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PEP information sheet

 Participant Information Leaflet
for Principal Educational Psychologists (PEPs)

Online survey

Study Title:

 

Educational Psychology services: Workforce insights and school’s perspectives on impact

Investigator(s):

Gaby Atfield, Beate Baldauf, Erika Kispeter and David Owen (Warwick Institute for Employment Research)

 Introduction

 You are invited to take part in a research study. Before you decide, you need to understand why the research is being done and what it would involve for you. Please take the time to read the following information carefully. Talk to others about the study if you wish.

Please ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information. Take time to decide whether or not you wish to take part.

 Who is organising and funding the study?

The Department for Education (DfE) is organising and funding this study, which will be carried out by the Institute for Employment Research (IER) at the University of Warwick and Ecorys.

 What is the study about?

 1) What service EPs deliver within the wider support landscape and beyond their statutory work on Education, Health and Care Plans

2) Demand for EP services in education settings (including primary schools, secondary schools, and FE colleges)

3) Drivers of and barriers to EP training and retention in the workforce, and the ability to meet demand for EPs sustainably.

The element of the research you are being asked to participate in is a survey of Principal Educational Psychologists.

The study will also involve a survey with Educational Psychologists, including Trainee and Assistant Educational Psychologists, along with some follow up interviews, focus groups and interviews with PEPs and specialist service providers and case studies within schools (the latter two to be undertaken by Ecorys).

The data is being collected for and on behalf of the DfE.

 What would taking part involve?

This part of the study invites you to take part in an online survey of PEPs.

We would like to learn more about the activities of your service and your workforce, as well as your work with wider service providers (including specialist support services).

The survey will take approximately 45 minutes and will use Qualtrics software. During the survey you will be asked to provide:

The name of your local authority,

  • Your job title,
  • Number of years you have been working as PEP,
  • Number of EPs in your service area,
  • You will be given the option to provide your name and email address if you wish to be informed about the findings of the research.

If you are happy to take part after reading this information sheet, please fill in the questions on the first page of the survey and then proceed to the survey itself. Your responses will be completely anonymised and you will not be identifiable. Please complete the whole survey.

 Do I have to take part?

 It is entirely up to you to decide. If you choose to participate in an online survey, we will ask you to complete an online consent form to confirm that you have agreed to take part before you proceed to the survey.

 What are the possible benefits of taking part in this study?

Your views and assessments will be key to help broadening DfE evidence base of the Educational Psychologist (EP) workforce and informing DfE approach to EP training and funding.

 What are the possible disadvantages, side effects or risks, of taking part in this study?

 There are no anticipated disadvantages, side effects, risks, and/or discomforts of taking part in this study as the survey focuses solely on your own experiences and assessments.

 Expenses and payments

 There will be no expenses or payments available for participating in the survey.

 Will my taking part be kept confidential?

 We will not report your name or anything that would make you personally identifiable in any outputs from the research and all best endeavours will be made to ensure that data in any publications is anonymised. All survey participants will be given a random sequence number for the purposes of reporting, and any identifiers removed to ensure confidentiality. Any contact details and consent forms will be safely stored and then later destroyed securely. Only the researchers will have access to the data gathered.

Anonymised data may be shared with our research partners at Ecorys for the process of writing up the final report. An anonymized dataset will be shared with DfE on completion of the research. You will not be personally identifiable in this dataset.

 What will happen to the data collected about me?

 As a publicly-funded organisation, the University of Warwick have to ensure that it is in the public interest when we use personally-identifiable information from people who have agreed to take part in research. This means that when you agree to take part in a research study, such as this, we will use your data in the ways needed to conduct and analyse the research study.

We will be using information from you in order to undertake this study. For the purpose of data protection legislation, DfE is the data controller for this project. The University of Warwick is committed to protecting the rights of individuals in line with data protection legislation. The University of Warwick will keep information about you for ten years after the study has finished. Any contact details will be safely deleted at the end of the project.

Research data will be pseudonymised as quickly as possible after data collection. This means all direct and indirect identifiers will be removed from the research data and will be replaced with a key. The key to identification will be stored separately and securely to the research data to safeguard your identity.

Your rights to access, change or move your information are limited, as we need to manage your information in specific ways in order for the research to be reliable and accurate. The University of Warwick has in place policies and procedures to keep your data safe.

This data may also be used for future research, including impact activities following review and approval by an independent Research Ethics Committee and subject to your consent at the outset of this research project.

For further information, please refer to the University of Warwick Research Privacy Notice which is available here: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/idc/dataprotection/privacynotices/researchprivacynotice or by contacting the Legal and Compliance Team at infocompliance@warwick.ac.uk.

 What will happen if I don’t want to carry on being part of the study?

 Participation in this study is entirely voluntary. Refusal to participate will not affect you in any way. If you agree to participate, you may nevertheless withdraw from the study at any time without affecting you in any way. You have the right to withdraw from the study completely and decline any further contact by study staff after you withdraw. However, if you have submitted your anonymised data, it will not be possible to extract it later.

To withdraw your data please contact the researcher who has conducted the interview or Gaby Atfield (g.j.atfield@warwick.ac.uk).

 

What will happen to the results of the study?

 A report will be published by DfE and on the IER website.

 Who has reviewed the study?

This study has been reviewed and given favourable opinion by the University of Warwick’s Humanities and Social Science Research Ethics Committee (HSSREC) {HSSREC Reference number: 129/21-22]

 Who should I contact if I want further information?

Gaby Atfield (Principal Investigator) at the University of Warwick: g.j.atfield@warwick.ac.uk

If you wish to speak to the DfE about this project, please contact:

Liz.JONES@education.gov.uk

 Who should I contact if I wish to make a complaint?

 Any complaint about the way you have been dealt with during the study or any possible harm you might have suffered will be addressed. Please address your complaint to the person below, who is a senior University of Warwick official entirely independent of this study:

 Head of Research Governance

Research & Impact Services

University House

University of Warwick

Coventry

CV4 8UW

Email: researchgovernance@warwick.ac.uk

Tel: 02476 575733

You can also contact the Department for Education’s Data Protection Officer via gov.uk by marking your correspondence as for the attention of the ‘DPO’.

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter: infocompliance@warwick.ac.uk.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data in a way that is not lawful you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

If you wish to make a complaint to the DfE about this project, please contact:

Liz.JONES@education.gov.uk

 Thank you for taking the time to read this Participant Information Leaflet