Exploration of the developing role of the educational psychologist within the context of “traded” psychological services

Abstract

Following the economic recession and resulting financial cuts to English education budgets introduced in 2010, the number of local authority educational psychology teams adopting a partially or fully-traded model of service delivery began to gain momentum. This study sought to investigate the response to trading and its impact on the role of the educational psychologist. A multiple-case study design was implemented. Two partially-traded local authority educational psychology services were recruited, one established and one emerging. Participants from the emerging services included six 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. All qualitative data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics to describe trends in service use. Findings show a largely positive impact of trading on the role and contribution of the educational psychologist.