Panjabi parents' experiences of the EHCP process and working with educational professionals to support their child with SEND in the UK

Supervisors: Dr. Tim Cooke and Dr. Vasilis Strogilos 

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1992) highlights the rights of all children irrespective of ethnicity, gender, religion, language, or abilities. Yet, individuals with SEND from culturally diverse communities are still the "least often heard and most often excluded" (Department for Health, 2009, p.14)

 Research suggests that children of minority heritage with SEND experience social injustice and discrimination due to the 'double disadvantage' in accessing support and opportunities created by their minority ethnic status and educational needs (Fazil et al. 2002; Singh & Orimalade 2009).

South-Asians are part of the largest ethnic minority (Asian) group in the UK (Office for National Statistics, 2020). A small but increasing number of studies have shown that South-Asian parents' understanding of SEND and EHCP is significantly hindered by language barriers (Akbar & Woods, 2020).

The current study explores how Panjabi parents in the UK understand their child's SEND and EHCP plan and what their experiences of working with educational psychologists are.

Using Critical Communicative Methodology (CCM) (Puigvert & Holford, 2012), this qualitative study includes nine interviews and two focus group discussions with interpreters, educational psychologists and Panjabi parents.

CCM enables to form an understanding of participants' social reality and collaboratively create ways to transform it. Its strengths lie in strong social justice and collaborative nature; it does not privilege the researchers' knowledge but interprets and applies this in the context of the participants' experience. Thematic analysis will be used analyse the research data.

The researcher is hoping to learn how Panjabi parents understand SEND and EHCP and the role educational psychologists and interpreters play in this. The study also aims to identify ways for educational psychologists to enhance their practice further for culturally and linguistically competent service delivery.