Making Connections: An exploration of the relationship construction between educational psychologists and young people in the context of systemic change

Educational psychologists (EPs) work directly with children and young people (CYP) to promote the inclusion of their voice in decision-making processes. Whilst systemic theory, drawing on social constructionism, supports us to consider how we can create change through our collaborations with CYP, in educational psychology these partnerships tend to focus on our work relating to individual CYP. There is less evidence of EPs working with communities of CYP to make changes to the systems in which they live and learn at a group or organisational level. My research explores the construction of the relationship between a group of EPs and a group of CYP in the context of systemic change. It focuses on how we can shift our gaze from individual to community level concerns when working with CYP as partners at a range of levels and provides insights into the barriers and opportunities for EPs in building these relationships. I brought together a group of young people and a group of EPs, each active in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) systems in the same local authority. With an interest in the historical development of the EP role in England I used Foucauldian Discourse Analysis to explore the relationship construction. The analysis allowed me to consider how the discourses being drawn upon open, or close, the opportunities for collaboration, particularly beyond the level of individual CYP. I identified that the relationship could be constructed as relationship as unestablished, relationship as a service and relationship as a partnership, and I located these constructions within legal, inclusion, voice, medical, humanist and relational discourses. The findings of the research suggest that in fact it is experiential knowledge, often beginning with individual experiences, and the opportunity for dialogue, which open the possibility of collaboration between EPs and CYP as equal partners, even when addressing community level concerns. It is the opportunity for EPs and CYP to build relationships based on a shared understanding of each other’s experiences, which creates the conditions to take action together, at every level of systems.