Job info	Job info details
Job title	Senior Educational Psychologist
Strategic team/Directorate	Children's Services
Service	Learning and Partnership Hubs
Business unit	Educational Psychology
Responsible to (day to day issues)	Principal Educational Psychologist
Accountable to (line manager)	Principal Educational Psychologist
Salary grade	Soulbury S&PEP Range 4-7
JE ref	SOUL03

1. Key purpose of job

• Promote and facilitate improved outcomes for vulnerable children and young people in Torbay, particularly those with special educational needs through the application and delivery of high-quality Educational Psychology services.
• To undertake operational responsibility for the management of a high-quality psychological services for children and young people delivered in a range of settings.
• To have operational oversight of directly employed and commissioned educational psychologists. 
• Undertake line management functions and supervision duties.
• To be a key point of contact for settings, schools and allied colleagues across the local area partnership.
• To disseminate key updates from local and national initiatives in SEND to multi-agency partners across the local area.
• To promote the use of evidence-based practice in child, community and educational psychology, so that the team can deliver innovative and best psychological practice which improves outcomes for the children and young people of Torbay.
• To work alongside the Principal Educational Psychologist to ensure the continuing professional development of the educational psychology team ensuring that HCPC standards are always adhered to.
• To work alongside the Principal Educational Psychologist to ensure that Torbay Educational Psychology Service meets the quality standards set out by the British Psychological Society/ Division for Education & Child Psychology.

2. Anticipated outcomes of post

• To support the Principal Educational Psychologist to deliver high quality psychological advice for children and young people that is delivered consistently within statutory timeframes.
• To effectively line manage and supervise main grade educational psychologists to support the prioritisation of workload, have oversight of complex cases and support well-being.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of service delivery and support the PEP in future planning and time allocation.
• To align operational work within the educational psychology service to strategic local area partnership priorities.
• Use performance data, complaints and feedback to inform business planning and service delivery.
• To ensure that the aims and values of Torbay Educational Psychology Service are clearly communicated with new staff, allied colleagues and across the local area partnership.
• Psychology is consistently applied in all areas of work, to make a positive difference to the children and young people of Torbay.
• Support more joined up working across the local area partnership that ensures the delivery of the Torbay SEND pledge.
• To support inclusive practice across the local area where consultation, person centred planning and co-production are at the heart of our core offer.
• Ensure that requests for EP involvement are processed in a timely manner and that all advice and reports are shared with families and key agencies, so that effective support and early intervention can be implemented.

3. List key duties and accountabilities of the post

• As an Employee of Torbay Council all roles are expected to work in a way that ensures vulnerable children and adults are safeguarded and report any safeguarding concerns in accordance with established policies and procedures. The Designated Senior Lead for Safeguarding is the Chief Executive and Director of Children’s Services.
• Provide professional leadership, professional practice supervision and line management for a group of educational psychologists in order to deliver a high-quality educational psychology service to the local area, schools, settings and the wider community.
• Ensure the effective delivery of the Torbay Educational Psychology Service through strategic and operational development, innovation and implementation.
• Undertake direct work with schools, settings, children, young people and their families as required including complex and specialist case work.
• Make a strategic and operational contribution to the development of new opportunities and the generation of income through the delivery of traded services to schools, settings and the wider community.
• Develop and maintain effective partnership with all relevant stakeholders in order to build capacity and enable improved outcomes through early intervention.
• Provide statutory professional advice in accordance with Children and Families Act 2014 and statutory guidance (i.e. the SEND Code of Practice) including associated processes.
• Represent the educational psychology service at local area and multi-disciplinary panel meetings.
• Contribute to regular reviews and evaluations of our services with key stakeholders, making recommendations for change and improvement to the senior leaders.
• Strategic line management of the team including the oversight of annual leave, internal CPD requests and business milage claims.
• To contribute to the development of policies and practice through advice based on research evidence and best practice guidelines.
• To support and promote commissioning of educational psychology services in Torbay.
• Current areas of specialism will be incorporated into the new senior roles within Torbay. 

