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Chapter Eight The Strategic Officers

8.1 This chapter presents the findings of the evaluation of the work of the Strategic Officers. It is concluded that:

• the development of an effective working model of PSPS across Scotland at local, cluster and national levels has been overwhelmingly the result of the work of the SOs, building on the foundations laid by the National Development Officers
• all Pathfinder services have received high levels of support from the SOs, and this support has been crucial to their effective development
• support has also been provided to several non-Pathfinder services
• the establishment and maintenance of a PSPS Network has been a central contribution to psychological services
• key stakeholders in Scotland's Colleges, in Careers Scotland and Scottish Enterprise, in the voluntary sector and in other post-school agencies have received an extensive contribution from the SOs in enhancing their ability to promote improved outcomes for young people
• a significant contribution has been made by the SOs at strategic level to national and organisation-wide policies, practices and documentation
• the national perspective and local support of the SOs continues to be of crucial importance to the ongoing development of PSPS in the Pathfinder services, and equally will be crucial for establishing and developing effective PSPS in non-Pathfinders.

Role and remit

8.2 In April 2004 2 full-time Strategic Officers were appointed to take forward the recommendations in the Interim Report (Boyle, Crichton & Hellier, 2003) for supporting PSPS in Pathfinder and other authorities and for maintaining the momentum of the initiative. The job specification described the posts as being high profile and challenging, with a significant proportion of work that was likely to be complex and innovative, including development of a working model for PSPS across Scotland. Strong communication, organisation and influencing skills were required in order to act as ambassadors for and facilitators within the profession, together with established research and development skills and the ability to work successfully within a complex multi-agency and partnership context.

8.3 The general duties of the SOs were:

• to advise the Scottish Executive on PSPS strategy and implementation
• to promote and support the development of PSPS at 3 levels - local, cluster and national
• to promote the development and sharing of best practice in PSPS across Scotland
• to network and consult with the key stakeholders in the post-school arena.

8.4 The specific duties of the SOs included:

• supporting the local planning, development and delivery of PSPS in all services, especially Pathfinders
• providing PSPS to key stakeholders at national level
• supporting the development of a quality assurance framework including ongoing evaluation of added value
• evolving and maintaining a practice network and collaborative endeavour across the profession.

8.5 The appointment of 2 of the 3 part-time National Development Officers who had been in post between August 2001 and March 2004 paved the way for continuity and progression in the wide range of PSPS activity that had already been carried out. The NDOs had developed the foundations for a working model of PSPS across Scotland, and had worked extensively with key stakeholders at national level, as detailed in the Interim Report. They had also developed quality indicators for PSPS, had established key roles and remits for educational psychologists at local level and had prepared draft service level agreements. A full set of recommendations for the development of post-school services had been prepared, including a long-term implementation strategy.

Evidence considered

8.6 The assessment of the contribution of the SOs was ongoing throughout the evaluation. It comprised the following strands of evidence:

• the SOs' own records and output, including their progress reports, evaluations and published work
• interviews with the SOs in expansion of the above
• visits to Network meetings
• questionnaire and interview data from psychological services
• questionnaire and interview data from Scotland's Colleges
• questionnaire and interview data from Careers Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and other service and training providers
• interviews with key personnel to whom the SOs had provided direct services
• strategic contributions to national and organisation-wide policies, practices and documentation.

8.7 Cumulatively, these evidence sources provided a robust basis for evaluating the significance of the contribution of the SOs. Each strand of the investigation was supportive and corroborative of each other strand, building up an accurate picture of the activity of the SOs and its impact. This approach using multiple strands of evidence was important, as some single evidence sources would not have had the capacity to reflect accurately the SO contribution. For example, responses in questionnaires from Scotland's Colleges and other sectors represented a weak source of evidence for SO involvement. In general they were too diffuse to reflect the impact of activity that was often effective and valued in these sectors, but that was carried out nationally or was highly targeted to specific recipients of services.

8.8 In terms of SO records and interviews, throughout the evaluation there was frequent contact with the SOs in both formal and informal meetings, within meetings of wider groups and in numerous telephone and email exchanges. Indeed, the SOs made a significant contribution to the evaluation process itself by being the ultimate, authoritative reference point in terms of knowledge and understanding of PSPS at every level. They were also able to assist in the development of evidence bases through their extensive contacts with key stakeholders at local, cluster and national levels.

