2.1 Context of Placement

2.1.1  Practice

Trainees who have successfully completed Year 1 will enter Year 2 with a secure knowledge and capacity to approach situations using a problem solving framework. Trainees will have had experience of a range of local authority services and worked on a regular basis with their field tutor to develop casework skills addressing high incidence needs. Their casework will have been carefully managed with particular learning objectives in mind. Placement in Year 2 is an opportunity for trainees to put those skills into practice in a supported and supervised context and to begin to take responsibility for planning and implementing the approaches they may take. Trainees will also have undertaken a small scale research project (SSRP) in a local authority in collaboration with other trainees. Details of previous SSRPs can be found at
http://blog.soton.ac.uk/edpsych/?s=small+scale+research+project&submit=Search.

2.1.2  Parallel activities in Year 2

Whilst it is not the responsibility of the supervision co-ordinator to oversee and monitor trainee progress across the other strands of programme activity it is helpful if supervision co-ordinators understand the whole picture of a trainee’s working world. On starting Year 2, trainees will have had little experience of low incidence needs and these are a focus for much of the academic content of the year. Assessment of the trainees in relation to the academic content will be through the submission of two academic critiques and two service reports with reflective commentary (SRWRC). Trainees will also be beginning to firm up their research plans for their thesis by submitting their proposal in December and applying for ethical approval. In the summer term their literature review will be underway and in some circumstances trainees may be collecting data.

2.2 Placement Planning and process

Trainees have 130 placement days during the academic year. With a small number of exceptions, Mondays are protected for academic and university research requirements; trainees are expected, therefore, to undertake practice activities during term time on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays with Fridays reserved for research/thesis work.  Based on three days a week from week commencing 4 September 2023 to week commencing 22 July 2024 (term ends on Tuesday 23 July), this works out as 118 days available during term time.  Trainees can find the remaining 12 days from the following:

• A small number of Mondays across the year will be made available for placement activity (this will be in addition to Mondays ‘paid back’ when the course requires university attendance on a day which would ordinarily be allocated to placement, for example the four-day CBT course).
• Working on placement for the remainder of the week during which the summer term ends (i.e., working 24 July to 26 July) and the week following this (ie, working 29 July to 2 August) – up to 8 days available;
• Working on placement during half term breaks – up to 14 days available;
• Working on placement during the Christmas and Spring breaks – up to 16 days available;

With the wider range of placement authorities used since September 2013, it is no longer possible to ensure that half term weeks observed by the university (identified according to the Hampshire school calendar) align with the half term weeks of all host authorities.  With this in mind, trainees should check carefully their host authority calendar against the university calendar when planning personal holidays.  Holidays should not be taken during term time.

In Year 2, the two major impacts on placement are the Diversity Placement (see section 2.3.3) and the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy course.  The Diversity Placement is considered placement activity since it takes place within and on behalf of the host authority.  In 2023-2024, the placement takes place over 9 consecutive placement days at a time of the trainee and their host placement’s choosing.  The CBT course runs for four days from Tuesday 7 November to Friday 10 November and therefore requires three placement days, however these are ‘paid back’ through three Monday sessions allocated to placement.

In addition, there are occasional individual days where the trainee might be required during the week for university-related activity.  At present, these include the first day of the Southampton Postgraduate conference in June and the OSPA day.  Monday sessions will be allocated to placement to cover this time.  Whole course days, of which there are three spread across the year, are considered placement days when they coincide with one; it is desirable for these days that trainees attend with their supervision co-ordinator.

Trainees and placement supervisors may wish to negotiate some additional ‘blocked time’ during the year for placement activities but it is not expected that these arrangements will impact on the trainees’ required attendance at the university. Negotiated block time could provide some flexibility for trainees to manage their thesis requirements during the summer term when they may need to collect data. 

2.3 Placement Activities

Across the placement year there are three elements of practice activity: casework, understanding of local authority approaches to meeting low incidence needs and project activity.

2.3.1  Casework

The format of Year 2 is as follows:-

1st term (September to December)	2nd and 3rd term (January to July)
Monitored and closely supervised casework. The first 2 cases undertaken by the trainee should be closely monitored and supervised by the supervision co-ordinator. This level of monitoring/ supervision can be reduced as the supervision co-ordinator becomes confident that the trainee can work independently.	Supervised casework. By this stage the trainee can be expected to be able to undertake high incidence generic casework independently, with supervision provided by the supervision co-ordinator or a fieldwork facilitator.

