Birmingham Educational Psychology Service
Core Functions
There are five core functions that underpin the work of Birmingham EPS
Consultation
Our service works through a consultation model of service delivery, which is a collaborative, preventative, problem solving approach. EPs use psychology to empower others to solve problems.
Assessment
Our EPs adopt a range of assessment styles and tools to understand the needs of the child or young person and promote their inclusion in the educational setting as part of the graduated ‘assess, plan, do and review’ model. Assessment may be via observation, staff/ parent consultation and at times direct assessment with a child or young person. Assessment tools might include classroom observation, standardised assessment or dynamic assessment for example.
Intervention
Our EPs offer a wide range of evidence-based tiered interventions (at the individual, small group, whole class, systemic for example) designed to support children and young people with complex SEND. Intervention may also include problem solving frameworks and collaborative approaches with the adults in the wider system around a child to promote effective and long lasting change and build capacity for those we support.
Training
Our EPs offer a range of training support for the education settings we work with. Training is offered at an individual, group and systems level linking research and psychological theory with practice. We are fully engaged with a number of authority-wide training programmes (ELSA, TIAAS, and SCERTS for example) and we also offer a small range of centrally held training courses for educational professionals to attend across the year, for example our highly popular Down Syndrome training.
Research
Educational psychologists are applied psychologists and as a service we have a number of EP colleagues who are involved in designing and carrying out research, exploring new ideas and promoting effective educational practice. We also have close links to EP Doctoral training courses and each year have a significant number of trainee colleagues who work alongside us who are active in their research endeavours.
Working Together
Birmingham Educational Psychology Service works alongside colleagues in Education and Health to support the needs of children and young people with SEND. We believe in an inclusion agenda focused on promoting achievement and well-being for the children and young people we work for.
We are the sole provider commissioned by Birmingham City Council to carry out statutory work in order to identify, assess and monitor children, young people and young adults with special educational needs. In addition to our statutory work, schools, early years settings and other educational establishments are able to purchase an annual subscription package for a visiting Educational Psychologist. This service is available to all maintained settings, academies and free schools within the Birmingham Local Authority.