To ask the Minister of Education (i) to outline the criteria that schools have to follow before a referral is made to an education psychologist; and (ii) whether there is a set number of referrals a school can make.

(i) Due to the wide variation in the nature and complexity of children’s special educational needs, it is not possible to devise a single set of criteria applicable to all children on which to decide on educational psychology involvement. Statutory guidance is available to assist schools in considering the circumstances of each child. This includes the ‘Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs (1998 and Supplement 2005)’.

In addition advisory resources are available to assist schools in considering the circumstances of each child, such as:

‘Provisional Criteria for Initiating Statutory Assessments of Special Educational Needs and for Making Statements of Special Educational Needs’;

‘Good Practice Guidelines for Schools to meet the Special Educational Needs of Pupils at the School-Based Stages of the Code of Practice‘;

‘Resource File for Schools to Support Children with Special Educational Needs’.

EA educational psychologists provide advice and support to schools in forming decisions as to the children for whom they wish to utilise the allocation of educational psychology time available to the school within the current capacity of the educational psychology service. This is achieved through direct consultation with the principal of the school and/or the school’s special needs co-ordinator.

(ii) Educational psychology is a statutory service. Priority is given within the service to providing the psychological advice required for statutory assessments of children’s special educational needs (i.e. Stage 4 of the Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs). The educational psychology service also provides advice for non-statutory assessments at Stage 3 of the Code of Practice. Whilst there are no limits imposed on the number of children that may be referred to an educational psychologist for assessment at Stage 3, the Education Authority (EA) operates a time allocation model for Educational Psychology Services where each school receives an allocation of educational psychologists’ time and then, in partnership with the EA, the school prioritises the children for assessment.

Working closely with their named Educational Psychologist, schools prioritise their pupils’ needs based on the principles of consultation, equity of access and flexibility. If information is presented to the Educational Psychologist during consultation which indicates that a pupil has exceptional circumstances, such referrals will continue to receive priority.

The EA stresses that it applies the time allocation system in as flexible a manner as possible so that, whenever possible, if a child is in relatively urgent need of an assessment, the child will get an assessment even if the time allocated to the school has already been used up.