Statutory work. It is expected that trainees will start taking on statutory work during Year 2. Whilst it is understood that local authorities vary in their approach and time allocation to statutory work, the course would expect, broadly, that a Year 2 trainee would be working towards completing a piece of statutory work (assessment visit(s) plus writing up advice) within three days by the end of the year.

Expectations regarding workload will vary between settings, so it is difficult to give a hard and fast rule with regard to amounts of casework. Local authorities are asked, when pledging a bursary, to work within a recommendation that, if they choose to give trainees a patch allocation (which we do not advocate in year 2 but can be the case if LAs are organised this way), then this should be between 0.3 and 0.4 for a year 2. Beyond this, it is difficult to give guidance on the number of cases to be involved with. We want trainees to have a broad range of experiences, aiming to work across all age ranges, with a range of different population groups and across a variety of different presenting needs. But we do not set out a particular target of certain types of casework.

Nevertheless, by the first interim review, we would typically expect a year two trainee to have been actively involved in at least 2 or 3 pieces of casework, with the hope that they would take the lead in these. We would also want year two trainees to have at least shadowed, preferably contributed to some elements of EHC casework. By the second interim review, we might expect that year two trainees would have taken the lead (or have plans in the diary to take a lead) on a couple of pieces of EHC casework. The PPPF suggests that “contributing to an average of 12 Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) a year would be consistent with a realistic, balanced workload”. Note that this says “contributing” (rather than leading) and that it is not a target. A year two trainee is expected to work towards completing an EHC assessment in 3 days by the end of the year. Therefore, if a year two were to lead on 12 EHCs across the year, this would be expected to take at least 36 days – nearly a third of their placement time, which will likely be at the expense of wider training opportunities. Any trainee who finds themselves being encouraged to work up to this number, should discuss this in the first instance with their supervisor and, as appropriate, should seek support from their personal tutor or other course staff.

2.3.2  Low incidence needs

Year 2 academic study will cover a range of low incidence needs. These include:

• language delay and specific language impairment
• social communication difficulties.
• sensory impairment
• physical disability
• learning disability
• SEBD

Within each specialist area, where possible and where they exist, we ask that trainees visit a specialist provision. Across the whole of their Year 2 placement we would aim for then to have visited a wide range of such provision including a resourced unit, a referral unit and a day and residential special school. Also we ask that trainees meet with specialist teachers and related professionals and any educational psychologist with a lead in a specialist area to discuss the local authority approach to identifying and meeting need. Details of when the content is to be addressed in the programme are set out in the detailed timetable. Linking the placement experience with the presentation of the academic content will help consolidate learning where possible. Appendix 10 provides a grid in which these experiences can be recorded. A worked example is included.

2.3.3  Specialist diversity placement

During Year 2, trainees have the opportunity to pursue an area of interest addressing one or more aspects of diversity by undertaking a specialist placement with an organisation external to the Educational Psychology Service in which they are spending their placement year.  This can be an organisation within the wider Local Authority (such as a Youth Offending team or ethnic Minority Achievement Service), a local organisation within Health or Social Care (such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services or a Children’s residential unit) or an independent local organisation outside of state-funded provision (such as a charity working with young people with mental health problems or an independent specialist provision).  The Diversity Placement enables the TEP to diversify their experience of working with children and young people (and their families) across a wide range of needs and offers the opportunity to gain a more in-depth understanding of a specific minority and/or vulnerable population.

The importance of context on an individual’s behaviour cannot be underestimated, and one of the key aims of this placement is to give trainees the opportunity to focus on the nature and impact of diversity in a different setting.  This placement will be negotiated taking account of opportunities available within the local authority and the trainee’s areas of interest and experience, and should enable the trainee to meet one or more of the following competencies:

3a          Demonstrate appreciation of diversity in society and the experiences and contributions of all.

3b         Demonstrate understanding and application of equality and diversity principles and actively promote inclusion and equity in their professional practice.

3c          Demonstrate understanding of the impact of inequality and poverty and their implications for wellbeing, access to resources and services.

3d         Take appropriate professional action to redress power imbalances and to embed principles of anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice in all professional actions.

3e          Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of varying family characteristics and/or structures.

