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Between 2006 and 2009, 0.5% of employed doctoral graduates or 70 working doctoral graduates are known to have been working as education psychologists six months after graduation.

Job description

Educational psychologists are classified in the ‘other common doctoral occupations' cluster of doctoral employment, although some do carry out HE research roles.

An educational psychologist is concerned with helping children or young people who are experiencing problems within an educational setting, with the aim of enhancing their learning. Challenges may include social or emotional problems or learning difficulties. Work is with individual clients or groups, advising teachers, parents, social workers and other professionals.

Client work involves an assessment of the child using observation, interviews and test materials. They offer a wide range of appropriate interventions such as learning programmes and collaborative work with teachers or parents. Educational psychologists also provide in-service training for teachers and other professionals on issues such as behavior and stress management. Work can also involve research and advising on educational provisions and policies.

Typical work activities

Tasks typically involve:

  • Assessing learning and emotional needs by observing and consulting with multi-agency teams to advise on best approaches and provisions to support learning and development. Developing and supporting therapeutic and behaviour management programmes
  • Designing and developing courses for parents, teachers and others involved with the education of children and young people on topics such as bullying
  • Designing and developing projects involving children and young people
  • Writing reports to make formal recommendations on action to be taken, including formal statements.
  • Advising, negotiating, persuading and supporting teachers, parents and other education professionals
  • Attending case-conferences involving multidisciplinary teams on how best to meet the social, emotional, behavioural and learning needs of the children and young people in their care
  • Prioritising effectiveness: the context and environment that influences the child's development is seen as increasingly important
  • Liaising with other professionals and facilitating meetings, discussions and courses
  • Formulating interventions that focus on applying knowledge, skills and expertise to support local and national initiatives
  • Developing and applying effective interventions to promote psychological wellbeing, social, emotional and behavioural development and to raise educational standards.

Doctoral graduate researchers are also likely to be:

  • Devising and conducting research, and processing and analysing results and data
  • Collaborating with stakeholders to apply the results of research and develop new techniques, products or practices
  • Publishing papers, and presenting ongoing work and findings to colleagues at academic conferences
  • Teaching, demonstrating or supervising students (in academia) and training and supervising other members of staff
  • Devising or helping to draw up new research proposals and applying for funding and grants.

Entry requirements

Full details of the training required to become a Health Professions Council (HPC) registered educational psychologist are available from the British Psychological Society (BPS) . Briefly, the following qualifications are needed:

  • An undergraduate degree in psychology (See British Psychological Society (BPS) Accredited Psychology Courses ). Alternatively, if you do not have a psychology degree you can complete a BPS accredited conversion course. You will then achieve the required Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC);
  • A BPS accredited Doctorate in Educational Psychology or, for Scotland only, an accredited Masters in Educational Psychology followed by the BPS Award in Educational Psychology.

To use the title ‘educational psychologist', you will need to be registered with the HPC. This involves completing a Doctorate in Educational Psychology (or equivalent) approved by the HPC. Contact the HPC for more information on the entry requirements for their register. In Scotland, all psychologists employed by local authorities must be chartered and must also be full members of the Scottish Division of Educational Psychology  or the Division of Educational and Child Psychology .

In England, the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) manages applications for courses and funding. See Children's Workforce Development Council - Educational Psychology for further details of the application process, accredited courses and closing dates. Funding is only available to applicants who are UK residents and intend to seek a permanent position as an educational psychologist with a local authority in England after successful completion of the programme.

There are approximately four times as many applicants for postgraduate courses as there are places. Once you are trained there are jobs available and indeed, an overall shortage is evident.

Apart from relevant academic qualifications, you will need:

  • To be an excellent communicator
  • Sensitivity, tact and diplomacy
  • The ability to be assertive, persuasive and an effective facilitator
  • Strong negotiating, administration and time management skills.

Salary

  • The range of typical salaries for a trainee educational psychologist is £21,809 rising to £29,777.
  • Range of typical salaries for a fully qualified Health Professions Council (HPC) registered educational psychologist begin at £33,934 rising incrementally to £45,786 per annum. There is an extension to this scale to further accommodate structured professional assessment points rising to £50,243.
  • Range of typical salaries for senior and principal educational psychologists are measured on a separate scale starting at £42,544 rising to £57,370. There is also an extension to this scale to accommodate discretionary scale points and structured professional assessment points rising to £62,942. (All salary data collected May 2010).

Sector and disciplinary information

Sector information
Doctoral graduates from 2006-9 working in this occupation were known to be employed in the following profiled sectors six months after graduation:

Disciplinary background
A psychology background is essentially a requirement for roles in this field.  Almost all doctoral graduates entering educational psychology as their first role between 2006 and 2009 had a psychology doctorate. A small number had doctorates in education or medicine.

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