Mohammed Bham completed the University of Southampton 4‐year Integrated Postgraduate Master of Science Professional Qualification in Educational Psychology in 1999. He has applied educational psychology in the public sector for the past 20 years, taking up his first promoted post in 2004 as a senior EP with Leicestershire County Council. In 2008, as a Principal EP with Solihull Council, Mohammed also joined the National Association of Principal Educational Psychologists (NAPEP‐UK), started organising EP leadership courses and served as chair from 2011 to 2013. Since 2013, Mohammed is the British Psychological Society's Division of Educational & Child Psychology representative and deputy chair of the BPS Ethics Committee (www.bps.org.uk) communicating the guidance available from the society on ethical matters and assisting members in resolving ethical dilemmas. Since 2016, Mohammed has been the PEP and head of learning support and schools wellbeing services for Brighton & Hove City Council.

Poppy Chandler trained as an educational psychologist at Birmingham University in 1990 and her first post was secured in Staffordshire. She then shared the role of Principal Educational Psychologist in Telford. Alongside her colleagues they have built a robust traded service. As PEP for Shropshire, from December 2015, she has focussed on and developed a model for delivering therapeutic mental health support to schools at a systemic, group and individual level. Her professional interest continues to centre on families and joint working across services to apply psychology to make the difference for children and young people.

Dr Janet Crawford has over 25 years of operational, strategic leadership and management experience working as a Local Authority educational psychologist. She is currently Principal Educational Psychologist for Durham County Council managing a number of diverse teams who provide specialist SEND Support in a variety of contexts and supporting strategic developments across the Local Area. She has held specialist and senior educational psychologist (SEP) roles in a number of areas including literacy, speech and language and autism. Currently she is closely involved with a number of large‐scale development projects where the process of change and evaluation of change in complex systems is required.

Ffion Edwards Ellis joined the Gwynedd and Anglesey EPS in 2006 as a Senior Educational Psychologist. During 2015–2017 she was seconded to work on the Strategic Review of Additional Learning Needs (ALN) and Inclusion Provision in Gwynedd and Anglesey, which contributed to the formation of a new ALN and Inclusion Service across both LAs in September 2017. Since September 2017 she has been Principal Educational Psychologist, and since December 2018 senior manager for ALN and Inclusion.

Dr James Gillum is Principal Educational Psychologist for Coventry Educational Psychology Service. He has published articles in a range of journals, with a particular focus on the use of labels with children and young people and mathematical difficulties.

Dr Julia Hardy works as an associate educational psychologist through Psychologicalservices.gb ltd, having previously been a Principal Educational Psychologist in Lambeth and more recently in Kingston Upon Thames and Richmond. Julia has interests in consultation, qualitative research, deafness, and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and after undertaking an MBA with the Open University she has facilitated numerous leadership courses for SEPs and PEPs.

Dr Charmian Hobbs has worked as an educational psychologist in Local Authorities across England and as an academic and professional tutor at Newcastle University. She is committed to developing narrative therapy as a practitioner and trainer in educational psychology practice and beyond.

Dr Rhona Hobson has worked as an educational psychologist, senior educational psychologist and Principal Educational Psychologist for 13 years becoming the PEP for Halton Borough Council in 2015. Rhona has interests that include the use of narrative therapy within the EP role as well as developing the use of Video Interaction Guidance and other therapeutic interventions. She is passionate about the application of psychology to create positive change for children, young people, families and communities.

Dr Vikki Jervis is Principal Educational Psychologist in Bristol. She is part of the strategic leadership team for Trading With Schools (the trading arm of Bristol City Council) and the education directorate management team. She also leads the Inclusion Service across Bristol. Vikki has 12 years experience working as a senior educational psychologist and is in her fifth year of working as a principal educational psychologist. Vikki has recently completed her doctoral studies at University College London and has spent the past 4 years reading, researching and writing about leadership generally and more specifically about the leadership of psychological services. She is committed to the development of evidence informed leadership of psychological services and strengthening the profession for the future.