3f           Be aware of attitudes to impairment, disability, and neurodiversity and where relevant, redress influences which risk diminishing opportunities for all vulnerable children and young people including those with SEND and their families.

3g       Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of race, religion or belief, gender, sexuality and their intersection as relevant to professional practice. This will include showing an understanding of the impact of stigmatising beliefs.

Importantly, this placement also enables trainees to learn with, and from, other professionals and is important in terms of helping trainees develop their own identifies as practitioner psychologists and preparing them for future professional practice. Educational psychology services and service users also benefit from any new perspectives resulting from the diversity placement.

The diversity placement takes place over 9 consecutive placement days (Tuesday to Thursday) at a time of the trainee’s choosing (in negotiation with the host authority).  Trainees may choose to work the Fridays of these weeks in their regular EPS placement if they wish (eg, to reduce the impact of a three week absence on their casework).

In order to make the diversity placement a more immersive experience than nine days of shadowing, trainees are encouraged to undertake a project during this time for the host organisation.  No guidelines are given for this project other than it be completed within the nine days of the placement.  Past examples have included:

• Information packs/leaflets, etc for service users about the host organisation;
• training for service users on a relevant area of educational psychology (eg, behaviour management) or education policy (eg, Education, Health and Care Plans);
• Very small scale research activity, for example helping the service to design a survey questionnaire.

2.3.3.1  Diversity placement report

Trainees are required to complete a report on their diversity placement experience and submit this in their work file at the end of the year. Through the Diversity Placement Report (DPR), trainees will need to:

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of their selected area, including the demographic characteristics of this particular group;
• demonstrate that they have considered the BPS competencies detailed above and reflected on the extent to which their placement has given them a chance to meet them.
• where the organisation in which the trainee is placed does not have EP involvement, identify areas of appropriate work for an educational psychology provider to be commissioned into; where an EP organisation is involved, how this involvement could be developed further.

It is against these criteria that the DPR will be assessed. There is no set format expected of the DPR, however trainees might like to consider the following when structuring their write-ups:

• A general introduction with details of the placement and rationale for work in this area.
• Discussion of the impact of difference, diversity and disability on life opportunities, and the implications for promoting equal opportunities and ethical applied EP practice as related to the BPS competencies.
• Identification of areas of work and support within the diversity placement service which an educational psychology provider could be commissioned into.
• Reflection on what has been learnt, a conclusion, and any necessary appendices.

The Diversity Placement Report is not marked pass/fail and can be cited by trainees as competency evidence.  It also forms the basis for feedback to the Year 2 cohort in a group presentation session.  There is no word limit.

Copies of the Diversity Placement Report should be sent to the service with which the trainee was placed and the host EP service.  These copies should not include the final reflections section.  A third copy which does include this section – appropriately anonymised – should be added to the trainee’s practical work file.

2.3.3.2  Diversity placement visit

In order to maintain supervision contact during the diversity placement, trainees should make telephone contact with their supervision co-ordinator during the first week.  A full 90 minute supervision meeting at the placement (ie, a visit by the supervision co-ordinator) should then be organised for either the second or third week of the placement.  The main part of this meeting (60 minutes) should be between the trainee and their supervision co-ordinator, however 30 minutes should also be set aside for a review of the placement that includes the trainee’s key diversity placement contact.  Trainees should prepare in advance of this meeting a standard supervision agenda.

In the past, the diversity placement visit has been carried out by members of the university course team.  In recent years, however, LAs have become more active in identifying the Diversity Placement as an opportunity to make contact with local organisations with home they have little or no working relationship.  As such, the value in the LA supervisor making this visit has become more apparent.

This said, it is important that the diversity placement visit prioritises the experiences and reflections of the trainee as the focus of the meeting. Since diversity placement organisations are often very different in their structure and operation than the LA trainees are familiar with, this meeting is an important opportunity for them to reflect and process.  Items for discussion could include:

• The structure of the organisation and its key activity. }        
• Current issues facing the organisation.                      }         Items for discussion that
• The project undertaken, its scope and rationale.       }         includes host key contact
• How EPs might work with the organisation                }

• The ethos of the organisation, how this compares to EP views }             Items for discussion
• Ethical dilemmas encountered                                                   }             between TEP and
• Systemic issues                                                                         }             supervision co-ordinator

2.3.3.3  Health and Safety during the specialist diversity placement

Trainees should inform the course administrative officer (Angela Goodall) and their personal tutor once they have organised the date for their placement.  As soon as they can, trainees should inform the same people of the following information:

• Planned dates of the diversity placement
• The name and address of the organisation.
• The name and title of their key contact.
• Telephone and email contact details of the organisation.