4. Budgetary/Financial Responsibilities of the post

• None. 

5. Supervision/Line Management Responsibilities of the post

• Undertake line management and supervision for up to 5 main grade educational psychologists.
• Recruit, retain, motivate and appraise team members. Ensure safe recruitment policies are followed.
• Ensure that team members keep a record of their learning in line with HCPC guidance and audits.
• Demonstrate leadership competencies, acting with openness, honesty, integrity, instilling a clear sense of direction and purpose, priority and pace. Manage people in an inclusive way to deliver operational objectives. 

6. Working environment and conditions of the post

• Normal working conditions. 

7. Physical demands of the post

• Normal physical demands. 

8. Specific resources used by the post

• Normal Resources. 

9. Key contacts and relationships

• External - Schools and Post 16 providers (Heads, SENCo’s, Class Teachers, TAs), Health (CAMHS, Paediatricians, Speech Therapists), Social Services (Social Workers, Children's Homes, Foster Parents), Voluntary Bodies and parents/carers, SEND Family Voice and other parent organisations.
• Internal - SEND & Inclusion, Advisory Support Teachers, other Educational Psychologists, LA Officers & Advisers, LA Social Care staff, and staff in the LA's off-site provisions. Vulnerable Pupils Team / Early Years Team / Virtual School. 

10. Other duties

• To undertake additional duties as required, commensurate with the level of the job. 

Other Information

• All staff must commit to Equal Opportunities and Anti-Discriminatory Practice.
• Torbay Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and applicants must be willing to undergo the checks appropriate to the post applied for.
• The post holder is expected to work in a way that ensures vulnerable children and adults are safeguarded and report any safeguarding concerns in accordance with established policies and procedures. And are aware that the Chief Executive and the Director for Children's Services are the Safeguarding Leads for the Council. 
• The post is eligible for both hybrid and permanent home working.
• As this post meets the requirements in respect of exempted questions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, all applicants who are offered employment will be subject to a criminal record check (Disclosure) from the Disclosure & Barring Service before the appointment is confirmed.  This will include details of ALL cautions, reprimands or final warnings as well as convictions, whether “spent” or “unspent”. Criminal convictions will only be taken into account when they are relevant to the post.
• The Council operates a Smoke-Free Policy and the post-holder is prohibited from smoking in any of the Council's buildings (including Council owned and Council leased buildings, but excluding designated areas in residential schemes), enclosed spaces within the curtilage of buildings, and Council vehicles. The Council does not permit smoking breaks within work time, however, in services where the flexi-scheme is in operation, employees may take reasonable break times outside of core hours, in accordance with flexi-time arrangements. Employees should follow the flexi-scheme procedure for agreeing time away from their duties in the normal manner with their immediate colleagues and line manager, with break start and finish times being recorded, as with any other break-time arrangement. 
• The post-holder is expected to familiarise themselves with and adhere to all relevant Council Policies and Procedures.
• The post-holder must comply with the Council’s Health and Safety requirements as outlined in the H&S policy appropriate to the role.
• The post-holder must be committed to the Council’s Core Values for employees – “Torbay Council employees are committed to being forward thinking, people orientated and adaptable - always with integrity”. Evidence will be sought during the probation and appraisal processes.
• If this post is customer facing, it will require the ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence and fluency in English.
• If you are required to access a government system such as HMRC, DWP or The Public services network (PSN) as part of your role with the Council you will be required to complete a basic disclose with your line manager before you can access these systems. Your manager will be required to complete a verification form that confirms your identity, nationality and immigration status, employment history and unspent convictions (third party).
• If you are required to use your own vehicle on Council business or drive a council vehicle you will be asked to provide information on any driving endorsements by accessing gov.uk/view-driving-licence and providing a code to your Line Manager in order to share your driving licence information with the Council.

