Educational Psychology: Making a Difference

In every Scottish educational authority there is an educational psychology service (EPS) working with children and young people from 0-24 years.

Educational Psychologists are involved in delivering services to early years, primary secondary and special provision, as well as to further education and the voluntary sector. They provide a range of services including consultation and advice, assessment, intervention, professional development and training, and research and strategic development. Educational Psychologists operate at the level of the child and family, the school, the authority and across the national context.

A new inspection programme for educational psychology services was launched in 2006 and HMI have inspected two thirds of services across Scotland. This session will refer to the recent HMI publication Improving Scottish Education 2005- 2008.

It will;

• discuss the positive contributions educational psychologists' have made across Scottish education and show case best practice,

• look at the challenges ahead for the profession, and

• explore the range of possible contributions the profession could make to the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence.

Anna Boni HM Inspector is the national specialist for Educational Psychology She joined HMIE in 2005 and has been responsible for HMIE evaluation, improvement and development of quality indicators for educational psychology services. She became HM District Inspector in 2008.

Before joining HMIE, Anna was a principal educational psychologist.