This paper reports on a UK survey of GCSE examination results for children from schools throughout England who had lost a parent (n =73) or sibling (n =24) through death to establish whether this had a long-term impact on school performance, levels of anxiety and self-esteem, and school attendance. Participants were matched for school, age, gender…

This paper describes a social skills programme run in one primary school designed to promote children's cooperative skills and anger management. The programme was staffed by Child and Adolescent Mental Health professionals with educational psychologist and school support. Eight children with severe emotional and behavioural problems participated…

This paper describes a collaborative action research project in one primary school that arose from a mutual interest in applying the concept of "Emotional Intelligence". It involves an exploratory qualitative study of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum. This is an approach aimed at promoting emotional competence in…

This paper describes the outcomes of a small-scale project involving 19 secondary schools. The project investigated how effectively issues of homophobic bullying and sexualities were addressed through secondary schools' formal policies and areas of the curriculum. Outcomes indicate that sexual orientation was mentioned in two-thirds of Equal…

The effects of praise on student on-task behaviour, academic self-concept and numeracy enjoyment were investigated. Four year four classes and their teachers participated. Two teachers were instructed to use specific praise and two to use positive praise. Classes were independently observed on four occasions, twice before and twice after the…

This small-scale study explored some aspects of the use of Pastoral Support Programmes, which were introduced by the DfEE in 1999 to promote social inclusion by reducing school exclusions. Issues explored were the level of involvement of educational psychologists (EPs), pupils, parents and other agencies, the conceptualisations of Pastoral Support…

This paper reports how consultative work with teachers can be supported by the use of letters. Letters were written by an educational psychologist (EP) after a consultation meeting with a teacher. Features of therapeutic letter writing and solution-focused brief therapy were used to increase the collaborative intent of the letters. Follow-up…

This paper explores the issue of how educational psychologists (EPs) deal with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) referrals. Self-reported EP practice is highlighted and discussed using data gathered from a survey of EPs ( n=107) drawn from 16 local education authorities. Data relating to the age and gender of students referred, the…

Twelve educational psychologists in training on the M.Sc. course at the University of Strathclyde were provided with e-mail and on-line computer conferencing facilities with the aim of developing critical thinking and transferable information technology skills. A follow-up 6 months after the end of the course revealed that the use of…

Teaching thinking skills has been characterised by the teacher-directed "embedded", "infusion" and "bolt-on" approaches, for which outcomes have been mixed. Peer tutoring in thinking skills offers a fourth way of wide applicability. This study evaluated such a method (Paired Thinking) in a high school setting. A…