Educational Psychologists’ Constructions of Emotionally Based School Avoidance: A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis

Attendance within education has been an important issue since compulsory schooling of the 1870s. This interest in attendance has developed over recent years with attendance data being a measure of school success and child outcomes alongside an increase in non-attendance in a post COVID-19 pandemic context (Department for Education, 2022). The educational psychology profession has also been impacted by this context, with an increase in attendance guidance for schools and numbers of reported casework (West Sussex Educational Psychology Service, 2022a).

Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA), a term adopted by Educational Psychologists within their guidance documentation, is therefore of interest to this research which aims to use a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) to explore Educational Psychologists’ constructions of EBSA and how this relates to wider discourse and implicates practice.

This research takes a social constructionist epistemological and relativist ontological position, in four interviews, exploring Educational Psychologists’ constructions of EBSA during discussions of their work on a case involving EBSA. The interviews were transcribed and analysed, informed by Willig (2013)’s Six stage process of FDA.

The analysis presents multiple discursive constructions of EBSA within EPs talk with six key discourses presented within this research constructing the child within the EBSA discourse as; anxious (in relation to the school context), impacted by complex mental and physical needs, motivated to learn, supported by relationships, in need of specialist support and without a voice. A range of wider discourses were identified including dominant legal and medicalised discourses as well as alternative school systems and ‘unlearning attendance’ / engagement discourses.

This research contributes to critical conversations regarding reflexive practice within educational psychology and how the language used within our constructions of EBSA can implicate how we position the child, their family, the school and in turn our practice. Implications and recommendations for future practice are discussed.