Educational psychologists

Our team of educational psychologists work mainly with children and young people aged 0-25 who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Educational psychologists use psychology to help children and young people with the development of learning, communication, physical and sensory needs, and social and emotional skills needed for adulthood/independence.

Most children and young people with SEND will have their needs met through their nursery, school or college. This could be from trained staff, or the staff might get advice from specialist teachers.

However, sometimes an educational psychologist may be asked to help.

Our team

Our team of educational psychologists are practitioner psychologists and are registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC).

Within our team, we also have trainee and assistant educational psychologists who are supervised by experienced educational psychologists. They complete a range of duties, with appropriate supervision and support. Trainee educational psychologists are undertaking training to become educational psychologists and work here on placement. We also employ assistant educational psychologists. They have a psychology qualification and relevant experience of working with children and young people.

We also have a number of associate educational psychologists who are practitioner psychologists and who are registered with the HCPC. They support our team with our service delivery to schools.

What we do

Ways in which we work include:

  • Consultation - schools can request a consultation with an educational psychologist to talk about a child or young person's needs and how best to help them.
    • Group consultations - each school in Lancashire is connected to a group of special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs). We call this a local cluster of SENCOs. Each school also has a link educational psychologist who they can ask for a consultation. Schools are offered the opportunity to discuss one child each term. Each school is invited to a group consultation with other SENCOs in the first half of the term for group problem-solving.
    • Individual consultations – these take place in the second half of the term. The consultation is a meeting with parents or carers and professionals who know the child or young person the best. Most of the time the school will have been working together with parents and carers already. The school should invite you to the consultation if they request one for your child. Consultations work best when parents or carers are involved. If you are invited to a consultation, read our information for parents about attending a consultation to find out more. If you have any concerns about your child, you can raise them with the school.
  • Statutory role – we have a statutory role for the council in providing psychological advice as part of education, health and care needs assessments and associated statutory processes. This may include observation, talking to the child or young person to gather their views and/or one-to-one activities.
  • Supporting staff development – this may include delivering training and providing advice around the delivery of interventions.
  • Supporting parents/carers – during term times, we offer a weekly telephone helpline to parents/carers.
  • Research and evaluation — we are sometimes involved in planning, carrying out and evaluating research.

Accessing the service

If you think involvement from an educational psychologist might be of benefit, talk to the:

  • key worker (in nursery)
  • class teacher (in primary school)
  • form tutor or head of year (in secondary school)

They will discuss your concerns with you and may also talk to the special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO). You can also ask to speak to the SENCO

If you are a young person and you think you need extra help, you should speak to a teacher or the SENCO.

The SENCO may request educational psychology involvement.

Contacts

Parent/carer helpline

Our helpline is temporarily closed. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Schools and early years

Please see the information for professionals.

Area offices

If you would like more information about the educational psychology service, please contact your area office.

Lancaster, Morecambe, Fylde and Wyre

Tel: 01524 581 200

Preston, South Ribble, Chorley and West Lancashire

Tel: 01772 531 597

Hyndburn, Ribble Valley, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale

Tel: 01282 470 604

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