3.1 Context of the placement

3.1.1  Practice

Trainees who have successfully completed their second year will enter Year 3 with a secure knowledge and capacity to approach novel situations using a problem solving framework. They will have extensive experience of casework and will be able to respond to requests, generate a working hypothesis and together with clients generate appropriate intervention strategies. They will have had experience of providing a psychological service within a local authority and be familiar with working practices. Placement in Year 3 is an opportunity for trainees to extend these skills and work towards demonstrating the HCPC Standards of Proficiency for practitioner psychologists. Practice will also provide opportunities to engage in wider local authority practice, contribute to systemic practice and offer training.

3.1.2  Parallel activities in Year 3

Whilst it is not the responsibility of the supervisor to oversee and monitor trainee progress across the other strands of programme activity it is helpful if supervisors understand the whole picture of a trainees ‘working world’. Apart from practice activities trainees will be focusing on their thesis. During the autumn term trainees will be finalising their literature review and completing their data collection. The thesis is submitted at the beginning of June.

3.2 Placement planning and process

Trainees have 130 placement days during the academic year. Generally speaking, trainees are expected to undertake practice activities during term time on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with Mondays and Fridays as thesis days.  Due to the varied nature of thesis work, however, it might be necessary for trainees to negotiate time dedicated to thesis work during normal practice days, ‘paying back’ this time to the authority through working Mondays and Fridays as required.

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:

• 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;

Additionally, in Year 3, there is the possibility to use some Fridays for placement work once the thesis has been submitted.

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 3, trainees are expected to attend the University on a Monday each month to reflect on their professional practice. These are shown in the Year 3 timetable. 

Whole course days, of which there are three spread across the year, are considered placement days; it is desirable for these days that trainees attend with their placement supervisor.

3.3 Placement activities

3.3.1 Casework

The format of Year 3 is as follows:-

September to July

Supervised casework arising from a small patch of schools (including high and low incidence casework as well as other types of EP work). All work will be supervised by a supervisor. Trainees will continue to require the equivalent of ½ an hour of formal supervision per day on placement.

In addition trainees would benefit from opportunities to participate in wider local authority activities such as training and development across the wider Children’s Services.

Statutory work. 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 3 trainee would be working towards completing a piece of statutory work (assessment visit(s) plus writing up advice) within two 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, then this should be between 0.4 and 0.5 for Y3. 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.

3.4 Responsibilities

3.4.1  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 0.4 and 0.5 for a Year 3 trainee.

Trainees in Year 3 will have had extensive experience of working in one local authority but working practices vary markedly between authorities and there is a danger that trainees may assume that practice is the same. It is therefore important that trainees receive induction into their new host Service. (see appendix 12). Whilst on placement in the local authority the trainee will be required to follow the policy and practices of their host authority. The trainees should have access to:

• 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.

3.4.2 Supervisor

It is expected that the supervisor will be HCPC registered and will normally have a minimum of three years’ experience as a fully 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 supervisor 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 other educational psychologists within the service during the placement.
• With the trainee, maintaining 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.
• Providing supervision (at least half an hour of formal, recorded supervision per day on placement).
• 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.
• Alerting the university personal tutor in a timely manner of any concerns regarding trainee competence and practice that have not been able to be addressed through supervision.
• Attend a supervision co-ordinators’ meeting in September 2023.

The supervisor will take overall responsibility for the Year 3 trainee whilst on placement.

Supervisors may apply for honorary visitor status at the university. This means that the supervisor in contributing to the assessment of trainee learning 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).

3.4.3  Trainee

It is expected that trainees will share responsibility with their supervisor and the University for their learning. Trainees are responsible for:

• Preparing for supervision by identifying issues they wish to discuss, reflecting on their current issues and completing the supervision log.
• 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.
• 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.
• Completion of records of practice activity
• With the supervisor, maintaining an overview of achievements in relation to the BPS Competencies Log of Evidence.
• Ensuring supervisors countersign all reports.

3.4.4  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.

3.5 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 supervisor. See appendix 6. The record should show:

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

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 supervisor 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 supervisor 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.

3.6 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 3 and throughout the placement.

How competencies are addressed will be a matter for negotiation between the supervisor and trainee and in part depend on the opportunities presented within the local authority and the style of Service delivery arrangements. It is the responsibility of the trainee to keep this under review, complete evidence recording sheets (appendix 2) and raise with their supervisor aspects that need to be addressed. The attention of the supervisor is drawn to the format of the summative report (appendix 8) which identifies the areas of development on which feedback is required.

Trainees are expected to keep a daily log of activity whilst on placement (see appendix 4) and supervisors 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 report writing associated with their 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 an individual evaluation form (IEF) is provided (appendix 3). This form is designed to elicit feedback from clients who have had direct contact with the trainee and largely relates to individual casework. It is the trainee’s responsibility to send out and collect these forms from their clients. It provides further evidence of the achievement of BPS competencies.

3.7 Liaison between supervisors 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 supervisor.

3.7.1  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 will take place in November: a meeting between the trainee, their supervisor and 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 document (appendix 7) and discussed it with their supervisor, 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 supervisor, trainee and personal tutor. The personal tutor will 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 supervisor for their comments.

The meeting will address:

• A review of the placement overall.
• A review of the BPS competencies-log of evidence and the evidence included.
• Identify any outstanding aspects of the competencies which need to be addressed and how this may be achieved.

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 15 December 2023 for the November meeting and Friday 3 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 3.10 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 formal points of contact between the University and the local authority. Informal contact is always welcome.

3.8  Raising concerns

It would be hoped that any concerns or issues raised by the trainee or supervisor will be addressed and successfully resolved through the supervision process. However where a supervisor 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 Supervisor’s concerns about placement is presented in Appendix 9.

3.9 Assessment

3.9.1  Casework ‘Viva’

Trainees are asked to select three cases from their casework table (see appendix 11), which will provide the basis for a forty-five minute discussion with a member of the course team and a practising Educational Psychologist from a placement authority. Trainees will be expected to show an understanding of the wider and broader ethical framework in which they practice, and to demonstrate the psychology that has informed their thinking and approach. Assessment is made on the quality of the thinking demonstrated rather than the casework content.  The full assessment criteria for the casework viva can be found in the Academic and Research Handbook.

To set the context of the casework discussion, trainees should come to the casework viva with their completed casework table for the year with the cases selected for viva highlighted. Service reports (appropriately anonymised) will have been submitted in advance and should be brought to the viva and subsequently included in the practical work file.

3.9.2  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”.

3.9.3  Summative Report

A format for the summative report to be provided by the supervisor 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 such as the IEF. The report should be discussed with the trainee; signed by both the trainee and supervisor.  An electronic copy – complete with trainee’s comments on the report – should be emailed to the course administrator (edpsych-fels@soton.ac.uk), by 21 June 243, 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 in time for Exam Board in July 2024.

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.

3.9.4  Appraisal

Appraisal of trainee progress is undertaken through an appraisal meeting at the end of the academic year between the trainee and Brettany Hartwell, APT for Year 3. The appraisal and trainee reflections on their activities provide the basis for discussion and a focus of future CPD needs. Please refer to the course diary for dates.