The introduction of Education Health and Care plans proposed in the Children and Families Act (2014) extended the statutory support for children from up to 19 years of age, to 25 years of age. This has in turn extended the role of educational psychologists to work with young people/adults to the age of 25, and some (Atkinson, Dunsmuir, Lang & Wright, 2015) have argued that this is one of the most significant developments of the profession. This research, therefore, seeks to understand how current educational psychologists see their role and how it may change when working with post-16 education; it also seeks to understand what needs post-16 education may have and how educational psychologists can support these needs. The methodology used in this thesis has the ontological stance of interpretivism (Cottrell, 2014) and epistemological stance of social constructionism (Andrews 2012). Interviews were held with educational psychologists (phase 1) and with post-16 providers (phase 2) to explore the views both these main stakeholders had of the extension of the educational psychologists' role. Needs from both stakeholders, as well previous literature, were taken into account in order to understand what the educational psychologists' role in post-16 education would entail. Interviews were developed using hierarchical focusing (Tomlinson, 1989) and were analysed using Braun & Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis. Findings suggested that the extension of the educational psychologists' role to work with post-16 learners is not the most significant development that the profession has seen in recent years, but that there are certain points that the profession needs to address. The findings are relevant to the local authority's development of their offer to post-16 educational providers. The findings also contribute to the role of the educational psychologist in general.

Following financial cuts introduced by the government in 2010, fewer funding and decision-making powers are held within local authorities, restricting their role as the provider of public services (Buser, 2013). As a result, the majority of local authority educational psychology teams have adopted a partially or fully-traded model of service delivery, with the aim of generating income to meet some or all service costs (Woods, 2014a). Educational psychologists have expressed concern about whether service commissioners value their distinctive contribution enough to purchase services (Fallon, Woods & Rooney, 2010). This study sought to investigate the response to trading and what impact this has had on the role of the educational psychologist, from the perspectives of service commissioners and educational psychologists. A multiple-case study design was implemented, following a mixed methods approach. Two partially-traded local authority educational psychology services were recruited. Participants from the emerging service included five educational psychologists and three small scale service commissioners. Participants from the established service included three educational psychologists, three small scale service commissioners and two large scale service commissioners. Focus groups, interviews and service brochures provided qualitative data, which were incorporated with quantitative service delivery data. All qualitative data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings were presented as thematic maps. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics to describe trends in service use. Findings show that the impact of trading on the role and contribution of the educational psychologist has been largely positive. Trading appears to have had a regenerating effect by creating the opportunity for an extension in the type and range of work now being completed. The findings are discussed in relation to current and future educational psychologist role and give an up-to-date insight into why the role exists, who may be willing to pay for the role and how this evolving role fits within the broader political contexts of education, special educational needs and disability.

Concerns relating to the management of externalising and internalising behaviour are prevalent within UK educational policy and practice and represent a key domain for Educational Psychologist (EP) support. EP practice has been subject to change over time, following shifts in legislative approaches to managing behaviour in schools and changes to the contexts and systems within which EPs work, such as increased service trading. A systematic literature review (SLR) sought to represent EP behaviour practices within the existing literature. 12 papers, published between 2000-2017 were identified using a PRISMA framework and evaluated for methodological quality, appropriateness and relevance of focus. An empirical investigation, utilising the Research and Development in Organisations (RADIO) model within a single-case design, was also conducted within a north-west local authority educational psychology service. A focus group with 5 EPs and the Principal EP (PEP), and an interview with the PEP, were carried out and thematically analysed. The SLR identified a range of behavioural practices at individual, group and organisational levels, exemplifying the core functions of the EP role. Single and integrated psychological paradigms were applied, within relational and social constructionist approaches. The empirical investigation identified a range of behavioural practices, and underlying psychological paradigms, alongside ideas for future developments in behaviour service delivery and the possible facilitators and barriers to achieving this were considered. Reflections on the utility and experience of EP involvement in action research were also facilitated, with content analysis findings presented. Links to theory and practice, and implications for future research are considered, including empirical investigation of EP practice within local contexts. The application of psychology within local contexts and service development processes, are also considered. Finally, following an exploration of the concepts of evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence, and their implications for practitioner psychologists, a dissemination strategy for sharing findings with participants and the wider EP community is proposed.