Dr Anna Lewis is Acting Principal Educational Psychologist for East Sussex EPS. She has worked as a senior educational psychologist in Kent and as an educational psychologist in Medway and Worcestershire. She completed both her professional doctorate in educational psychology and her initial master’s in educational psychology at the University of Birmingham. Prior to being an EP, she worked as an advisory teacher for maths and a primary school teacher in Oxfordshire and Herefordshire. She completed a BSc honours degree in psychology at the University of St Andrews and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and DipEd at the University of Dundee. She is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society and a member of the Division of Educational and Child Psychology (DECP).

Dr Harriet Martin worked as a Principal Educational Psychologist and senior manager in Local Authorities for 15 years. She has had experience of leading a wide variety of teams other than educational psychologists, including advisory teachers, early years, behaviour support, children in care education team, post‐16 transition and special education needs assessment team. She is now retired from Local Authority work but continues to write and be involved in the DECP, British Psychological Society.

Dr Melernie Meheux is a senior educational psychologist working within a Local Authority. She is also a play therapist and works one day a week as an academic tutor at University College London, Institute of Education. Her professional interests include attachment; the social, emotional and mental health of children; and supporting children who have been excluded or are at risk of permanent school exclusion.

Dr Tara Midgen joined Wandsworth Council as Principal Educational Psychologist in 2015. She has worked for 30 years in education, initially as a primary school teacher. Tara is interested in childhood development, looked after and adopted children, loss and bereavement and mental health and well‐being.

Joy Mitchell began her career in educational psychology in Derbyshire and has worked in a number of local authorities throughout Wales. She is now Principal Educational Psychologist for Wrexham Educational Psychology Service in North Wales.

Mandy Owen is currently the head of Children’s Psychology Services/Principal Educational Psychologist in Cornwall and leads a number of teams which are line managed by educational and clinical psychologists. She previously worked as an educational psychologist in Southampton and Northamptonshire. She has a particular interest in solution focused practice and in creating new opportunities to use psychology to improve outcomes for children and young people.

Dr Kevin Rowland has held leadership roles in six Local Authorities as senior educational psychologist, Deputy Principal Educational Psychologist, twice as a PEP and assistant director. He appeared before the Commons Select Committee for the DECP and led a secondary special school out of special measures in Worcestershire. KR was part of the Department for Education (DfE) working party for Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools and is currently working for the DfE as an adviser for SEND and Alternative Provision.

Ms.Theodora Theodoratou was born and grew up in Athens, Greece. She started working as an educational psychologist in Wandsworth in September 2003, where she still practises, becoming a senior EP in November 2016. She completed the 2‐year Systemic Family Therapy diploma in May 2016 and her practice as well as style of supervision has been strongly influenced by systemic approaches and tools.

Dr Juliet Whitehead was the chair of the BPS’s Division of Educational and Child Psychology in 2018 and is the current vice‐chair. Juliet is Assistant Principal Educational Psychologist in Coventry Educational Psychology Service. She has published articles and research studies in a range of publications and journals.

Academy Chains:

An academy chain is a partnership between a group of academies (schools).

AI:

Appreciative inquiry, a solution‐focused approach to organisational change.

ALN:

Additional Learning Needs is a term used within the Welsh legislative framework.

ALNCo:

Additional Learning Needs Co‐ordinator used within Welsh schools.

AEP:

Association of Educational Psychologists is the professional body and trade union for registered EPs practicing in the UK.

BME:

Black and Minority Ethnic. A number of terms have been used, by government and more generally, to refer to the collective ethnic minority population.

BPS:

British Psychological Society is a registered charity which acts as the representative body for psychologists and psychology in the UK.

BSI:

British Standards Institute is the business standards company that ‘helps organizations make excellence a habit’.

CAMHS:

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service is used as a term for all services that work with children and young people who have difficulties with their emotional or behavioural well‐being.

CBT:

Cognitive behaviour therapy is a talking therapy that can help people manage problems by changing the way they think and behave.

CCG:

Clinical Commissioning Groups are responsible for implementing the commissioning roles as set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

CIC:

A community interest company is a type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, designed for social enterprises that want to use their profits and assets for the public good.

