Educational Psychology

Alumni Educational psychologists work in a variety of different ways to address the problems experienced by children and young people in education. They work directly with children and young people individually or in groups and with a wide range of other professionals to deliver their work.

Part of the educational psychology role is to work at a strategic level, carrying out research and advising on educational policy development. Other areas of work include delivering training on issues such as behaviour and stress management.

Direct work with children and young people includes assessing their learning and emotional needs using methods such as interviews, observation and test materials. Interventions are then developed to support the child or young person with the problems they are experiencing.

The educational psychology professional entry training in England is a three year full time doctorate degree. The courses generally consist of a first year spent studying full time. In the second and third years trainees work in a local authority as a trainee educational psychologist, with one to two days study per week.

The CWDC Educational Psychology site for information or include the link in your pack. This will point potential students to a general description of the qualifications and experiences they will need before applying for a doctoral training course, but it also gives a list of the training providers, so that these specific links can be consulted, since different courses seek to look for particular skills, perhaps.

Further Resources

http://www.cwdcouncil.org.uk/educational-psychology/become

https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=EPNET- really good forum used by practising EdPsychs

http://www.clinpsy.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4625&sid=da00ad07931132466d30b5d71996ce95- more informal forum led by a current EdPsych trainee coming to the end of her doctorate

http://edpsychapplicants.prophpbb.com/index.php- new forum recently set up so still in early stages but worth keeping an eye on

Testimonial

PDP Graduate 2006/2007

Planning and Preparation for a Career in Educational Psychology

Experience

In preparation for applying for the Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology I gained experience working in both paid and voluntary positions mainly in educational settings. Voluntary positions add weight to your application, but it is essential you gain at least one year’s relevant and paid experience working with children and young people. My experience includes:

Reading Buddy- working 1:1 with children struggling to read
Classroom Assistant (voluntary) in Foundation Stage
Student Ambassador whilst at University (part of the Widening Participation initiative)
AimHigher Ambassador (travelling around under-achieving secondary schools to give presentations on Higher Education)
Teaching Assistant (Primary)
Learning Support Assistant (Key Stage 3 Centre for pupils with challenging behaviour)
Research Assistant at the Anna Freud Centre

Application and Interview

You can apply to three institutions each application round, however it is the same application that goes to all three. Look closely at the person specification for each institution and make sure your application caters to all three. One tip I would give is use all the spaces provided to address this specification not just in the personal statement (there simply isn’t enough space to fit it all in!). So if it is asking for a description of your duties at previous employment use a couple of sentences to list them, but use the majority of the space to describe something you did that addresses one of the specification statements. Also make sure you cram in how you have used psychological theory and practice in your experiences, there can never be too much of this in your application. Also sign post your sentences to help the short-listers by using the same terminology as in the person specification.

For my interviews there were big differences between tasks at different institutions. These tasks included 1:1 interviews, panel interviews, written tasks, group tasks and verbal presentations. My big tip for interviews would be to always add your reflections at the end of whatever you are talking about. Being a reflective practitioner is a vital skill and is a buzz word at interviews. They may also ask you to reflect on task that you have literally just completed (e.g written/group task) so always be thinking about this on the day as well as for your past experiences.