Councils in England need to hire 1,400 more educational psychologists at a cost of £140m to meet demand from children with special needs such as autism, according to a new report.
Research by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) found huge regional variations and chronic shortages in qualified educational psychologists working with schools, and concluded that a 40% increase in the workforce was needed to iron out the differences between the best and worst-off areas.
Dr Andrea Honess, chair of the British Psychological Society’s educational and child psychology division, said: “Rising demand, combined with a workforce shortage, has created a combination of pressures that have left gaps in provision and many local authorities struggling to keep up.
“We must ensure educational psychologists have the capacity to apply their psychological expertise to work with children and families, as well as strategically in educational and community settings. This should start with a named link local authority educational psychologist for all schools, providing services free at the point of delivery.”
The EPI said educational psychologists were vital to the government’s plans to reform special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision, and that the estimated £140m cost could come from the government’s new £1.8bn “experts at hand” grants for local authorities starting later this year.
The study found that the increased demand was being driven by factors such as inflexible school behaviour policies failing to accommodate children with special needs, and families opting for home schooling because of shortages of dedicated special school places or support staff.
Educational psychologists told researchers their caseloads were affected by rising rates of school avoidance and autism diagnosis, as well as greater parental involvement through paying for private assessments and resorting to legal avenues to seek support for their children.
The EPI’s research found there are about 3,400 full-time specialist educational psychologists working in England, including those in private practice or working as locums, with the government funding just over 200 trainees each year.
James Zuccollo, the EPI’s director for school workforce, said: “Continuing to fund training for only 200 [educational psychologists] each year will not be enough to adequately support children’s needs. A relatively modest investment of around £140m would allow EPs to work more effectively to improve outcomes and break the cycle of burnout and attrition that currently threatens the service.”
High demand for psychologists to carry out statutory assessments for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) was causing many to leave in search of “more holistic” job roles in the private sector. Some local authorities said they had received no applications for advertised vacancies, including for highly paid senior roles.
Amelia Canning, policy adviser for the national disability charity Sense, said: “Specialists such as educational psychologists are extremely important for disabled children with complex needs to access education. We frequently hear heartbreaking stories from families whose children are struggling without the support in place needed to access education because they are on a waiting list for an assessment from an educational psychologist.
“We recognise there are plans to address this and welcome the investment by the Department for Education into new experts at hand. However, we worry the amount of funding promised may still be insufficient given the current workforce shortages.”
