IER Newsletter - Current Issue

*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*

IER Newsletter - July 2023

ReWAGE update

Since being launched in July 2021, ReWAGE has been incredibly productive – our experts have produced 40 evidence papers and policy briefings and responded to 8 major consultations. The group’s outputs have been covered in the national, regional and specialist media, and its co-chairs and experts have presented at national conferences and forums, and to government ministers at a wide range of meetings, including all-party parliamentary groups.

Find out more about what we’ve been up to in our news story.

Rising demand for educational psychology services impacts the workforce

IER and Ecorys research for DfE finds that recruitment and retention issues and rising numbers of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) contribute to a vicious cycle of unmet demand for educational psychology services.

Using a mixed methods approach, researchers from IER and Ecorys conducted research to understand the demand for educational psychology services and their impact. The research found that Educational Psychologists (EPs) deliver an important and valued service, providing unique functions as part of a complex system of support for children and young people. Capacity, primarily driven by the rise in EHCP numbers combined with recruitment and retention issues, has become an increasingly pressing issue and was consistently identified as the main barrier to delivering the most effective service.

A vicious cycle was identified in which the need for EPs to prioritise EHCPs reduced the time available for early intervention work and whole-school advisory work. Without this early intervention, the issues experienced by the child or young person can intensify leading them to need an EHCP and placing further pressure on EPs’ capacity to engage in early intervention and systemic work.

The research examined various potential solutions to these issues, concluding that purely supply-side interventions designed to increase the size of the Educational Psychology workforce were unlikely to address these issues alone and that they needed to be combined with demand focus interventions to ensure the sustainability of the system. This work built on previous work by IER for DfE in 2019.

Atfield, G., Baldauf, B., Owen, D., Davey, C. and Monk, L. (2023). Educational psychology services: workforce insights and school perspectives on impact.

New IER blog: Observing World Youth Skills Day

World Youth Skills Day was first declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2014 and has been celebrated each year since. This July, the theme was “Skilling teachers, trainers and youth for a transformative future.”
In a new blog for the IER blog series Dr Jamelia Harris reflects on what her research in Sierra Leone reveals about skills investment and employment among young people in developing countries.

Photo credit: BeyondAccessInitiative

Presentation at the annual conference of the Social Policy Association

In early July, Dr Katharina Sarter gave two presentations at the annual conference of the Social Policy Association, held at the University of Nottingham.

The first presentation, entitled "Public Procurement as a Policy Tool for Advancing Equality: Developments in Scotland and Wales" presented findings from the research project Buying social justice through procurement: An examination of the use of public procurement for advancing employment equality in UK construction, of which Dr Sarter is a Co-Investigator. Focusing on developments in Scotland and Wales, the presentation explored the meaning and definition of 'equality' in public procurement.

The second presentation with Dr Elizabeth Cookingham Bailey from the University of York examined current developments and emerging challenges for public services with a focus on their implication for resilience and vulnerability.

IER/Department for Education meeting

IER hosted a meeting with colleagues from the Unit for Future Skills, Department for Education (DfE) in July. IER presented updates on various projects relevant to DfE including: LMI for All, Developing a Skills Taxonomy, several IER projects on Green Jobs in the UK which use the IER-developed methodology for measuring green jobs, the STEM occupational classification project, and the activities and outputs from ReWAGE, the HE sector-wide advisory group on jobs.

IER to host event with Evan DavisFrom emergency services to education and health, public services are a core part of the welfare state. In the wake of a changing environment, public services face new challenges and adopt new ways of working.
To celebrate the publication of the book Understanding Public Services. A Contemporary Introduction, edited by IER’s Dr Katharina Sarter and Dr Elizabeth Cookingham, IER will be hosting an online event on public services with Evan Davis on 22nd September, between 12.00 to 13.00 hours. More information, including on registration, will be available soon.

New projects

Provision of Methods Research for Measuring R&D

Find more information on IER's current projects.

Subscribe to the IER monthly e-newsletter

Archived newsletters:

January-February 2023

November-December 2022

October 2022

August-September 2022

July 2022

June 2022

April-May 2022Link opens in a new window

March 2022Link opens in a new window

February 2022Link opens in a new window

November-December 2021Link opens in a new window

October 2021Link opens in a new window

September 2021Link opens in a new window

Summer 2021

May-June 2021Link opens in a new window

March 2021

February 2021

January 2021

December 2020Link opens in a new window

February 2020Link opens in a new window

January 2020

November-December 2019

October 2019Link opens in a new window

September 2019

July 2019

June 2019

May 2019Link opens in a new window

August-September 2018

November/December 2016