Huw Lewis, Minister for Education and Skills
This was published under the 2011 to 2016 administration of the Welsh Government
The Welsh Government recognises the important role that Educational Psychologists play in tackling the challenges encountered by children and young people in education within Wales. Their work helps to support the wellbeing and enhance learning opportunities for some of our most vulnerable learners.
The role of educational psychologists will be as critical to our proposed legislative system for supporting learners with additional learning needs as it is to the current system. It is therefore essential that local authorities across Wales continue to be able to access Educational Psychologists that have been trained within the Welsh education context.
Cardiff University are currently the only provider of the Doctorate in Educational Psychology (DEdPsy) Programme in Wales. Following extensive discussions with the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and Cardiff University, Welsh Government has agreed to directly fund the provision of the DEdPsy programme at Cardiff University.
This will secure the ongoing provision of training for educational psychologists in Wales for the next three years, with a possibility to extend this arrangement for a further two years. This will ensure a minimum of three new cohorts of prospective trainees entering onto the DEdPsy programme from September 2015-16.
We are continuing to explore how specialist services and professional training programmes will be delivered in Wales in the future and my officials will continue to work with the WLGA and HEFCW to identify a sustainable model for the longer term provision of educational psychologists in Wales.