
had done with the revision of ASD provision in schools. Action should be taken to
ensure that the research function of the service is further developed across the full EPS
team.
Staff allocation principles were helpfully laid out in the staff handbook. These should
now be more consistently and transparently applied to ensure equality of access to the
service.
Features of good practice:
•
Effective therapeutic interventions that are evidence based and which made use of a
range of approaches such as cognitive behaviour therapy.
•
An innovative approach called Homunculi based on cognitive behavioural and
metacognitive principles used to support children and young people with ASD.
•
A creative use of the Friends for Life programme to support children moving from
island schools to a large mainstream secondary.
Further details from PEP.
5. How good is the service’s management?
The EPS had an appropriate range of policies and position statements to help direct its
work. Staff had contributed to their development and could demonstrate a sound
awareness of service priorities. Policies had been updated in line with legislative
changes. The EPS now needed to strengthen the effectiveness of its policies by
making them more closely linked to education and council priorities.
The service had a history of planning and had taken recent important steps to improve
the coherence and progression of its planning cycle and framework. The service was
aware that it now needed to embed rigorous self-evaluation in its improvement process
in order to track the service’s effectiveness and rate of progress. A management
information system was at a very early stage of development but had the potential to
strengthen significantly the EPS’s continuous improvement.
The EPS had a range of successful partnerships with key stakeholders. For example, it
had developed useful links with Strathclyde and Newcastle Universities. Psychologists
4
were seen by partner agencies as playing a key role in area multi-agency teams.
Partners recognised the important contribution EPs made to schools in successfully
meeting the needs of children and young people. Almost all external agencies reported
that EPs had worked effectively with staff in their services. The EPS had taken steps to
improve its consultation procedure though making it more systematic and part of a
three-yearly quality assurance cycle.
6. How good is leadership?
Service managers demonstrated a strong commitment to improving the lives of children
and young people and had fostered a sound team spirit and maintained a high level of
morale within the service. They had actively encouraged staff to apply their
professional skills in innovative ways. The recently retired PEP had strongly supported
the development of evidence based therapeutic approaches within the service. There
was now a need to set more challenging service performance targets to enable
continuous improvement. The recently appointed PEP had begun to set up systems
and structures to strengthen performance management within the service. She had
also provided greater clarity of service vision, values and aims.
The head of education was aware of the considerable expertise that existed within the
service. She saw the service playing a major role in increasing attainment and
achievement in literacy and numeracy and improving health and wellbeing across the
authority. She envisaged the service providing expertise to enable the authority to
develop effective assessment approaches to support Curriculum for Excellence.
To strengthen links between the work of the EPS and authority initiatives such as the
Curriculum for Excellence and GIRFEC, the PEP has recently been asked to join the
Education Service Management Team. This should enable the PEP to take on a more
strategic role to improve the impact of the service.
Key strengths
The service had:
•
shown high levels of commitment, professionalism and energy to improving
outcomes for children and young people;
•
developed a range of innovative approaches to change the lives of children; and
•
developed strong partnership working with a wide range of agencies.
5
Main points for action
The service should:
•
build on best practice to increase the effectiveness of consultation and assessment;
•
develop an effective management information system to track trends in performance
and measure impact and outcomes;
•
continue to build on the positive start made by the head of education and PEP to
enhance the impact of the service at strategic levels; and
•
improve self-evaluation and establish more effective support and challenge within
the service.
There are some important improvements needed, but because the EPS has a good
understanding of its strengths and areas for improvement, and is performing well we
have ended the inspection process at this stage. We will monitor progress through our
regular contact with the education authority.
John Proctor
Directorate 5
1 February 2011
6
Appendix 1
Quality Indicator
Evaluation
Improvements in performance
Impact on children and young people
Impact on parents, carers and families
Impact on the local community
Consultation and advice
Assessment
Intervention
Provision of professional development and
training for other groups including parents,
teachers and health professionals
Research and strategic development
Policy development and review
Participation of stakeholders
Operational planning
Leadership and direction
Leadership of change and improvement
7
Satisfactory
Good
Good
Good
Satisfactory
Satisfactory
Very Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Satisfactory
Satisfactory
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Crown Copyright 2011
HM Inspectorate of Education