Year 10 girls at Bolton School were given a compelling insight into the work of an Educational Psychologist (EP), when Dr Holly Craggs returned virtually to deliver the latest in a series of World of Work talks.
Considering her role as an EP, Holly said you needed to be a ‘people’ person and that it was a multi-faceted job which, from day to day, was rewarding, relentless, came with a heavy responsibility and was both intellectually and emotionally demanding.
Talking about how a typical week might unfold, Holly said she could be involved in observing, assessment, consultation, training, support, research and report writing, and might, on occasion, be called upon to deal with critical incidents.
The work of an EP, Holly said, took you into a number of settings, including schools (predominantly in the state sector), nurseries, special schools, pupil referral units, colleges, family homes, children’s residential homes and alternative provisions. She told how her work is focused on children and young people from birth through to 25 years of age, many of whom often have additional needs such as developmental delay, autism, ADHD, FASD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, OCD, mental health issues, sensory processing difficulties, challenging behaviour issues and physical difficulties.
Holly said if there was such a thing as a ‘perfect EP’, they would have listening skills, observational skills, good time management, report writing skills, analytical capabilities, a conceptual grasp of statistics, an ability to apply learnt knowledge, empathy, an ability to build rapport with other people and would be open-minded, flexible and resilient. She finished her talk by saying how her work, despite the long training route into the profession and being demanding at times, is something that she looks forward to each day and that she finds it a very rewarding career.
The session ended with Holly answering a range of questions, including: Is it competitive to get into? What A levels do you need? How difficult do you find it dealing with children? Why did you choose Educational Psychology? Do educational psychologists work solely for local authorities or are there private employers? And, what is the salary?