The recent changes in legislation and codes of practice expand the role of the educational psychologist to a wider age range: 0-25. Moreover, surveys suggest an increasing number of children and young people experience difficulties with mental health, including depression. A systematic literature review of what narratives young people use to communicate depression was undertaken in the first paper. Despite an abundance of literature about depression in clinical settings, only eight studies met the inclusion criteria and were incorporated in the synthesis. A number of issues were identified including ways and methods of communicating depression and the impact of normative pressures and gendered experiences. Findings have implications for practitioners working with young people and have been used to develop a tentative framework for effective practice. The second paper reports on qualitative research, adapting a phenomenological approach. The self-selected participant sample (three university students, aged 19-21) had experiences of living with depression. Each participant was interviewed three times, using focused semi-structured interviews. The data were subsequently transcribed and analysed using a framework of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009). The themes were grouped into superordinate themes and interpreted in the light of researcher's own experiences and knowledge. Two reported themes 'the weariness of the world was upon me' and 'it all fell down to chance' discuss embodied experiences of living with depression and barriers and facilitators to accessing help, which was mostly coincidental. Finally, the third paper discusses evidence-based practice, ways of achieving impact in research, and dissemination of research at individual, organisational and academic level. Overall, the present research suggests that educational psychologists can play an important role in raising awareness of children and young people living with depression, as well as promoting mental health, wellbeing and resilience in a variety of educational settings and amongst practitioners working with children and young people.

The United Kingdom (UK) is becoming increasingly diverse (Office for National Statistics, 2013). Educational psychologists in the UK will need to feel competent in providing services to an increasingly multicultural population. This research study used a mixed method, two-phase, sequential, explanatory study design to explore the self-perceived intercultural competence of UK educational psychologists and trainee educational psychologists (EP/Ts). The study also explored EP/Ts experiences of working with culturally diverse populations. The first phase of this research study used an online adapted version of the MCCTS-R (Holcomb-McCoy & Myers, 1999; Munoz, 2009), and the second phase built upon the first phase with follow-up semi-structured interviews, analysed using Braun & Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis. The results of this research study present a breadth and depth of information. EP/Ts generally perceived themselves to be competent to work cross-culturally with particular areas of competence including knowledge of assessment bias, poverty effects, and positive attitudes towards diverse cultures. EP/Ts also reported areas of lower competence including theories of racial/ethnic identity development, limited experiences of community work and limited knowledge of community resources. However, EP/Ts perceptions about development needs depended upon their awareness. The process of participating in the study raised awareness of gaps in knowledge and limitations in practice. The study concludes with a discussion of implications for the practice of EP/Ts.

Background: Present literature highlights early years as an important phase of child development. Whilst Educational Psychologists have a role within early years, there is little research to state what this looks like and how it is conducted in practice. Therefore, this research considers the role an Educational Psychologist could take within an early years setting and explores the variety of work they could conduct. Participants: One early years setting from the researcher’s current Local Authority was used for this research. A total of 33 participants were involved including 11 early years staff, eight Educational Psychologists, 13 parents/carers and a Health Visitor. Methods: This study describes an academic year long Action Research (Tripp, 2003) project with the use of a Research and Development in Organisations framework (Timmins, Shepherd & Kelly, 2003). This included pre-model questionnaires, interviews with early years staff, a focus group with Educational Psychologists and a further focus group with early years staff in order to develop an initial model of educational psychology practice. Work was then completed by the researcher as part of the model of practice. Discrete pieces of work were evaluated via questionnaires, while the project as a whole was evaluated via post-model questionnaires, focus group, interview and researcher diary. Analysis/Findings: Quantitative data were summarised using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were transcribed and a thematic analysis applied. Within this study, the researcher developed a model of practice based on the needs of the setting that included being more frequently involved with casework and conducting work specifically aimed at supporting staff and parents/carers. Additionally, there were discrepancies found in the value placed by participants upon the different pieces of the work as well as the overall approach taken. Conclusion/Implications: This research suggests that there is a greater role for Educational Psychologists within early years, involving more than conducting casework but through providing a more holistic and intensive approach to supporting staff and parents/carers. This supports the existing limited literature as well as advocating a more extensive role for them within early intervention services.