CPD:

Continuing professional development.

CQC:

The Care Quality Commission is an executive nondepartmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care services in England.

DECP:

Division of Educational and Child Psychology – a division within the BPS that supports the practice and professional development of its members (mostly educational psychologists) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

DfE:

Department for Education is responsible for children's services and education, including early years, schools and higher and further education policy.

DfEE:

Department for Employment and Education from 1995 to 2001.

ECHA:

Educational, Health and Care Needs Assessments undertaken as part of the Children and Families Act 2014.

EFQM:

European Foundation of Quality Management.

EHCP:

An Education Health Care Plan is required as a part of the Children and Families Act (2014) and is required for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support.

ELSA:

Emotional literacy support assistant.

EP:

Educational psychologist.

EPNET:

An online discussion forum for EPs.

EPS:

Educational Psychology Service that provides a dedicated educational psychology input to a local area, usually an LA.

FE:

Further education institutions, usually colleges providing educational and training courses for those over 16 years of age.HCPC:The Health & Care Professions Council.

HR:

Human resources departments which are responsible for ensuring employer and employee rights and responsibilities.

IiP:

Investors in People is a standard for people management, offering accreditation to organisations that adhere to the Investors in People Standard.

KPI:

Key Performance Indicators are a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives.

LA:

Local Authority – responsible for providing a range of services including education to a prescribed geographical area.

Local Area:

The local area includes the local authority, health commissioners and providers.

MBA:

Master of business administration.

NAPEP:

National Association of Principal Educational Psychologists – promotes the professional development of leaders and managers of EPSs.

NAPEP‐L:

National Association of Principal Educational Psychologists online forum.

NHS:

National Health Service.

Ofsted:

Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills.

PEP:

Principal Educational Psychologist – the leader and manager of an EPSs who may also manage other services such as specialist support teams.

SDT:

Self‐Determination Theory is a macro theory of human motivation and personality that concerns people's inherent growth tendencies and innate psychological needs.

SENCo:

Special Educational Needs Co‐ordinator.

SEND:

Special educational needs and disability. The term was first used when the Department for Education (DfE) published a new SEND Code of Practice, which came into effect in 2019.

SEP:

Senior educational psychologist – an educational psychologist with management responsibilities for a group of EPs within their service or a specialist responsibility for an area of service delivery or both.

SFBT:

Solution‐focussed brief therapy is future focussed, goal directed and focusses on solutions, rather than on the problems that bring people to seek help.

SLA:

Service level agreement.

SLT:

Senior Leadership Team.

SPA Points:

Structured Professional Assessment is part of a system for pay progression for EPs in England and Wales.

SWOT:

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis.

TEP:

Trainee educational psychologist who is undertaking a doctoral training programme.

Third Sector

Organisations:

They include voluntary and community organisations (both registered charities and other organisations such as associations, self‐help groups and community groups), social enterprises, mutual and co‐operatives. Third sector organisations (TSOs) generally are independent of government.

TOM:

Therapy Outcome Measures, a tool which provides a framework for measuring effectiveness of intervention.

VIG:

Video Interaction Guidance is an intervention through which a practitioner aims to enhance communication within relationships.

This book is written by educational psychologists (EPs) for EPs in leadership positions. It offers a combination of reflections from practitioners past and present combined with a range of practical exemplars pertinent to key themes that current and prospective Educational Psychology Service (EPS) leaders are interested in debating.

This text is inspired by the absence of evidence‐informed guidance and literature for EPs aspiring to join the leadership of educational psychology; and we are appreciative of some of the EPs in leadership positions for their commitment to share with you some of the principles and practicalities in the UK context. The importance of experienced EPs providing informed and resilient leadership in every Local Authority (LA) ensures the highest quality of service for the community. Using the British Psychological Society Quality Standards Framework as summarised by Gillum and Whitehead (Chapter 13) enables EPS leaders and service stakeholders to reflect upon and continually improve the quality of an EPS.

