The wellbeing of doctoral students is an area that is well researched; however, no research has yet explored which factors of doctoral training have most impact upon trainee educational psychologist (TEP) wellbeing. TEPs across England and Wales completed a questionnaire to explore their doctoral wellbeing. Six themes were generated from a…

This paper explores and compares the challenges faced by those who study away from home during their transition to higher education with those who study closer to home. This qualitative, exploratory study was conducted with 14 students, using semi-structured interviews. Data were processed using the "Big Q approach" to thematic analysis.…

This study was interested in the views of Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs) in one English county. Support staff from ten schools experienced 7 days of ELSA training over one academic year and attended four supervision sessions led by educational psychologists over the subsequent 12 months. Five ELSAs were interviewed about their views…

This study introduces a pilot project--the creation of a Student and Family Office to reduce school violence--and suggests the benefits of the combined use of different strategies to decrease peer aggression and victimisation. The programme was implemented over a two-and-a-half-year period and included 132 Portuguese adolescents attending the…

Increasing teacher verbal approval has been shown to produce both increased pupil "on-task" behaviour and academic achievement. The present study aimed to address gaps in current knowledge about the effect of different kinds of teacher approval, other than verbal approval, on students' performance. An exploratory study, followed by an…

The use of visualisation techniques in teaching has enabled students to improve their memory and comprehension of written narratives. Psychological research reveals how various factors can influence visualisation and learning, including; adopting a character's perspective; constructing self-related images; multi-sensory text representing episodic…

Objective Structured Professional Assessments (OSPAs) were developed and evaluated at three universities in the United Kingdom, to supplement supervisor assessments of trainee educational psychologists' placement practice. Participating second year students on three educational psychology doctoral programmes (n = 31) and tutors (n = 12) were…

Inter-professional supervision combines the social processes of supervision and multi-agency working: both complex and often poorly understood processes. This paper discusses the first author's research of inter-professional supervision, involving an educational psychologist (EP) supervising another professional and complements the recently…

A training course of two after-school sessions was run for teaching assistants (TAs) in a UK inner city primary school. The subject of the training was classroom use of a version of differential reinforcement of alternative behaviours (DRAs) known as Fair Pairs. The training introduced the concept of "Three Part Praise" within Fair…

Over the past 40 years, problem-based learning (PBL) and enquiry-based learning (EBL) approaches have been used in a variety of professional training courses. More recently online versions of these pedagogies have been developed. This paper explains how online PBL and EBL activities have been incorporated into the professional training of…

This paper reports the results of a small-scale study of the perceptions of recently-qualified educational psychologists (EPs) in Scotland about the effectiveness of their Master's level research and its impact on their own practice, on their service and on the wider educational psychology community. Thematic analysis of the data was carried out.…

Progress towards the British Government's goal of 50% of young people undertaking higher education has been slow, particularly among pupils from working-class backgrounds. This study examines the range of viewpoints held by 53 Year 12 pupils in a former coalfield area, all of whom were eligible to apply for university. Each completed a Q-sort on…

Research and evaluation has become increasingly important in many professions, including educational psychology, particularly as the profession moves to becoming more evidence-based in its practice. The recent move to a three year doctoral programme in England, Wales and Northern Ireland may be viewed as a positive one in developing research…

Continuing professional development (CPD) doctorate programmes may not be the only learning and development opportunities which universities and other organisations can provide for educational psychology practitioners (EPs). However, as Morris and Brightman pointed out in 2006, they are likely to continue as important sources for professional…

In this article we describe how the RADIO process enabled EPiTs to negotiate research with an EPS around its desire to evaluate and develop its consultation work with schools. Findings of the evaluation and their implications for the Service are described and the potential of RADIO as a tool for providing external research support from HEIs for…