In 2001 the Scottish Executive commissioned a national review of educational psychology services in Scotland. The subsequent report, Review of Provision of Educational Psychology Services in Scotland (2002)1 made a number of recommendations including recommendation 20:
Educational psychology services should have a more formal framework of evaluation which incorporates self-evaluation, peer evaluation and, inspection by HM Inspectorate of Education and which, in particular, takes full account of the views of children, young people and parents.
In response to the above Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), in consultation with the profession have developed a self-evaluation framework which meets the requirements of recommendation 20, is consistent with the legislative framework pertaining to educational psychology in Scotland,2 and matches similar quality frameworks used to evaluate and inspect local authority services, and services for children.
The emphasis within the publication, Quality Management in Local Authority Educational Psychology Services (QMILAEPS) is on the importance of the self-evaluation process and the role it plays in driving continuous improvement. The focus is on impact and outcomes for children and young people in the pursuit of excellence. The self-evaluation framework applies a set of six high-level questions to evaluate the performance and quality of the work undertaken by educational psychology services. They are:
The questions allow a common framework to be used for self-evaluation and inspection of provision and services for children and young people, thereby achieving an integrated and consistent approach across services. The self-evaluation framework complements the Quality Management in Education 23 (QMIE2) model. This recognises the statutory basis for an educational psychology service,4 and the integral relationship which exists between the educational psychology service and local authority. This relationship is further extended as the external inspection of educational psychology services by HMIE is undertaken within the context of the inspection of the education functions of local authorities (INEA).
To further support the profession in applying the self-evaluation framework, HMIE have been working closely with the Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists and the British Psychological Society, Scottish Division of Educational Psychology, to develop a self-evaluation toolkit. The companion publications Part I and Part II of QMILAEPS will provide a sound basis for educational psychologists to engage in the process of self-evaluation alongside other services, and to improve the impact and outcomes for children, young people and families.
I would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of a wide range of individuals and organisations to the development of this framework. It is important that the framework is owned by those who seek to use it for self-evaluation leading to quality improvement.
Graham Donaldson
HM Senior Chief Inspector