This information is required by the university in case it needs to contact a trainee during the diversity placement period.

The diversity placement takes place as a part of the main Local Authority Placement in Year 2.  As such, the LA health and safety policy still applies during the diversity placement period.  TEPs should make themselves familiar with and follow the DP host organisation’s own health and safety processes (using the checklist in Appendix 12 – ‘Induction procedures (Diversity placement)’ – as a guide during induction); in the event of divergence between these and the LA policy, however, the stricter of the two should be regarded.

For example, if the TEP plans to undertake a home visit and the DP’s health and safety policy does not require the details of home visits to be logged in advance whilst the LA policy does, the TEP will need to discuss with the DP host (and, if necessary, with their regular placement supervision co-ordinator) how this will be resolved and their whereabouts logged if the visit is to go ahead.

2.4 Responsibilities

2.4.1  Local authority

The Service providing the placement holds responsibility for the activities and experiences of the trainee whilst on placement. These responsibilities are set out in the nationally agreed Practice Placement Partnership Framework (PPPF).

In order to ensure as much consistency of placement experience as possible in relation to workload, SEEL Principal Educational Psychologists were consulted on methods for allocating workload to trainees. Click on this link to read about the background and rationale for the following agreed SEEL position: If trainee educational psychologists are to be considered part of the workforce, the recommended placement workload allocation should be between 0.3 and 0.4 for a Year 2 trainee.

To enable the trainee to make an effective contribution to the service, induction to the service is required (see appendix 12). Whilst on placement, the trainee will be required to follow the policy and practices of their host authority. As a minimum, trainees should have been fully informed of:

• the child protection safeguarding policy.
• health and safety policies relevant to the delivery of educational psychology services, e.g. lone working policy
• information sharing/confidentiality policy
• data protection policy.
• policy for raising concerns about the safety and wellbeing of service users (‘whistleblowing’ policy).

TEPs should also read the Safeguarding and Health & Safety policies in their school placements at the start of their placement and ensure that they follow these.

If a trainee has any concerns about safeguarding issues in school or any other education setting they should raise these directly with the DSL or a member of the safeguarding team. They should also, as a minimum, inform their placement supervisor that they have raised an issue with the DSL, and often should discuss the issue to plan any further action. Trainees should also be aware that it is responsible professional behaviour to check in with the DSL later to ask what action has been taken in response to the information they shared; however, they should also be aware that the DSL may not always be in a position to share such information.

Should a trainee be in a position where they need to raise a safeguarding issue with the DSL they should make a note of the date that this was raised and add it to their work file (and likely use this as evidence to support competency 2f).  This should not specify the child’s name or reason for the safeguarding concern.

To provide a wide range of experiences and opportunities local authorities may choose to ask a number of educational psychologists to provide learning opportunities for Year 2 trainees. For clarity these psychologists are known within the placement model as fieldwork facilitators. It is key to the success of the placement, however, that one educational psychologist with substantial experience has overall responsibility to oversee all trainee activities to make sure there is sufficient breadth of activity and monitor and support development.

2.4.2  Supervision co-ordinator

The supervision co-ordinator will be HCPC registered and is normally expected to have a minimum of three years’ experience as a qualified educational psychologist. The local authority will ensure that the supervision co-ordinator nominated by the Service has due regard for the DECP Guidelines, Professional Supervision: Guidelines for Practice for Educational Psychologists, 2010 and is able to undertake and fulfil the following responsibilities:

The supervision co-ordinator is responsible for:

