About us
The West Lothian Educational Psychology Service is part of the Education Quality Assurance Service. We work directly with children and their families, schools and multi-agency colleagues within the authority to continuously improve the educational achievements and mental health and wellbeing of West Lothian's children and young people.
The service is led by a Principal Educational Psychologist who is supported by two Depute Principal Educational Psychologists and a team of maingrade Educational Psychologists. The team is also supported by a Research Assistant and Administrative Assistant. We have links with both the Dundee (opens new window) and Strathclyde (opens new window) training courses and often supports trainee Educational Psychologists for both short and long-term placements.
We also contribute to a number of the national agendas for children and young people including: support for Looked After Children, the Health and Wellbeing agenda, Getting it Right (opens new window) and the Additional Support for Learning agenda. The Service is included and engaged in the key authority strategic working groups relating to these areas.
Every school/pre-school establishment in West Lothian has a named Educational Psychologist (PDF, 100 KB)(opens new window) who supports them in meeting the needs of a wide range of learners through the provision of our 5 core functions as outlined below. We deliver the service through regular contact with each establishment.
All Scottish Educational Psychology Services have 5 core functions that include:
- Consultation
- Assessment
- Intervention
- Training
- Research
Each of these functions are carried out at the level of the individual child/family, the school and the wider local authority.
We also have statutory functions as outlined in the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. These include the giving of advice to parents, schools and local authorities regarding children with additional support needs.
All Educational Psychologists in the Educational Psychology Service are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as required by law. Information about the registration of Educational Psychologists can be found on the HCPC (opens new window) website.
