Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, comments on a report from the Education Policy Institute, which states that a shortage of educational psychologists risks hampering efforts to deliver inclusive mainstream education.
“This report is a timely warning of a critical issue that could derail the government’s plans for SEND reform.
“With mainstream schools expected to boost provision for children with special educational needs they simply must be able to draw on the expertise of educational psychologists when children need that support.
“The government’s plans for an ‘experts at hands’ programme to provide schools with the specialists they need is excellent in theory, but this report shows the scale of the challenge in addressing the shortages which currently exist.
“It is essential that the Department for Education acts urgently to plug this gap.”