Summary of evaluation of the
educational psychology service
A report by HM Inspectorate of Education
Scottish Borders Council
25 May 2010
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
7
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.
The inspection of Scottish Borders 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 two Associate Assessors who were a principal educational
psychologist (PEP) and a depute principal educational psychologist (DPEP) serving in
other Scottish local authorities.
This web-based report should be read alongside other strategic inspections of Scottish
Borders Council which sets out the wider context in which EPS are delivered.
The Educational Psychology Service
The Scottish Borders EPS was based in the Council headquarters at Newtown
St Boswells. At the time of the inspection, the complement of educational psychologists
(EPs) was 4.9 full-time equivalent (FTE). There were 1.4 FTE unfilled vacancies. In
addition there were two educational psychology assistants (EPAs). The PEP was the
sole promoted member of the service. EPs and EPAs received clerical support from a
central team. The EPS had until very recently been part of the Education and Lifelong
Learning (ELL) Department, but following restructuring of children’s services within the
Council, it had recently become part of Integrated Children’s Services (ICS).
2. What key outcomes has the service achieved?
EPS staff had targeted their input to supporting the most vulnerable children and had
been influential in embedding inclusion, equalities and fairness in the policy framework
of the Council. The service had developed a very strong ethical value base to inform all
of its work. It had made a positive contribution to the work of the Council in its attempts
to secure better outcomes for children and families. The service had successfully
supported ELL in meeting national and local priorities and the aims it had set within its
Service Improvement Plan (SIP).
EPs and EPAs were making significant contributions to strategic and operational
working groups across children’s services within the wider council. The service had put
in place a number of initiatives which were helping to improve the life experiences of
children at risk of missing out, including those Looked After by the Council (LAC) and
those with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
The service had been very effective in ensuring that young people’s educational
transitions were well-managed. It had made very valuable contributions to the
management of critical incidents and emergency planning within the Council.
1
The EPS was aware of the need to improve arrangements for the gathering of
management information to allow it to identify more clearly its distinctive contribution to
improvements in performance within an ICS framework.
Staff within the EPS had a very good knowledge of their statutory duties and there was
full compliance with appropriate guidance and legislation. The service had played a
prominent role in supporting the Authority in the implementation of the Education
(Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 through its work with individual
children and schools and on the Additional Needs Management Team (ANMAT). It had
strong links with the Children’s Reporter and had played an important role in the
development of arrangements for the implementation of the Integrated Assessment
Framework (IAF).
3. How well does the service meet the needs of its stakeholders?
Children and families had access to an appropriate range of EPS. Those who had
direct contact with EPs felt that they listened carefully to them and that they had made a
positive difference to their lives. The EPS worked well with others to ensure that
children with additional support needs were included and well-supported in local schools
where possible. The experiences of children LAC and their carers were improved by
important initiatives set up by the EPS including the Birthday Book Token Scheme and
The Emotional Literacy Library Project. The service recognised the need to strengthen
arrangements for making sure that children and parents knew how to contact the EP
and for routinely seeking feedback from stakeholders.
Schools and the local community were receiving valuable evidence-based support from
EPs and EPAs in their work to improve outcomes for children. They found the service
to be flexible and effective in its responses to requests for advice. In particular they
valued the work done by EPs to intervene early in order to help prevent difficulties
becoming more serious. A few schools were not clear enough about the range of
supports that EPS was able to offer. Schools and the education authority were being
helped to respond effectively to critical incidents by means of sound advice and, where
appropriate, direct support from EPs. The service was working closely with the Quality
Improvement Team in the development of materials to assist with learning community
quality reviews and to map the capacities of Curriculum for Excellence to Mediated
Learning Experiences. Very high quality work by the EPS in relation to dialogic
teaching approaches and Philosophy for Children was helping to improve outcomes for
children in a group of schools. This good practice needed to be made more widely
available so that more children and schools could benefit from it. Children making the
transition from school to adult life were being helped by well-targeted support from the
EPS. EPs were ensuring that their work was benefiting a wider group of children by
presenting at national conferences and publishing in peer-reviewed journals. The
service had a very strong collegiate ethos, with well-embedded formal peer supervision
arrangements in place. It provided highly appropriate professional development
opportunities for staff. The transfer of the service to ICS meant that EPs and EPAs
were in the process of relocating to local offices and centres. This needed to be
carefully managed to ensure that appropriate peer support and professional
2
development opportunities continued to be available to meet the required professional
standards.