Whilst inequalities and disadvantage remain, radical recalibration of the mindset that created the problem in the first place is the only way to limit the damage of some of the current public sector policies. In Chapter 9, Bham and Owen discuss issues relating to recruitment and retention and Jervis and Hardy (Chapter 2) discuss the development of leaders to consider collaborative approaches in leadership. Both chapters touch on the importance of interdependence. Global leadership paradigms have influenced how leadership is being interpreted and enacted in the UK as well as elsewhere. A term from the Bantu languages of Southern Africa that is difficult to translate exactly into English in summary offers a rich idea:

Ubuntu: I am because of you, or I am because you are¹

Essentially, Ubuntu offers the alternative to the inspirational leader or hero innovator and speaks of the interdependence of humankind. It is only through a spirit of collaboration that the leaders will be able to thrive; in particular through professional networks, supervision and coaching and continuous professional leadership development. In Chapter 7, Hardy and Bham write about the importance of relationships and in Chapter 14 they discuss support mechanisms and ways to manage the well‐being of leaders.

Some of the leadership‐speak that we come across in our work within LAs will be familiar from your general reading and specific knowledge of psychology. In this book we will not debate at length recurring topics, such as the differences between leadership and management. Certainly we will not be coming to simple conclusions, such as how leadership is about coping with change while management is about coping with complexity (Kotter, 2006), the well‐known phrase attributed to Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis that ‘management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things’ nor will we address what typifies the behaviour of ‘good leaders’ (George, 2003). It does aim to provide models and creative ways of thinking that can enable Principal Educational Psychologists (PEPs), both those new to their post and those who are more established, to develop and support their EPs and as importantly themselves.

There are a number of cross‐cutting themes that run throughout the chapters. Firstly there is context. Although there have been pressures from national policy, local practice and finance in the past, EPSs are now working in times of great austerity when all the services available to children and families are severely stretched or even absent. Given this climate, EPSs are challenged by a fragmented education system, an impoverished LA, cash‐strapped schools and at least within England an increasing pressure from changes in legislation which have led to a high demand for statutory work in many LAs. Leaders in EPSs are further asked to ‘market’ their services to schools and communities such that they provide an income for their EPS and the continuation of their service. This need to ‘trade to survive’ sits very uncomfortably with professional practice centred on equity and inclusion. Alongside this are societal pressures which draw in an increasing emphasis on ‘othering’ and segregation rather than a willingness to foster and promote inclusive practice. To take one example the exclusion of children as young as two is now being reported in the national press (The Guardian, 2019). Given this background, becoming a leader within an EPS can be a daunting task.

Secondly is the nature of leadership. Rowland and Chandler (Chapter 6) remind us that both leadership and change have produced a continual debate within educational psychology almost from the beginning of the profession within the UK. There are many theories and understandings of leadership within the literature. Some chapters (Hardy and Jervis, Chapter 2) refer to current and also long‐lasting leadership theorists, for instance Covey (2004) who uses the ladder‐climbing metaphor when thinking of management as being efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; whereas leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. There is, however, consistency in the way the authors see leadership. Leadership is viewed as participatory. It is about engaging with all members of the EPS and beyond (when PEPs manage a number of teams) to develop a shared understanding of the aims and purpose of the EPS. It involves listening to and enabling members of the service to speak about what is important to them as educational psychologists; how they wish to practice in the best interests of children, families and communities; to share ideas they have about effective service delivery and be open about the challenges and difficulties experienced in day‐to‐day work. A key to developing this approach is to understand the organisation within which you and your colleagues work (see Hardy and Bham, Chapter 7).

Thirdly is equity in practice. There is acknowledgement that there has always been a concern that children who may be the most in need of support were not accessing the help of an educational psychologist; however, this concern is heightened by the marketisation of education. This hangs heavily over leaders who are charged with delivering educational psychology services as fairly as possible alongside the need to maintain a steady income to ensure EPs continue to be employed. Ways of addressing this tension are discussed by Hardy, Braithwaite and Hobson (Chapter 12) with the suggestion that trading can provide opportunity as well as challenge and EPs need to reflect on how to be entrepreneurial within a LA context.