• Ensuring that the trainee has opportunities to experience a broad range of educational
  psychology work in order to achieve the placement learning objectives
• Ensuring that the trainee has opportunities to shadow a number of educational psychologists within the service during the placement and to undertake joint work, where possible
• With the trainee maintain an overview of achievements in relation to the BPS Competencies Log of Evidence
• Overseeing supervision arrangements to ensure that the trainee has sufficient high quality supervision for work undertaken, (at least half an hour of formal, recorded supervision per day on placement)
• Facilitating trainee access to appropriate resources.
• Allocating trainees to fieldwork facilitators, where necessary.
• Ensuring fieldwork facilitators have a clear understanding of their role.
• Supporting the fieldwork facilitators, as required.
• Ensuring the trainee is observed at least monthly during the placement.
• Ensuring all reports are countersigned.
• Meeting with the personal tutor and trainee to review the placement in November and March/April (Interim Review Meeting).
• Ensuring documentation following review meetings is forwarded to the university by the indicated deadlines.
• Producing a written summative report, at the end of the placement (with contributions from fieldwork facilitators as appropriate).
• Alerting the University in a timely manner of any concerns regarding trainee competence and practice that have not been able to be addressed through supervision.
• Attending the supervision co-ordinators’ meeting in September 2022.

The supervision co-ordinator will take overall responsibility for the Year 2 TEP whilst on placement.

Supervision co-ordinators may apply for honorary visitor status at the university. This means that the supervision co-ordinator in contributing to the assessment of trainee is recognised by the University. Visitor status also confers additional benefits in that it entitles access to the University library facilities.  A form can be obtained from the course administrative officer 023 80 595321 (edpsych-fels@soton.ac.uk).

2.4.3  Fieldwork facilitator

Where a local authority chooses to identify one or more educational psychologists as fieldwork facilitators their expected responsibilities are set out below:

• Liaising with school staff and other professionals in order to organise casework and other educational psychology work appropriate for a trainee to undertake.
• Direct supervision of the trainee in this work, e.g. case discussions.
• Observation of the trainee carrying out work in the field, as appropriate.
• Contributing to the written summative report as required with the supervision co-ordinator.

2.4.4  Trainee

It is expected that trainees will share responsibility with their supervision co-ordinator and the University for their own learning. Trainees are responsible for:

• Preparing for supervision by identifying issues to discuss, reflecting on current issues and completing the supervision log.
• In the event of illness, contacting both their host authority and the programme administration team on the first day of absence. Subsequently making sure that the programme administration team are aware of their return to placement.
• Completing records of practice activity.
• Adhering to the standards of conduct, performance and ethics of the HCPC and the Code of Conduct of the BPS.
• Adhering to the policy and procedures of their host authority.
• Adhering to health and safety requirements.
• Adhering to child protection procedures.
• Adhering to data protection requirements and making sure that any casework information included in their practical work file is fully anonymised (see guidance in academic handbook).
• Respecting the rights and needs of service users and of colleagues.
• With the supervision coordinator, maintaining an overview of achievements in relation to the BPS Competencies Log of Evidence
• Ensuring supervision co-ordinators countersign all reports.

2.4.5  Disclosing a disability.

It is the responsibility of trainees to draw their supervisor’s attention to any issues which might impact on their ability to work in order that appropriate support can be discussed.  Placement hosts should give trainees opportunities to disclose this information in a safe and confidential manner, however it is the trainee’s decision whether or not to do so.  We would strongly recommend that they do.

Further details of the shared responsibilities are in the Practice Placement Partnership Framework.

2.5 Supervision

Trainees are required to receive ½ hour of supervision per day of placement activity. It is the responsibility of the trainee to keep a record of supervision sessions and to provide a completed copy for their supervision co-ordinator. See appendix 6. The record should show:

• the agreed agenda,
• issues discussed
• agreed outcomes
• further reflective comments from the trainee

It is expected that the supervision co-ordinator will meet regularly with their trainee but there may be occasions when it is appropriate for a fieldwork facilitator to provide supervision around a specific activity being undertaken. All supervision sessions should be fully recorded and records submitted by the trainee to the University as part of their practical work file.

Issues addressed in supervision are likely to be driven by the developmental needs of the trainee however the supervision co-ordinator should also use these sessions to address their duty of care to the trainee in making sure that activities they are undertaking are developmentally appropriate. The supervision co-ordinator is also asked to make sure that the trainee is adhering to Service health and safety policies; child protection policies; data protection and confidentiality policies.

2.6 Monitoring and record keeping

Trainees keep an individual log of evidence of BPS competencies (appendix 1) which is completed across each year and provides the starting point for identifying personal objectives at the beginning of Year 2 and throughout the placement.