4. How good is the service’s delivery of key processes?
The EPS had been very successful in embedding inclusion, equalities and fairness into
its key processes. It had worked hard to develop a rigorous approach to ensuring that
all of its practice was based on sound evidence. Good progress had been made in
introducing its consultation model. It had clear policies, guidelines and information to
support the model including robust procedures for seeking parents’ consent and for
consulting with children.
Schools had positively evaluated the EPS consultation process. The service
recognised that it now had to involve other stakeholders such as parents and children in
the evaluation of consultation. It needed to ensure that consultation was more fully
embedded across its work with service users and to communicate more clearly the
benefits and principles of the model.
There were clear service Assessment Guidelines and some very effective approaches
were evident including Video Interactive Guidance and, computer assisted interviewing.
There was however a lack of consistency in the assessment methods being used
across the team. The service needed to ensure greater consistency of practice by
strengthening its shared understanding of the aims of assessment and by identifying the
approaches most appropriate to achieve these aims.
The EPS had a range of effective interventions at the levels of child and family,
establishment and council. The service’s consultation model was a useful vehicle for
planning and supporting these. Successful interventions had taken place to support a
wide range of children with developmental needs at times of transition. These were
highly valued by parents. The service had made an innovative contribution to
supporting learning and teaching through the promotion of Philosophy for Children and
dialogic processes in the classroom. These approaches were highly valued by the
small group of teachers involved in the initiatives. The impact of interventions now
needed to be evaluated more widely. The service should also consider ways of
reporting to its stakeholders the range of effective interventions that it had supported
and led on.
The service had provided effective professional development and training on a range of
appropriate topics and issues. These included restorative practices and supporting
pupil self-regulation. The main focus of most of the service’s training and professional
development had been school staff. Some high quality, innovative training for other
agencies had also been provided. However, it had delivered a limited range of training
at authority level and it was aware of the need to forge stronger links with the authority
training programme in order to support identified priorities. At a national level the
service had delivered training at the annual conference for EPs. The service
recognised the need to broaden training to include other groups including parents and a
greater number of staff from other agencies and to link its training portfolio more with
ICS priorities. The EPS had carried out some high quality research that had led to
3
papers being published in peer-reviewed journals. Helpful research had also been
carried out at authority level regarding LAC and the evaluation of Post School Transition
Joint Agency Assessment Teams (JAATS). ELL had become increasingly aware of the
research skills of the EPS and research carried out by the EPS had influenced ELL
policy and training, for example in relation to managing the transitions of children with
additional support needs. The EPS had also carried out helpful evaluations of
interventions on behalf of ELL to ensure best value. The service’s Research,
Development and Training Group was making progress in ensuring that the research
role was becoming embedded in the work of individual psychologists and in extending
the range of research projects. Some stakeholders placed very high value on the
research function of the EPS. However, there was a need for the research role of the
EPS to be more clearly communicated to ensure wider awareness of the value it adds
to securing more positive outcomes for children.
Features of good practice:
Dialogic Projects and Philosophy for Children
The EPS has developed a range of projects which support teachers in the development
of dialogic teaching approaches. These projects have been very effective in supporting
teachers in their development as skilled and effective practitioners in the area of
classroom interaction. The impact of the projects on young people has been
outstanding, with clear evidence that it has helped them to develop the four capacities
of Curriculum for Excellence.
Very effective management of transitions and evaluation of transitions JAATS
The EPS has carried out some very effective partnership working with parents and
others to make sure that children’s school and post school transitions are managed
effectively. Some of this work was nominated for a local award.
The service has been very effective in evaluating arrangements for positive planning of
post school transitions across the Council area for pupils with transitional planning
requirements under the Additional Support for Learning Act (2004).
More details are available from the PEP.
5. How good is the service’s management?
The EPS had developed very high quality partnership working with a broad range of
partners within ELL, the Council and with other services. This included work with the
Quality Improvement Team. It had made a strong contribution to strategic planning
within Scottish Borders Council in a number of key areas including ICS and the IAF.
The consultation model actively supported partnership working and the service was
widely regarded as providing clarity and understanding and much valued advice which
4
enhanced the quality of partnership working across services. The sound value base
and professional ethics on which the EPS based its practice allowed it to apply a
professional rigour when providing appropriate support and challenge to partners.