Fourthly there is ethics. As practitioners we need to continually reflect on and revisit our practice, not only our activities and actions but also the many taken for granted ways of working that can remain unexamined and out of kilter with what we would want to achieve. This match or mismatch between espoused values and practice is considered in depth by Midgen and Theodoratou (Chapter 3). Crawford (Chapter 4) also examines this when discussing how her EPS began to explore what EPs really meant by ‘inclusion’ and how their understanding could be translated into everyday work with schools. Hobbs and Owen (Chapter 5) bring to the forefront the way women have been portrayed in leadership literature and how this affects selection for leadership positions and the way women may view themselves and be viewed by others.

Fifthly, inevitably in a book by psychologists, relationships are referred to in most chapters. Positive relationships within a team are crucial. Tuckman’s (1965) forming–storming–norming–performing model of group development focussing on the improvements in team effectiveness over time, with a dip in functioning after the forming stage, when there are inevitable conflicts before moving on to accepting norms of the group and then reaching the peak in performance. Martin and Meheux (Chapter 11) consider how to create team working which as far as possible avoids conflict alongside providing ways of addressing difficult situations if they do occur. Beckhard (1972) wrote about team development and at the same time the diagnosis of issues, whether they are about goals, roles, procedures or/and interpersonal relationships. Lewis (Chapter 8) examines appreciative inquiry (AI) as an approach to rebuilding teams in challenging times. Relationships also need to be outward facing when developing, maintaining and evaluating educational psychology services. Hardy, Braithwaite and Hobson (Chapter 12) emphasise the importance of hearing the views of ‘customers’ (these are the children, young people and families we work with as well as schools and other commissioners) and Gillum and Whitehead (Chapter 13) acknowledge the need to work closely with ‘stakeholders’ in establishing a sound process of evaluation.

All the authors in this book have experience of educational psychology leadership in the public sector context and all share the obligation to get engaged with the leadership challenges in the climate of austerity and marketisation of education services. Waterman and Peters (1982) wrote about the ‘Eight Attributes’ of management excellence, including a bias for action. The bias for action is a hidden thread throughout this book, with an emphasis by EPS leaders on prioritising their actions within a system that will benefit all children, young people and their parents/carers and staff in education settings. They are all involved in designing and sustaining high‐quality EPSs. Now that we have again secured government funding for training educational psychologists in England and Wales, these prestigious professional doctoral qualifications with the highest qualified practitioners in LAs, bring an obligation to work for the public sector and its community to try to fix the broken system and the way in which the system functions – what happens in our communities impacts on us. In Chapter 9, Bham and Owen discuss recruitment and retention and nothing matters unless we recruit the best staff, offer the range of professional practice opportunities and keep them engaged on the key issues: that everyone is entitled to an education and to have their special educational, disability and well‐being needs met. We have been a profession of optimists and scientist‐practitioners; we must get engaged in the civil rights struggle, the human right for an inclusive education and well‐being of all.

We are training our psychologists to be fully capable and better equipped for the challenges that lie ahead. We are certain that the current and future generations of leaders in EPSs will also be able, through peer support, supervision, coaching and professional leadership development, to capably lead the profession in the public sector for our community.

There are many metaphors within leadership texts and we are attracted towards Senge’s (1990). He sees the gap between vision and current reality as a source of energy. If there were no gap, there would be no need for any action to move towards the vision. This gap is ‘creative tension’. It is hoped that this book brings together many ideas for taking action towards the vision.

References

1. Beckhard, R. (1972). Organizational issues in the delivery of comprehensive health care. The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 50(3), 287–316
2. Covey, S. (2004). The 7 habits of highly effective people (2nd ed). London: FranklinCovey.
3. George, B. (2003). Authentic leadership: Rediscovering the secrets to creating lasting value. San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass.
4. Kotter, J. P. (2006). Leadership versus management: What’s the difference? Journal for Quality and Participation, 29(2), 13–17.
5. Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline. The art and practice of the learning organisation. New York: Random House.
6. The Guardian. (2019, 1 April). The Guardian view on school exclusion: The wrong answer. The Guardian.
7. Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384–399.
8. Waterman, R. H., & Peters, T (1982). In search of excellence. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.