How competencies are addressed will be a matter for negotiation between the supervision co-ordinator and trainee and in part depend on the opportunities presented within the local authority and the service delivery arrangements. It is the responsibility of the trainee to keep this under review and complete evidence recording sheets (ERS) as appropriate (appendix 2) and bring to the attention of their supervision co-ordinator aspects that need to be addressed. The attention of the supervision co-ordinator is drawn to the format of the summative report (appendix 8) which identifies the broader areas of development on which feedback is required and complements the trainee log of evidence.

Trainees are expected to keep a daily log of activity whilst on placement (see appendix 4) and supervision co-ordinators or fieldwork facilitators are asked to ‘sign off’ these activities at supervision. In total the trainee is required to show evidence of placement activity for 130 days. These logs should also record time spent undertaking administration tasks and written recording associated with placement activities. They should also include reflections on the trainee’s learning as a result of these activities; these reflections can be completed on either a daily or a weekly basis.

To support on-going monitoring of activity and provide further evidence for assessment of competencies, an individual evaluation form (IEF) is provided (appendix 3). This form is designed to elicit feedback from clients who have had direct contract with the trainee and largely relates to individual casework. It is the trainee’s responsibility to send out and collect these forms from their service users. It provides further evidence of the achievement of BPS competencies.

2.7 Liaison between supervision co-ordinators and university staff

Staff at the university are responsible for monitoring the progress of trainees through the year, although on a day to day basis whilst on placement this is delegated to the supervision co-ordinator.

2.7.1  Interim reviews

Through the year there will be points when a formal review of the placement takes place. Each meeting will be used to discuss:

• An overview of activities undertaken and planned and how these are addressing the competencies required for practice.
• Practical arrangements to facilitate learning opportunities.
• The on-going compilation of the practical work file.
• Scrutiny of some evidence to be included in the work file.

Through the year there will be specific emphases related to the stage and phase of the placement.

The first meeting takes place in November: a meeting between the trainee, their supervision co-ordinator and the trainee’s personal tutor. This meeting will:

• Review induction arrangements and initial goals set.
• Review the Practice Placement Partnership Framework to make sure both the trainee and the supervision coordinator understand their role and responsibilities.
• Review progress towards the project activity.
• Address any concerns that have arisen and set targets for completion by the next Interim review.
• Confirm that the trainee has been fully inducted into the health and safety policies relevant to the practice of educational psychology in the local authority.

Prior to the meeting the trainee will have completed a draft of the interim review form (appendix 7) and discussed it with their supervision co-ordinator, who will then add their own comments. Following the meeting, the trainee will add to the form targets and actions agreed on, plus any additional information arising.

The personal tutor will also take the opportunity to observe the trainee on placement (undertaking appropriate casework activity) and provide feedback between this observation and the interim review meeting.

The second meeting takes place in March/April and will again be a three-way meeting between the supervision co-ordinator, trainee and personal tutor. The personal tutor will again take the opportunity to observe the trainee prior to the meeting. Prior to the meeting the trainee will again complete a draft of the interim review document (appendix 7) and discuss it with their supervision co-ordinator for their comments.

The meeting will address:

• A review of the placement overall.
• Identifying aspects of activity that have not been experienced and which will need to be addressed in Year 3.
• A review of the BPS competencies-log of evidence and the evidence included.
• Identifying broad goals for placement in Year 3.
• Agreeing arrangements for the diversity placement.

Of the two interim review meetings:

• One should take place in person, with the tutor travelling to the trainee’s local authority for the observation and three-way meeting. It is acknowledged that the logistics of placement do not always make it easy (particularly early on in the placement) for the trainee to organise an appropriate activity for observation by their personal tutor on the day of their visit. Where this proves difficult, or where the trainee has a strong desire to be observed in a specific area of professional activity which is not possible to arrange for the day of the interim review, the trainee may instead choose to video themselves in activity and present this video for joint viewing and feedback on the day of the personal tutor’s visit.

• One should take place online using a suitable platform (eg, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, etc) and the trainee should arrange to share with their tutor during this review a piece of pre-recorded video of them on placement activity.

It is up to the trainee and tutor to determine which meeting will work best as online and which will work best as an in-person visit.

In all cases where the trainee presents a piece of pre-recorded video to their tutor, they must ensure that informed consent is obtained for this recording (see Appendix 17), and that the recording is then stored and disposed of in line with GDPR requirements.  Trainees should use university laptops equipped with cameras to record these sessions, since these are password-protected machines.

