Reviewing and developing a psychological service’s response to managing behavioural difficulties through action research

Emotionally based school non‐attendance: Development of a local authority, multi‐agency approach to supporting regular attendance

“…In this case, the educational psychologists were able to contribute their overview of the local need, through their strong relationships with school settings and collective view of local trends, indicating the increasing prevalence of attendance difficulties and initiating the commissioning of the project (Law & Woods, 2019). They were also able to provide a unique contribution within the multi‐agency approach via their roles as scientist‐practitioners, for instance, through the application of both evidence‐based practice and practice‐based evidence when developing guidance and training materials (Miller & Frederickson, 2006).…”

“…Educational psychologists are well positioned to work at a multi-agency and organisational level to influence procedures and policies both within and outside the school context (Woods, 2015), applying psychology in a way that is responsive to local context and individual service commissioner needs (Law & Woods, 2019). Specifically, concerns about increasing rates of EBSNA have led to a number of Educational Psychology Services (EPSs) developing their own materials and approaches to support settings at a systemic level.…”

“…This model was selected as it outlined a clear framework, with specific steps for the researchers and participants to follow, while aligning well with the 'assess, plan, do, review' cycle within which educational psychologists and SENCos are accustomed to operating (DfE & DoH, 2014). Previous organisational research has found the RADIO model beneficial both for individual reflective practitioners, and for the identification of future service development needs (Law & Woods, 2019). A previous evaluation of the use of the RADIO model across five studies identified three key factors influencing its effectiveness: first, the motivation and interest levels of key participants; second, the participants' power to initiate change; and third, the alignment of the research aims with the priorities and needs of the organisation (Ashton, 2009).…”

Person‐centred practices in education: a systematic review of research

“…However, challenging behaviour is not a universally agreed upon construct and this has been reflected in the transient terminology, for example, emotional and behavioural difficulties, social emotional behavioural difficulties and now social, emotional mental health or SEMH. The recent removal of ‘behaviour’ from the overarching terminology, however, locates behaviour as an outcome of unmet SEMH needs and aims to remove the negative connotations of problematic behaviour being located solely ‘within child’ (Cosma and Soni, 2019; Law and Woods, 2019) and encourages professionals to consider other contextual factors within the systems around the child.…”