Educational Psychologist

Portsmouth; Sunderland; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Portsmouth City Council’s Educational Psychology Team is seeking enthusiastic Educational Psychologists to join a traded service supporting schools and enabling early intervention. You will work across Portsmouth, contribute to training and workforce development, and engage in strategic work around SEMH, neurodiversity and literacy.

HCPC registration or trainee status in final year is welcome; evidence-based practice and safeguarding duties apply.

Qualifications

• Be a qualified Educational Psychologist or be in your second or third year of EP training, registered with HCPC, or trainee EP awaiting final registration after training.
• possess a sound base of current psychological knowledge and awareness of educational issues and be able to apply this to practice.
• Have full working knowledge of safeguarding policies and Local Safeguarding Children Board duties, integrated working responsibilities, early help and safeguarding practices.
• Have good personal presentation and credibility with a range of potential client groups.
• Be able to work both independently and as part of a team, valuing collaboration with parents, children, young people and professionals.

Responsibilities

• Apply psychology through the delivery of services to a cluster of schools within Portsmouth.
• Engage in multi-agency working to support children and families.
• Engage in development and delivery of training and workforce development across the city.
• Contribute to strategic developments such as SEMH, neurodiversity and literacy.
• Collaborate with EPs to develop practice and policy to improve outcomes for children and young people.
• Contribute to the statutory assessment and monitoring and review of children with SEND.
• Demonstrate evidence-based psychological practice in line with Portsmouth Local Safeguarding policies.

Skills

Relational approach with families

Interpersonal skills

Team collaboration

Education

HCPC registered

2nd/3rd year EP trainee

Knowledge of educational psychology applications

Job description

We are seeking enthusiastic and dedicated Educational Psychologists to join our highly regarded Educational Psychology Team. Whether you are an experienced practitioner, newly qualified and HCPC registered, or a Trainee Educational Psychologist in your third year of training, we would love to hear from you.

The Educational Psychology Team

We are a team of supportive, enthusiastic and skilled educational psychologists with experience ranging from our highly valued trainees to those who have been with the service for many years - which is testament to our positive approach. We are part of the Inclusion Service in Portsmouth City Council's Education Department and our key purpose is to help promote all aspects of a child or young person's development by using psychology to make a positive difference. The EP Team is held in high regard with involvement valued across a range of projects in education and social care.

We operate a model of traded service which allows us to support schools directly and focus on early intervention. We also fulfil the statutory function of the Education Department and have built strong relationships with our SEN Team which enables collaborative working.

The Role

The post will include:

• Applying psychology through the delivery of services to a cluster of schools within Portsmouth.
• Multi-agency working to support children and families.
• Opportunities to engage in the development and delivery of training and workforce development across the city, for example Restorative and Attachment Aware approaches and ELSA.
• Opportunities to engage in strategic developments; for example, with SEMH, and Neurodiversity and literacy difficulties.
• Opportunities to work with EPs to develop our practice and policy, always aiming to improve outcomes for children and young people.
• Contribution to the statutory assessment and monitoring and review of children with SEND.
• Autonomy to employ the evidence-based psychological practice that you feel best meets needs (e.g. dynamic and standardised assessment methods used equally across the team).
• Full working knowledge and adherence to the underlying values, principles and policy of Portsmouth Local Safeguarding Children's Board, including integrated working responsibilities, early help and safeguarding practices.

The ideal candidate

Portsmouth Educational Psychology Team can offer you support and opportunities, whether you are at the start of your EP career of if you are looking for a new challenge or change. We are looking for a profession that will:

• be a qualified Educational Psychologist or be in your second or third year of EP training, registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), or, in the case of trainee EPs, expecting to have their registration confirmed following the completion of their recognised training course.
• possess a sound base of current psychological knowledge and skills and have an awareness of current issues in education and psychology and be able to apply this to practice.
• have full working knowledge and adhere to the underlying values, principles and policy of Local Safeguarding Children's Board, including integrated working responsibilities, early help and safeguarding practices.
• have good personal presentation and credibility with a range of potential client groups.
• have the ability to work individually and as part of a team (these are equally important in this role), value working with people and demonstrate a relational approach with parents, children, young people and professionals.
• We also welcome applications from Trainee Educational Psychologists in their second or third year of training.

About Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.

We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focussed. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals.

Working Arrangements

Working a minimum of 2 days in the office per week in line with the PCC Hybrid policy.

Safeguarding

Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) at Standard/Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Please read the relevant DBS privacy notice before submitting any information.

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.

You will need to explain any gaps in your career history within the last 5 years - this is essential for all safeguarding roles.

We are a disability confident employer and have an Armed Forces Covenant.

We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under one of our commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however, for roles that receive a large number of applications, this is not always possible, and we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria.