The role of Educational Psychologists in working with young people post-16

There has been an ongoing increase in young people (YP) continuing into post-16 settings; although retention rates are poor and many YP have difficulty with transition, especially those with a special educational need or disability (SEND).

With increased emphasis on person-centred working, it is important to gain the views of YP's experiences of transitioning to post-16 settings, to consider how to improve the transition and services available.

The researcher therefore conducted a systematic review of the literature. 14 studies met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed following Gough's (2007) weight of evidence framework using the Lett's et al. (2007) protocol for methodological quality.

The findings of the 14 studies were meta-aggregated into five themes that contributed to the extent of success of transition: Support Network; Academic Demands; Within-Student Factors; Experiences of Change; and SEND.

These factors indicate areas that professionals need to focus on to improve transition.

Following changes in legislation in 2014, Educational Psychologists (EP) have a statutory responsibility to work with YP with SEND up to the age of 25.

Although there is speculative research about the potential role for EPs, there is no research to date to evaluate the EP role nationally in Post-16 settings.

The researcher therefore aimed to explore EP's perspectives of their experiences with Post-16.

Phase-1 involved an online questionnaire to 118 EPs across England and was analysed through statistical and content analysis.

Phase-2 involved seven semi-structured interviews to EPs that perceived themselves to be confident and effective at working with this age range and the researcher used thematic analysis to code the transcripts.

Across the two phases, the researcher identified 14 themes that were relevant to the research questions around current experiences, training, facilitators and barriers and future plans.