Question reference: S5W-17009
- Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 31 May 2018
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Current status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 June 2018
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to recruit more educational psychologists.
Answer
It is for individual local authorities to take decisions on the numbers of educational psychologists they need and employ and the methods they use to recruit to educational psychology services. We have been working with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists (NSSGEP) on workforce planning to ensure a sustainable supply of educational psychologists to meet needs.
On 25 May 2018 an agreement was reached between COSLA and the Scottish Government on a new partnership funding package to help with fees and living costs for trainee educational psychologists. This will deliver up to 30 new educational psychologists each year. This partnership funding package will ensure that the profession is attractive to psychology graduates across Scotland, and robust workforce planning with local authorities will ensure that numbers trained match demand.