8.9 In terms of Network meetings, 4 meetings were attended by the researchers, in October 2004, February 2005, June 2005 and January 2006. These provided the opportunity to observe direct samples of the work of the SOs in promoting national links across psychological services and in establishing links with other agencies in the post-school field.

8.10 In terms of responses from psychological services, the questionnaire issued to services included the opportunity to state whether support had been received from the SOs, with further open-ended questions on which aspects of support had been found most helpful, and on views regarding how the SOs might best support service delivery. The interviews subsequently conducted across all services allowed for follow up of these enquiries. Thus, returns for psychological services on these issues were available at 2 different time points for 32 questionnaires and for 32 interviews, representing every service in Scotland.

8.11 The questionnaires issued to Scotland's Colleges asked similar questions about the SOs' contribution, but also included a structured section allowing the level of SO support to be rated on a Likert scale for 10 different items covering overall level of support, consultation, training and development and action research. Further questions invited responses on current developments and anticipated developments in relation both to local psychological services and to the SOs. Follow-up interviews allowed for expansion of these points. Information regarding the SO contribution was therefore available in returns at 2 different time points from almost 90% of Scotland's Colleges, and in responses to 35 interviews with key personnel at the first evaluative exercise, and a further 37 interviews at the second evaluative exercise.

8.12 The questionnaire issued to Careers Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and other service and training providers, and the follow-up interviews, followed exactly the same structure as the one sent to Scotland's Colleges, other than that there were minor difference to account for the different contexts of the respondents. From these, information on the SO contribution was available in a further 49 questionnaires and 36 interviews.

8.13 In terms of interviews with key personnel to whom the SOs had provided direct services, 28 of these were conducted. These personnel represented a targeted group who had mainly been identified by the SOs as people with whom they had worked and who would be in a position to provide commentary or corroboration regarding the services they had received.

8.14 Finally, in terms of strategic contributions to national and organisation-wide policies, practices and documentation, a list prepared by the SOs detailed 29 topic areas in which a significant contribution of this kind had been made. The value of the contribution to these areas was supported in interviews with relevant personnel in Scotland's Colleges, Careers Scotland, Scottish Enterprise, the voluntary sector, the Scottish Executive, the university training programmes and psychological services.

8.15 In summary, in addition to a wide range of available documentation, the contribution of the Strategic Officers to the post-school sector was supported by an investigation that included a total of almost 400 external sources of evidence, comprising just under 200 questionnaire returns and 200 individual interviews.

A working model of PSPS: the central contribution of the SOs

8.16 All evidence sources indicate that without question the most significant contribution of the SOs has been the establishment, maintenance and development of an effective working model of PSPS across Scotland, with particular application currently to the work of the Pathfinders. The formal aspect of this development commenced with their appointment to their previous posts of National Development Officers from August 2001 to March 2004. During this period, together with the third NDO, Jacqueline Boyle, they established the entire body of protocols on which it has been possible to operate a coherent post-school psychological service. It is only in Scotland that this coherent development has taken place, and it could not have taken place without the vision and activity first of the NDOs, and then of the subsequent work by which the SOs have built effectively on the foundations that they themselves had laid.

8.17 It is this coherent and overarching development that most centrally defines the importance of the SOs, and that locates them as being of crucial significance to the fabric of PSPS in Scotland, and to its current and future progress. It is this contribution, rather than any attempt to quantify the impact of their detailed, day-to-day activities, as covered elsewhere in this chapter, that is therefore highlighted as being of highest value. If PSPS has made an effective impact at local, cluster and strategic levels, as indicated in this evaluation, then it has done so because it was equipped through the NDOs and SOs from the start with a set of operating protocols, and supported in carrying these out.

Educational Psychologists' PSPS Network and website

8.18 A second contribution of crucial importance made by the SOs has been the establishment and maintenance of the Educational Psychologists' PSPS Network, and of all the communication and support structures associated with it. The 4 meetings attended by the researchers fully demonstrated the centrality of the Network in promoting PSPS across Scotland, in disseminating good post-school practice and in providing up-to-date information on developments.