The purpose of this study was to explore the role that the educational psychologist can play to support inclusion at school level in South Africa. The study aims to provide national, provincial and district support teams with information that could guide them on how best to utilise educational psychology services within the context of limited resources. It also aims to guide the educational psychology profession in how best to provide support within the South African public inclusive schooling system. The research was conducted using a conceptual framework based on three matrices designed by Wedell (2005) to address some of the ‘rigidities that hamper inclusion’ (Wedell, 2005, p. 4). My deduction was that these matrices do not adequately capture the stage of development of inclusive education in the South African context, and that additional matrices are needed which show the key variables that are impacting on the ability of the educational psychologist to support learners with barriers to learning in the South African public education context. In this study, I followed an interpretivist paradigm, and adopted an instrumental case study design. The intention was to gain insight at a very practical level, namely the school, into how the challenges related to inclusion are being, and could be, addressed. Data was collected in one Gauteng public school through semi-structured face-to-face interviews with the school principal, a private educational psychologist providing services to the school community, a parent and national Department of Basic Education officials, and focus groups with teachers and district officials. Three main themes emerged following thematic content analysis of the data: Participants’ understanding and experiences of inclusion and inclusive education at school level, perceptions of the role of the educational psychologist in supporting inclusion in schools, and the future role of educational psychologists in supporting inclusion in schools. The findings indicate that inclusion remains more of an aspiration than a reality, and show the important role the educational psychologist can play in helping to build collaborative approaches to planning and implementation of policy. Amongst other things, educational psychologists should find a way, collectively, of engaging with district offices to structure planning and implementation that includes the profession. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Educational psychologists are expected to offer real-world relevant services. One way to strive towards real-word relevance is for educational psychologists to facilitate resilience by using Ungar’s diagnostic criteria of resilience. However, at this time the usefulness of applying Ungar’s criteria is still unexplored. Thus, this study asked: ‘What insight into the resilience of vulnerable rural adolescents can be achieved by applying Ungar’s diagnostic criteria of resilience to the documents (i.e. paper-and-pencil activities) generated in psycho-educational assessments?’ In answering this question, a qualitative secondary data analysis was conducted of psycho-educational paper-and-pencil activities completed by 65 male and female IsiSwati-speaking Grade 9 learners at a secondary school in Mpumalanga, a remote province in South Africa, during the Flourishing Learning Youth (FLY) study. FLY, a project of the Centre for the Study of Resilience, is based at the University of Pretoria. The a priori categories were sourced from Ungar’s diagnostic criteria and the relevant a priori codes from the review of South African resilience literature. The analysis showed that adolescents were challenged by physical risk, emotional risk and poverty-related risk. Additionally, adolescents were protected by personal resources (agency, self-worth), family resources (role models, supportive parentchild interaction), community resources (role models, community belonging), school resources (teachers as role models and supporters) and macro resources (spirituality). These findings echo extant South African resilience studies and enabled the educational psychologist to ‘diagnose’ resilience for this group of adolescents to better understand the risks to their well-being, the resources that can be leveraged to buffer this risk, and the resources that are absent and must be negotiated. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

The purpose of the study was to explore how mothers experience the support provided by the educational psychologist for their children with ADHD. The conceptual framework utilised for this study incorporated systems theory, collaborations and inclusive education in South Africa. In this study, I followed an interpretivist paradigm using a phenomenological approach. A qualitative case study design was selected, with five purposefully and conveniently selected mothers whose children had been previously diagnosed with ADHD by an educational psychologist. The participants took part in either a focus group or a one-onone interview. Two main themes emerged following the thematic content analysis of the interviews, namely: How mothers experience their children with ADHD and How mothers experience support of their children with ADHD. The findings of this study suggest that mothers of children with ADHD expect a deeper level of support from an educational psychologist. The findings also indicate that mothers experience parenting children with ADHD stressful and that they need reassurance and emotional support from the educational psychologist. The results show the need for a more inclusive school environment and it highlights the importance of the role of the educational psychologist sharing knowledge and working collaboratively with educators, the Institutional Level and District Based Support Teams and the various health care practitioners to provide support to the child and family. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Summary in English / Research was conducted to determine whether the 16-PF can be used as an objective measurement for the selection of prospective educational psychologists. A wellgrounded literature study was performed about the task of the educational psychologist and skills and personality features which make the task of the educational psychologist easier. The task of the educational psychologist is not of an individual nature, directed at individual problems any more, but covers a wide field which demands that the educational psychologist comes forward with new initiatives. The traditional task of diagnosing, assisting, administrating and conducting research must be extended to one which also emphasizes proactive programmes, mental health, prevention of problems and human development. The nature of the task makes high demands on the educational psychologist and requires the mastering of a variety of skills. A large variety of factors have been found in literature which could make the task of the educational psychologist easier. These factors can be grouped together as cognitive factors, factors which contribute to the creation of an educational climate and accompanying interpersonal relations and rapport, factors which indicate the use of an external reference framework, and factors which indicate mental health. These identified factors were related to the factor patterns of the 16-PF and were derived to personality factors. These latter factors which were thus obtained, were used to compile a personality profile for educational psychologists. The following personality profile for educational psychologists was derived from the literature study: outgoing (affectothymia; A+), high intelligence (B+), higher ego strength (C+), higher superego strength (G+), socially venturesome (H+), shrewdness (N+) and self-assuredness (0-). According to literature, withdrawal (A-) and dominance (E+) are regarded as negative features of the educational psychologist. The personality profile was assessed by experts with the use of the Delphi technique. From the results of the Delphi investigation it appears that the experts support the suggested personality profile. The personality features are regarded as extremely important, and comment on the personality profile was positive. The findings of the research contribute to the solution of the problem around the selection of educational psychologists since an objective assessment of the prospective student's abilities can be obtained by means of the 16-PF. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Sielkundige Opvoedkunde)