Person Specification

Note for Candidate

All Candidates

The supporting statement on your application form will be used to assess ability to meet the essential requirements of the role, so you should explain how you meet each of the numbered essential requirements within your supporting statement. In a competitive situation, the desirable criteria may be taken into consideration, so you are encouraged to show how you also meet each of the desirable criteria.

Candidates who consider that they have a disability

Reasonable adjustments will be made to the job, job requirements or recruitment process for candidates with a disability.

If you consider yourself to have a disability you should indicate this on your application form, providing any information you would like us to take into account with regard to your disability in order to offer a fair selection interview.

Where ever possible and reasonable we will make adjustments and offer alternatives to help you through the application and selection process.

If you have indicated that you have a disability on your application form you will be guaranteed an interview if you clearly demonstrate in your supporting evidence how you broadly meet the essential requirements of the role.

Job info	Job info details
Job Title	Senior Educational Psychologist
Strategic team/Directorate	Children's Services
Service	Learning and Partnership Hubs
Business unit	Educational Psychology

Skills and effectiveness

Essential skills and effectiveness

• Ability to provide effective and visible leadership to a team of professionals.
• Management of people and resources.
• Be able to communicate using clear written and oral information.
• Demonstrate effective communication and inter-personal skills.
• Evidence of successful training and disseminating of information.
• Computer literate with the ability to use IT packages competently.
• Excellent organisation and time keeping skills, including the ability to prioritise statutory duties, as required.
• Ability to use quality assurance tools to ensure robust and high-quality advice
• This role requires the ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence and fluency in English. 

Desirable skills and effectiveness

• Able to collect, monitor and analyse management information to enable strategic decisions to be made on service priorities, performance, and resource allocations.
• Proven ability to inspire, challenge, motivate and empower teams and individuals to achieve high performance.
• Proven ability to lead an organisation successfully through a period of change. 

Knowledge

Essential knowledge

• Considerable knowledge of the professional practice of educational psychology in accordance with the ethical principles of the British Psychological Society.
• Knowledge of solution-focused, strength-based practice and interventions to support positive change.
• Sound understanding of equality issues in providing services, respecting and valuing an individual’s diversity and contributions and thereby seeking to avoid unwitting discrimination.
• Knowledge and skills to monitor the quality and impact of service delivery. 

Desirable knowledge

• Knowledge and experience of delivering critical incident support to schools and settings. This includes being part of a debriefing team that can reflect on practice and make recommendations for service level improvement in this area.
• Knowledge of person-centred planning tools that promote inclusive practice.
• Wide and up-to-date knowledge of current research in the field of educational and child psychology and how this can be applied in practice.

Experience and achievements

Essential experience and achievements

• Considerable experience as a qualified Educational Psychologist who is registered with the HCPC.
• Experience of operational and strategic multi-agency working with professionals and stakeholders demonstrating high level ability to work collaboratively whilst having the confidence to challenge assumptions.
• Experience of promoting the inclusion and safeguarding of children.
• Experience of motivating colleagues in their professional development. 

Desirable experience and achievements

• Oversight or line management of a specialist area within an educational psychology service (e.g., early years/ post 16/ neurodiversity/ SEMH). 

Qualifications/professional memberships

Essential qualifications/professional memberships

• Honours degree in Psychology or equivalent recognised by British Psychological Society (BPS).
• Postgraduate qualification (MSc. or DEdPsych) incorporating professional training in Educational Psychology.
• Membership of professional and academic bodies (e.g., BPS, AEP) and their relevant sub-sections/divisions. 

Desirable qualifications/professional memberships

• Additional qualification in Special Educational Needs.
• Management and Leadership Qualification. 

Other requirements

Other requirements of the job role

• Demonstrates a commitment to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. 
• Ability to travel efficiently around the Bay/South West/UK in order to carry out duties. 
• Ability to accommodate occasional/permanent home-working.