8.19 The meeting held in October 2004 was attended by 45 educational psychologists representing 18 psychological services - 11 of the 12 Pathfinders and 7 non-Pathfinders. The programme directors from the postgraduate training programmes at Dundee and Strathclyde Universities also attended. In addition there were representatives from 3 post-school service providers, Get Ready for Work (Scottish Enterprise), Right Track and Ergo, who made presentations of the work undertaken in their organisations.

8.20 The meeting held in February 2005 also had staff from 18 psychological services attending - all 12 of the Pathfinders and 6 non-Pathfinders. Four representatives of service providers in Careers Scotland made presentations of their work - the Employability Manager, the National Co-ordinator of Activate and the Inclusiveness Co-ordinators from NE and SE Scotland.

8.21 The attendance at these 2 meetings alone, together with a previous meeting held in May 2004 for which the minutes were available, indicated that staff from a total of 23 out of the 32 educational psychology services were present at PSPS Network meetings within a period of 9 months. Since additional services were also represented at some of the other Network meetings before and since these dates it is clear that this initiative has been successful in promoting PSPS across Scottish services to around saturation point.

8.22 As detailed in Table 8.1, the most frequent response from psychological services to the question, 'What support from the SOs have you found most helpful?', other than for general support and advice, related to the PSPS Network and the establishment of links with other services. This has clearly been a major channel of support and information for all Pathfinders and also for non-Pathfinder services. Each meeting has led to forward plans designed to take PSPS forward in practical ways, of which the following agreed outcomes from the Network meeting on 29 October 2004 are illustrative:

• SOs will create a database of all Pathfinder psychologists for electronic communication
• SOs will continue to inform local services of any work undertaken with key stakeholders in their local area, for example, national training/development delivered to training providers and Scotland's Colleges
• SOs will continue to evolve a communication strategy for all to share best practice and maximise the overall PSPS initiative
• SOs will continue to develop web base resource for all.

8.23 The Network has therefore been supported by a planned range of initiatives to support and disseminate PSPS and to foster links across services. The PSPS Pathfinder website ⁷, comprising web pages on the wider Scottish Executive website, was created by the SOs and is accessible to all services. It provides an invaluable source of information and resources including information on Careers Scotland, Enterprise Networks and Scotland's Colleges, together with Pathfinder updates, useful publications and research links, the SO development plan and a PSPS information exchange.

8.24 In summary, the work undertaken by the SOs in establishing and maintaining the PSPS Network and associated communication structures has:

• provided the infrastructure for promoting and developing the PSPS initiative in a coherent way across services
• raised the profile of post-school work
• offered a highly valued support to Pathfinder and other psychological services
• fostered communication and information exchange
• disseminated good practice for PSPS throughout Scotland
• developed working links with post-school service providers.

The response of psychological services

8.25 The questionnaires issued to the 32 local authority psychological services in Scotland for the first evaluative exercise were completed with reference to the position of services as at 1 April 2005. The questionnaires for the second evaluative exercise were completed with reference to 1 March 2006. Three key questions probed the contribution made to services by the SOs: 'Have you had support from the Strategic Officers?', 'What aspects of support from the Strategic Officers have you found most helpful?', and, 'How can the Strategic Officers best support your service in the delivery of services?'

8.26 In response to the first question, all 12 Pathfinders at both time points and 7 of the 20 non-Pathfinders at the first time point reported that they had received support from the SOs. By the second time point this had risen to 11. Thus, 23 (72%) of all psychological services had received some level of support from the SOs. In addition to this individual support, a number of non-Pathfinders noted the general support available through the Network and the website. This confirms that the SOs were carrying out their principal function in relation to supporting Pathfinders in the delivery of post-school services and that, in addition to the general support available to all psychological services, direct individual support was being given as appropriate to a number of non-Pathfinders.

8.27 All of the 23 services that stated they had received support provided examples of the type of support they had found most helpful. A total of 78 examples were provided, of which 65 were given by Pathfinders. These included: general support and advice, networking and links with other services, sharing of expert knowledge and good practice, providing a national perspective, facilitating cluster meetings, provision of the website, invitations to national training events, promoting involvement of educational psychologists in training and creating a positive climate for development. The most frequent categories of response are shown in Table 8.1.