The final record of both interim review meetings should be emailed to the course administrator (edpsych-fels@soton.ac.uk) by Friday 15th December 2023 for the November meeting and Friday 3rd May 2024 for the March/April meeting, with copies to the trainee’s personal tutor, supervision co-ordinator and placement PEP. In sending these, please note the guidelines for emailing personal information in section 2.10 below.

Signed versions of the final interim review record (including a signature from the service PEP) should be added to the work file.

These three-way meetings are the main formal points of contact between the University and the local authority.  The supervision co-ordinator is also invited to attend the first part of the end of year appraisal (see 2.9.4 below).  Informal contact is always welcome.

2.7.2  End of year appraisals

Supervision co-ordinators are invited to attend (either in person or via video link) the first half hour of the Year 2 appraisals in July so that their summative report can be discussed. 

2.8 Raising concerns

It would be hoped that any concerns or issues raised by the trainee or supervision co-ordinator will be addressed and successfully resolved through the supervision process. However, where a trainee or supervision co-ordinator has on-going concerns these should be raised in the first instance with the trainee’s university tutor.

A flowchart outlining the process for dealing with a TEP’s or supervision co-ordinator’s concerns about placement is presented in Appendix 9.

2.9 Assessment

2.9.1  Practical Work file

At the end of placement trainees will be required to submit a practical work file. Details of this can be found in the Academic and Research Handbook. We expect the work files to be written in accordance with HCPC SOP 8.1 “be able to demonstrate effective and appropriate verbal and non-verbal skills in communicating information, advice, instruction and professional opinion to service users, colleagues and others” and 10.1 “be able to keep accurate, comprehensive and comprehensible records in accordance with applicable legislation, protocols and guidelines”.

2.9.2  Service Reports with Reflective Commentary (SRWRC/RAC)

Trainees are required to provide two distinct service reports with reflective commentaries to demonstrate their skills and competence in applying a systematic model of problem solving. Cases should demonstrate over-time assessment, intervention and review.

For details of SRWRC marking criteria, see the Academic and Research Handbook.

The first SRWRC is submitted during the spring term so that trainees may have feedback in time for the writing of the second SRWRC, which is submitted at the end of the year.

2.9.3  Summative Report

A format for the summative report to be provided by the supervision co-ordinator towards the end of the placement year is given in appendix 8. These reports should draw on information or feedback from other local authority staff with whom the trainee has worked and any feedback from other evidence sources. The report should be discussed with the trainee and signed by both the trainee and supervision co-ordinator.  An electronic copy – complete with trainee’s comments on the report – should be emailed to the course administrator (edpsych-fels@soton.ac.uk), by 1 July 2024, with a copy to the trainee’s personal tutor and supervision co-ordinator, so that it can be discussed at the appraisal meeting at the end of the year. The signed copy should be added to the work file.

Whilst the completed summative report is submitted by the end of June, it should be regarded as a working document and added to over the year.  A working copy should be presented for discussion at the March/April Interim Review.

It is expected that trainees will share their Year 2 summative report with their Year 3 host authority at the start of placement. 

2.9.4  Appraisal

Appraisal of trainee progress is undertaken through an appraisal meeting at the end of the academic year with the Year 2 co-ordinator (Colin Woodcock) or the programme Director (Sarah Wright).  Placement Supervision Co-ordinators are invited to attend the first 30 minutes of this meeting, either in person or via video link, so that their summative report can be discussed.

The appraisal and trainee reflections on their activities provide the basis for discussion and target setting. The appraisal will set targets for placement learning in Year 3.  Please refer to the course diary for dates.

2.9.5  Objective Structured Professional Assessments (OSPAs)

During the latter part of Year 2, trainees will undertake four role-played professional scenarios at the university, each relating to an aspect of working within the post-16 age range.  Performance on each of these is assessed by two observers, usually comprised of a member of the programme team and a practising educational psychologist from a local authority in which trainees are placed by the course.  Although this assessment forms part of placement assessment, it is not graded pass/fail. Rather, the focus is on identifying areas of trainee strength and areas for further development. Further information about these will be given in detailed preparation sessions run in advance of this. There is also further information on the development of this assessment available at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ospa-project/

Trainees who are unable to attend the full OSPA day during Year 2 due to illness will be required to take part in the day on the following year (ie, during Year 3).