Principal Educational Psychologist

We Manage Jobs(WMJobs); Stafford; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Staffordshire County Council is recruiting a Principal Educational Psychologist to provide strategic and operational leadership for the Educational Psychology Service across the county. You will shape workforce planning, professional standards, supervision and quality assurance, ensuring evidence-informed practice to improve outcomes for children and families.

You will represent educational psychology within SEND governance, strengthen inclusive practice across schools and partner agencies, and

Qualifications

• Postgraduate qualification in educational psychology.
• HCPC registration and Chartered psychologist status or eligibility.
• Substantial post-qualification experience as a Senior or Principal Educational Psychologist.
• Experience in supervision, service development and change leadership.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic, professional and operational leadership for a large Educational Psychology Service.
• Ensure a robust, high-quality educational psychology offer supporting statutory SEND functions.
• Lead, motivate and develop senior colleagues and specialist teams across the partnership.
• Champion the voice and needs of children and young people with SEND.
• Use data to inform service planning, improvement and decision-making.
• Build partnerships with schools, families, health, social care and providers.

Skills

Educational psychology

Leadership

Supervision

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Postgraduate qualification in educational psychology

HCPC registration

Chartered psychologist status or eligibility

Job description

This is an exciting opportunity to lead educational psychology at the heart of Staffordshire’s ambition for children and young people with SEND. Staffordshire County Council is seeking an outstanding Principal Educational Psychologist to provide strategic, professional and operational leadership for a respected, countywide service with a strong reputation for excellence, inclusive practice and innovative psychological intervention.

About the role

This is a significant senior leadership role within Staffordshire’s SEND and inclusion system. Reporting to the Head of SEND, you will provide authoritative psychological leadership and expert technical advice to support the Council’s statutory responsibilities for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. You will lead and develop Staffordshire Educational Psychology Service, ensuring that practice is evidence-informed, inclusive, timely, high quality and firmly focused on improving outcomes for children, young people and families.

You will shape the future direction of the service, leading workforce planning, professional standards, supervision, continuing professional development and quality assurance. As a senior psychological leader, you will represent educational psychology within wider SEND governance, reform and partnership arrangements, helping to strengthen inclusive practice across schools, settings, services and partner agencies.

Why Staffordshire?

Staffordshire is an ambitious county with a clear commitment to helping children and young people achieve, thrive and be included within their local communities. Our Educational Psychology Service is central to this ambition, working collaboratively with schools, families and partners to strengthen early intervention, improve statutory practice and develop inclusive approaches that make a meaningful difference. The Service has played a leading role in shaping and delivering high-value psychological interventions and approaches across the local area, including EPATT, School Non-Attendance, Enhanced APDR, SEDIS, and a wider portfolio of evidence-informed work designed to build capacity, confidence and inclusion across education settings.

Main Responsibilities

• Providing strategic, professional and operational leadership for a large Educational Psychology Service.
• Ensuring the Council has a robust, high-quality educational psychology offer that supports statutory SEND functions and contributes to early, effective intervention.
• Leading, motivating and developing senior colleagues and specialist teams across the partnership, promoting a culture of reflective, ethical and psychologically informed practice.
• Championing the voice, needs and aspirations of children and young people with SEND, offering both support and constructive challenge across the system.
• Using performance, quality assurance, workforce and budget information to inform service planning, improvement and decision-making.
• Building strong partnerships with schools, settings, families, health, social care, commissioned providers and regional and national professional networks.
• Contributing to SEND and Inclusion reform, inspection readiness, service redesign and wider council priorities relating to inclusion and improved outcomes

The Ideal Candidate

The minimum criteria that will be used to shortlist for this role will be:

• A recognised postgraduate qualification in professional educational psychology, HCPC registration and chartered psychologist status, or eligibility for chartered status with the British Psychological Society.
• You will bring substantial post-qualification experience as a Senior or Principal Educational Psychologist, strong knowledge of statutory SEND duties and evidence-informed psychological practice.
• A successful track record of supervision, service development, partnership working and change leadership.
• You will also be able to travel across Staffordshire and occasionally beyond the county as required.

Interview date: Friday 2nd October

For an informal conversation contact Dr Halit Hulusi - Head of SEND [e-mail]

For information, please note that there is currently an ongoing review within Children and Families to realign individual teams and the wider team’s ways of working. As a result, this role may be affected by the review. For further information, please speak to the hiring manager.

Our Recruitment Process

We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people.

We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future. We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

Our benefits

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as yourapplication meets the minimum criteria for the post.