Has anyone career changed to being an educational psychologist?

[kittycat37]

Hi all,
Has anyone become an educational psychologist after having DCs?

I'm on mat leave at the moment from being a part time teacher. I have DD1, 3yrs and DD2 4 months. I've been doing an OU pschology graduate diploma (for BPS recognition) since 2007 and will finish it next year (and am on course for a distinction - I hope).

I'm really wondering what to do with it now. I love the idea of training to be an educational psychologist but can anyone answer these questions?

Is it a good career to combine with motherhood?
Is the training very tough in terms of hours?

Also I would only be able to do the training iif I managed to get one of the funded places. Has anyone managed to get one of these after having DCs and how difficult was it?

Thanks for reading this.

Hello

I'm an Eduational Psychologist, but did my training six years ago under the old one year masters course so it's quite different now. However, I do have freinds/colleagues who have trained under the 'new regime'.

In terms of the actual job, I would say it is an excellent job to combine with a family, especially if you work for a flexible service/local authority. I work two days a week from my office and half from home and have recently taken on an extra half day locum with another authortity. There are also opportunities for private work, work in universities etc. which can make the role more varied.

In terms of the training, it's not as flexible as the actual job. I think that the first year is okay, although it truely is full time, either at uni and then on placement, plus assignments etc. Funded places are competitive, but gettable with the right sort of experience (although if you are tied to one area, you may have to apply over a few years). Getting the trainee posts with local authorities in years two and three is getting hard now, with all the local authority cuts. In fact, I know that several first year students this year do not have paid work to go to for years two and three.

When I qualified there were lots of jobs around but I think that this has changed a little too, with the local authority cuts. However, I think that you will always find a job in this profession and that things will get better again.

There are also lots of opportunities to take on more mangerial/senior/specialist roles which are a good way to move up the profession.

It's an interesting, if challenging, role with lots of variety. Can sometimes be frustrating, especially when you are too short of resources/time. However, with lots of different opportunities and the chance to feel that you are making a real difference to the lives of vulnerable children, I would say it is worth the effort and hard work it takes to get there.

Good luck :)

Hi bowbluebell,
Thanks so much for the reply. I suspected the cuts would be having an impact but overall what you say sounds really encouraging.

Just one more question - if you don't mind - is age an issue? As a career changer, by the time I apply for training I'll be 38. Would this be a barrier to training or eventual employment do you think?

Thanks.

Hi kittycat
you will find that different educational psychology training courses tend to take a different profile of student, or at least they used to, don't know how much this has changed under the 3 year training system.
so (for example) sheffield usually take people with lots of life experience (if i can put it like that) but most nottingham trainees tend to be in their 20s. however, it's a while since i trained so i might be out of date. if you have a particular course in mind it might be worth trying to check out the profile of their students. but as (until very recently) you had to teach first, people of varying ages tend to qualify as eps. certainly i don't think your age would be a barrier to getting jobs.
in general it is a good career to combine with motherhood although you may find the training quite intense.
some authorities do term time contracts (obviously you get paid less to take this into account) adn part time working is the norm in many services, which are becoming increasingly female dominated.
it is very interesting with lots of autonomy and even more variety. however, it can be frustrating in that the time to spend with individuals is often limited, in the authority i used to work for full time people could have 40-45 schools to cover plus pre school work. others will be better than this but time is always stretched.
i can't answer all of your questions i'm afraid as i qualified ages ago pre DCs. but good luck.

Thanks Concordia, the two courses I like the look of at the moment are at the Institute of Education and the Tavistock Clinic. I'm tied to London or areas easily commutable from N London. I'm going to contact a friend of a friend about the possibility of some shadowing work and try and build up my SEN experience at school before applying for courses (as well as getting the BPS registration).

Thanks a lot for the helpful comments. I feel really enthusiastic about trying to do it, even if it's a long haul.

hi both those courses have a really good reputation and from my (limited) knowledge of them not being 24 shouldn't be a barrier in either.
The tavistock course is quite different in slant to most of the other training courses, but very good though.

Thanks Concordia.