Educational Psychologists warn they do not have adequate input in shaping educational policies.
Educational Psychologists do not have adequate input in shaping educational policies, a new report exploring the educational psychology sector in 2025 has warned. The research commissioned by specialist recruitment agency, Spencer Clarke Group, found that 31.6% of Educational Psychologists strongly disagree that they have an adequate input in shaping educational policies.
Government figures indicate that there were over 638,000 EHC plans active at the start of 2025, an increase of 10.8% from January 2024. Along with this, Spencer Clarke Group’s report highlighted a demand for Education, Health and Care Needs Assessments, suggesting an arduous year for Educational Psychologists. However, despite the demand for them continuing to increase, the report also revealed that Educational Psychologists are rarely included in governmental decision-making and often ignored by policy-makers. One Educational Psychologist said, “The policies are devised by people with little experience or real life knowledge of the needs in school and the realities of meeting all the needs of pupils.” Another Educational Psychologist added, “It seems to me that very little understanding of child development and learning was involved in designing the Gove curriculum.”
The report also uncovered that multidisciplinary collaboration between Educational Psychologists and other professionals is poorly resourced, with one Educational Psychologist noting the lack of multiprofessional contributions towards Education, Health and Care Plans as an example of this. Reflecting on the legislative framework supporting multidisciplinary collaboration in 2025, one Educational Psychologist said “I think the SEND Code of Practice was designed with this in mind, but the reality is the opposite. All professionals seem to work in isolation in many local authorities now, purportedly due to resourcing difficulties.”
SEND recruitment specialist, Richard Shorrock, said, “The idea that those on the front line for children with SEND are rarely consulted in policy-making is concerning. Educational Psychologists witness first hand how children learn, socialise and develop and therefore their experiences would be extremely beneficial when it comes to influencing government decisions.”
The report is available online here.
About the authors:
Spencer Clarke Group is a public sector recruitment agency based in the heart of the North West. They specialise in public sector roles across educational psychology and special educational needs.