The work of the service was informed by a policy framework which helped guide staff in
carrying out their work. This had links to the ELL improvement plan outcomes and was
beginning to take account of the ICS plan as required by the emerging organisational
structure. The framework covered the main areas of operation and responsibility and
set clear expectations for suitable standards of service delivery. Individual policies took
account of appropriate national and local priorities. The range of policies and
procedures needed to be expanded and arrangements strengthened to manage,
evaluate and update policies to help ensure consistency of practice. The service was
committed to effective communication and full consultation with all stakeholders and
was skilled in this area. It had put some arrangements in place to seek the views of
stakeholders and there had been some effective consultation processes involving
stakeholders to inform the development of its policy and practice. However, the service
recognised the need to introduce a clear policy framework for communication and
consultation. Performance planning and service planning cycles were driving much of
the work of the EPS. The PEP managed improvement planning well and had worked
hard to ensure that service priorities were clearly aligned to local and national
outcomes. The SIP was jointly owned by the staff team, with each member contributing
to its development. There was a need to strengthen the links between individual CPD
plans of staff and the SIP.
6. How good is leadership?
The PEP provided very strong leadership and direction to the EPS. He demonstrated a
commitment to continuous improvement and communicated a very clear view of what
the service was aiming to achieve. Individual EPs were clear about their role in the EPS
and there was a culture of collegiate working and distributed leadership. Recent
reorganisation of children’s services had significantly changed the position of the EPS
within the Council and the PEP had led the process of change well. He was skilled at
ensuring that the principles of Best Value were adhered to and deployed staff
strategically, always giving the needs of service users the highest priority. He was
highly risk aware in relation to organisational changes and communicated these risks
very clearly to appropriate stakeholders.
The service demonstrated a commitment to continuous improvement. The PEP had led
a number of self-evaluation exercises and these were managed well. These
approaches were becoming more embedded and resulting improvements in
performance were becoming evident. However, they now need to be used to drive
more consistent practice across the EPS team. The PEP had also made a significant
contribution to transition planning for the new organisational structure.
Arrangements for the support and challenge of the EPS within the new structure were in
the process of being developed and there was a need to ensure that performance
targets for the service continued to be realistic at a time of major organisational change.
ICS managers needed to ensure that arrangements to drive the continuous
5
improvement of the EPS and to maintain appropriate professional standards were in
place.
Key strengths
The service had:
•
embedded a very effective value-based approach to practice with distributed
leadership driving equality, fairness and inclusive practice;
•
played a leadership role to promote strong partnership working and strategic links;
•
strong leadership and direction and a strong team ethos;
•
put in place a range of innovative interventions which were building the capacities of
Curriculum for Excellence and improving outcomes for children; and
•
been recognised by a range of stakeholders for its responsiveness and positive
impact on the local community.
Main points for action
The service should:
•
work with ICS managers to ensure support and challenge arrangements are in place
to help it to deliver applied educational psychology of an appropriate standard and
make a contribution to the work of the Council commensurate with its professional
knowledge and skills;
•
strengthen the links between individual CPD plans and the SIP to improve
consistency and reduce variability of practice; and
•
develop a coherent strategy for communicating the functions of the service clearly to
stakeholders and involving stakeholders in further developing the service.
There are some important improvements needed, but because the EPS have a good
understanding of their strengths and areas for improvement, and are performing well we
have ended the inspection process at this stage. In the light of ongoing changes to the
structure of children’s services within Scottish Borders Council, we will monitor progress
through our regular contact with the education authority.
Clare Lamont
HM Inspector
Directorate 5
25 May 2010
6
Appendix 1
Quality Indicator
Evaluation
Improvements in performance
Fulfilment of statutory duties
Impact on children and young people
Impact on parents, carers and families
Impact on staff
Impact on the local community
Impact on the wider 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
Inclusion, equality and fairness
Policy development and review
Participation of stakeholders
Operational planning
Partnership working
Leadership and direction
Leadership of change and improvement
7
Good
Very Good
Good
Good
Very Good
Good
Good
Good
Satisfactory
Good
Satisfactory
Good
Very Good
Good
Satisfactory
Good
Very Good
Very Good
Good
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HM Inspectorate of Education