Agenda item

·        To present a report on the activities of the SEN Provider Unit during the Summer Term, 2013.

·        To present a copy of correspondence sent to both the Assembly Member and Member of Parliament for Anglesey in relation to issues arising with training Educational Psychologists in Wales.

3.1       The report of the Principal Educational Psychologist outlining the activities of the SEN Provider Unit during the 2013 Summer Term was submitted.

The Principal Educational Psychologist referred to the main considerations arising from the report as follows:

•           Changes amongst members of staff responsible for the administration of assessment processes and reviewing arrangements made to undertake the work.  It was noted that a replacement had been appointed for the Senior Administration Officer for the duration of the secondment of the permanent holder of the post.

•           With regard to the Specialist Teachers Service, discussions had been held at the beginning of the term to consider employing new teachers as it was apparent that it was not possible to meet the needs of all the children based on the size of the current team and because a number of the teachers  were nearing retirement age. An exercise was held in May which demonstrated the difficulty experienced by teachers in meeting the educational needs of all the children.  For example, the number of children known to the Language and Communication Service meant that a full time teacher would need to work with 376 children annually. Similarly a teacher for children with physical/medical difficulties would need to work with 202 children every year.  Although the numbers are not as high in Hearing and Sight services there is an important minority of children who need weekly input from specialist teachers to develop Braille and sign language skills.  Due to the difficulty in recruiting qualified Welsh speaking teachers it has been the practice to employ trainee teachers and subsequently arrange for them to attend training courses whilst in post.

•           A similar trend is apparent in the Educational Psychology Service with a substantially reduced  number of psychologists within the team during the Summer term.  A service had been provided for every school but it had been necessary to reduce the number of visits to each school.  As a result it was disappointing, although not surprising, that the response to the questions in the quality questionnaire usually circulated to the schools was not as favourable as last year.  78% stated that they were satisfied with the service provided compared to 85% last year and 83% in previous years.  A number of the schools had scored the service lower as they had not seen the psychologist as frequently and not because of any dissatisfaction with the standard of the work.  46% of the schools were satisfied with the time allocated to them.  In light of this feedback the new Psychologist post was advertised for a second time and, as with the previous advertisement, no application was received from a Welsh speaking qualified Psychologist.  Over the years the service has employed trainee psychologists and has arranged for them to attend courses subsequently.  Currently, 7 of the 9 psychologists in the service are trainee psychologists. Three assistant psychologists were employed at the end of the term in order to alleviate some of the strain on the service and with a view to them attending training courses from September 2014 onwards.  Two of them have started to work for the Educational Psychology Service and it is expected that the third will start in January 2014.

3.2       Correspondence was presented which it is intended to send to the Assembly Member for Anglesey and the Member of Parliament for Anglesey to seek their support and assistance in addressing the difficulties of arranging training for Educational Psychologists in Wales and which has implications for the recruitment of Welsh speaking qualified educational psychologists and also for the provision of a bilingual educational psychology service in the schools.

The Members considered the information presented in the report and the correspondence and the following matters were raised in the ensuing discussion:

•           Reference was made to the high numbers of children the specialist Language and Communication teacher is expected to visit every year and it was enquired how both counties compared to other counties throughout Wales in this respect.  Information was also sought regarding the procedure for training parents whose signing skills need to be developed.

•           Given the difficulties in relation to recruiting qualified Educational Psychologists who are also Welsh speakers, it was suggested that consideration could be given to employing  Psychologists whose first language is English to be responsible for areas such as Holyhead where the Welsh language is not essential.  As it appears that 54% of the schools are dissatisfied with the level of provision, it was stated that it was a concern that children perhaps do not receive the level of support they need and that it is therefore feasible to employ English speaking Psychologists and encourage them to learn Welsh.

•           It was enquired whether young people in both counties are sufficiently aware of Educational Psychology as a career path and it was suggested that more could be done to promote the subject and to raise its profile in careers sessions and evenings in schools.

•           Mention was made that a number of students follow a Psychology Course at Bangor University and that it is a popular subject. It was enquired whether there was any contact between them and the Educational Psychology Service in terms of the possibility of providing post-qualification work experience.

•           It was suggested that an analysis be undertaken of the gap between the current Educational Psychology provision and the required provision and that the Service should attempt to enter into dialogue with colleges in England that provide the professional courses to relax the requirement that prospective Psychologists trained in England should undertake work experience in Education Authorities or schools in England. 

•           It was asked whether it would be possible to seek alternative methods of resolving the training and recruitment issue through use of the balances.

In response to the points raised the Officers clarified the position as follows:

•           That psychologists have their specific workloads and having examined the needs of the Holyhead area, it is felt that there is insufficient demand to justify a full time post for that area. It would also mean that the remaining psychologists would have to take on more of the workload.

•           In terms of training parents in sign language, most parents have started the process before their children begin school and very few are totally reliant on sign language.  Supporting a profoundly deaf child requires considerable resources outside the curriculum.

•           Innovative collaborative work is taking place between these Specialist Speech and Language teachers and Language Therapists in terms of providing training for assistants to understand language difficulties and conditions in order to draw up a work programme.  After a period of useful collaboration and investment in training, a position has now been reached where the Health Service does not have any further training resources and there is a struggle to preserve this way of working. The ideal was to increase collaboration but the risk in the current financial climate is that the reverse will happen.

•           It was confirmed that 1.3 speech and language therapists work with primary schools in Anglesey at this time.

•           With regard to the suggestion of using English Educational Psychologists where possible, it was stated that the Psychologists’ work entails more than working with children and that it also means working with teachers principally within a school environment where the ethos is predominately Welsh.  There are consequently strong Welsh Language requirements with the post.  Every attempt is made to give non Welsh speaking psychologists the opportunity to develop and improve their Welsh.

It was resolved:

•           To accept the term report and to note its contents.

•          That the correspondence with regard to the difficulties of arranging training for Educational Psychologists in Wales be sent to the Members of Parliament for Ynys Môn  and Gwynedd together with the Assembly Members for Ynys Môn and Gwynedd.