Immigration is currently high on the political agenda, yet there is a lack of information regarding the number of children who migrate to the UK and how their needs can be best met. There are many claims in the media that the influx of immigrants from newly endorsed EU countries is becoming a drain on resources, in terms of education and health specifically. Whilst national data regarding newly arrived young people are scant, local data from Birmingham City Council highlight that half the young people in schools are from minority ethnic communities. Furthermore, it is estimated that in 2006-2007 there were a total of 829 newly arrived children of school age from overseas to Birmingham. It is unsurprising that our schools consistently express a need for intervention and support in this area. Educational psychologists (EPs) have a professional responsibility to improve outcomes for all children and specifically for newly arrived children and young people. This article will outline the Talking Stones approach and how it can be used to support newly arrived children and young people develop a coherent narrative for their experiences. A case study is offered to demonstrate this approach. This article proposes that educators have an important role to play in supporting children and young people develop a coherent narrative for their experiences.
In a time when change is constant, the question of how the profession demonstrates its effectiveness and significance in promoting positive outcomes for children, young people and their families can be seen as an on-going task for educational psychology. One hundred years since the employment of the first local authority educational psychologist, now is the time for the profession to be confident about its role. With the review of the SEN Code of Practice and the traded world that is becoming a reality within the education sector, educational psychologists (EPs) must have confidence in their profession’s credibility and in what it can offer. Doctoral training has positioned EPs as a professional group with core skills in research and evaluation; this article will argue that encouraging other support services to commission such evaluation work is one way of defining the professional role. This article uses Activity Theory to structure a reflection on the authors’ experience of delivering a commissioned evaluation of an intervention led by another support service within the local authority (LA). The distinctive contribution of EPs from the commissioner’s perspective is also considered. The conclusion will outline key factors in the commissioning process, which need to be considered to ensure successful implementation of research and evaluation projects within educational psychology services. The article showcases ‘diversity, scientific specialism, effectiveness and flexibility’ influencing policy at a LA strategic level, as promoted by Fallon et al. (2010, p.17).
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