Educational Psychologists Jobs

We pride ourselves on our supervision (both individual and peer) and the continuing professional development time we afford Educational Psychologists (EP). Each area has a lead Educational Psychologist for supervision and annual feedback consistently shows how effective our model is and how much it is valued.

“We are given the professional trust and value to approach casework in a way which we feel best meets the needs of the young person"

"I feel that our views and approaches are valued and that we can have impact on issues within the wider organisation which mean that we can make a real difference"

“We have the professional autonomy to carve out opportunities to explore the issues that we think are important though research, training and CPD"

"My EP colleagues are awesome: we work hard and we get things done and we laugh together a lot".

"Our Principal EP is wonderful. She advocates for us within the organisation, she values our views, she listens to and acts on our requests for professional development, she models great EP practice and supports and develops our practice, and she understands and is flexible around family commitments". - Joanna, Educational Psychologist.

We work as part of a multi-disciplinary team. This is a friendly, supportive service comprising specialist teachers, specialist practitioners and the sensory service, and there are great opportunities for joint working and problem solving.

We are committed to promoting inclusion and a strong voice for the child/young person. We achieve this through applying psychology and evidence based strategies to create change and positive outcomes for young people.

Cambridgeshire has maintained a time allocation model that is free at the point of delivery to schools and settings. We believe that this has a positive impact on the relationships we can form with schools and it means that no local authority maintained school or academy is without Educational Psychologist support. Because schools aren’t buying our service, we feel we can work collaboratively with them to identify the best ways of working and to be a critical friend when needed. It also enables us to offer early intervention and training in areas identified as requiring support.

Our Educational Psychologists favour a number of different approaches to assessment and intervention. In any of our four office bases you may see standardised, dynamic or curriculum assessments, as well as person-centred planning approaches, personal construct psychology and many others. With the rise in requests for statutory assessments, we are also currently piloting the writing of joint reports with occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists.

We are at the forefront of understanding dyslexia / literacy difficulties in the country and our guidance has been commended by the British Dyslexia Association (BDA). We use a social justice model, based on the most up to date research, and deliver an excellent training programme to support this.

“Cambridgeshire should be commended for an excellent, evidence-based Dyslexia and Literacy Difficulties Local Offer.” - Helen Boden CEO  BDA

Read the full report

Cambridgeshire’s approach to supporting children with dyslexia/literacy difficulties is being heralded further afield too. Prof Joe Elliott, Author of The Dyslexia Debate (Cambridge Studies in Cognitive and Perceptual Development) has been sharing Cambridgeshire’s approach to supporting children with dyslexia/literacy difficulties with senators in the US and is soon to be discussed in New Zealand. 

The actual words from Prof Elliott, to the Cambridgeshire team were:

“I have been talking about you guys with Senators in the State Capital Building

You seem to be a long way ahead of these guys.

I’m also talking with leaders of the EP profession in New Zealand.”

Cambridgeshire's work has been described by leading dyslexia academics as being ‘ahead of the game’ and we are proud of the work we are doing here.

Some articles from The Guardian

Battle over dyslexia Warwickshire Staffordshire

The fight over dyslexia podcast

We are very involved in supporting children and young people with social, emotional and mental health needs in the county, both through our individual case work and at a more strategic level.

We’re currently working with a number of health, social care and third sector agencies to deliver mental health forums (alongside the Emotional Health and Wellbeing Service), parental mental health drop ins (i.e. Cambridge United Football Club) and workshops alongside a range of local and national charities i.e. YMCA. 

One of our team is currently training to be a cognitive behavioural therapist and is receiving protected time to do this. We continue to invest in VIG and have a number of Educational Psychologists training/trained and using Video Interaction Guidance (VIG). VIG practitioners are involved in many different projects, including offering Video Enhanced Reflective Practice to music therapists, special schools and early year’s settings. We also have an active Emotional Literacy Support Assistant network.

Autism is the single area of highest need in Cambridgeshire. Consequently Educational Psychologists are involved in many related pieces of work including individual casework; delivering training to education professionals and teachers-in-training; and working with individuals with autism, their parents and carers. We have a very close relationship with our health colleagues to deliver joint autism offer.

We are the Strategic Partner in the East of England for the Autism Education Trust (AET). This means that Cambridgeshire operates as a regional training hub, and also works collaboratively with trainers in some of our neighbouring Local Authorities such as Norfolk, Essex, Peterborough and Hertfordshire. Our Educational Psychologists regularly deliver the AET training programme to Early Years settings, schools, and Post-16 settings across the eastern region.

Working with the AET gives Educational Psychologists in Cambridgeshire links to the work of nationwide organisations such as the National Autistic Society, Ambitious About Autism, and the Council for Disabled Children. The training programme is underpinned by current research into good education practice, and by the experiences of young people with autism and their families, which in turn informs our practice and casework in this area.