Table 8.1 Most helpful contribution of SOs (psychological services)

8.28 A total of 26 services responded on both occasion to the question as to how the SOs could best support them in the delivery of services. This comprised all 12 Pathfinders and 14 non-Pathfinders. A key difference emerged between Pathfinder and non-Pathfinder services in relation to this question. The main focus of the Pathfinders was on continuity. Their responses indicated that the support they wanted was essentially the support they were receiving. Indeed, almost all of the Pathfinders responded with terminology that referred to continuity of existing support - 'by being as easily and readily accessible as they currently are', 'continuing to provide the service already delivered', 'continuing to monitor and review our progress', 'continuing with dedicated time', 'continuing to provide information about training events and invitations to participate'. The non-Pathfinders, on the other hand, highlighted their lack of PSPS development and frequently looked towards the support required for setting up effective services. In doing so they recognised the barriers that prevented them at this stage from utilising SO support: 'when staff are in place, to help setting up', 'we are not at a stage to know this', 'we need some time allocation to allow work to begin', 'by acknowledging the need for additional staffing'.

8.29 The follow-up interviews with principal educational psychologists and key staff in services, and with the Tayside cluster, allowed for more extended discussion of the role and contribution of the SOs. These discussions served to reinforce the range of comments already provided in the questionnaires, but as the interviews frequently involved more staff than had participated in completing questionnaires, a further body of relevant material was gathered.

8.30 In particular, the impression created by the Pathfinders was one of holding the work of the SOs in very high regard, and supporting this view with many positive affirmations of the value of the support received. Examples were both general - 'help has been very positive and extensive'; 'they have steered us towards fulfilling our agreed agenda' - and specific: 'they have created an excellent link with Scottish Enterprise'; 'the forthcoming solution-focused training will draw on the materials used by the SOs in national work with training providers'.

8.31 Again the differences between Pathfinders and non-Pathfinders was particularly marked, and emphasised the fact that while many non-Pathfinders had participated in and valued the Network meetings, they did not see themselves yet in a position to benefit from individual SO support. The fact therefore that only some of the non-Pathfinders had received SO support did not simply reflect the balance of the SOs' main remit to support Pathfinders but also the lack of readiness of these services to invite support of this kind.

8.32 In summary, all Pathfinders had received significant levels of support from the SOs in a wide range of areas; the ideal support they wished to receive was largely a continuation of the support they had already received; and they found that this support helped them to develop effective post-school services. While approximately one-third of non-Pathfinder services also reported receiving SO support, it was clear that the context of their lack of ability to develop effective PSPS limited the range of support that would currently be appropriate to their needs.

The response of Scotland's Colleges

8.33 The involvement of the SOs in supporting Scotland's Colleges and in promoting links between the colleges and psychological services has been considerable. This has been best reflected in the promotion of collaborative working with Scotland's Colleges at Network and other meetings, in national training initiatives through BRITE and SFEU and in strategic work at national level. The sections below covering the response of key contacts and the strategic contribution provide good qualitative information on the importance of this contribution. However, as noted elsewhere (Chapter 4 and paragraph 8.7), questionnaire responses from individual colleges represented a weak evidence source for assessing this contribution. Those who completed questionnaires were not always aware that staff in their college had benefited from training provided by the SOs at national level. Also, direct services from the SOs to Scotland's Colleges were highly targeted rather than general across all colleges. Nevertheless, the questionnaire and interview responses contained important information relevant to the work of the SOs.

8.34 The most useful questionnaires for this purpose were those that were completed by college personnel in relation to the first evaluative exercise. Several of the respondents to the second questionnaire did not complete this section a second time, and some referred back to their first response. From the 46 colleges in Scotland at the time of the first evaluative exercise returns were received from 38 (see Chapter 4). Although these colleges served a population that did not always come from the local authority area where they were situated, their geographical location was sufficient to allow them to be broadly differentiated as relating to Pathfinders or to other psychological services.

8.35 The questionnaires covered whether support had been received from the SOs and, if so, which aspects had been found most helpful. Twenty-three colleges (61% of returns) indicated that they had received support, with no significant difference between those in Pathfinder and other areas. This reflected the nature of the mainly national rather than local contribution to this sector. Of the 16 responses to which services had been most helpful, 11 related to training through BRITE and SFEU. Five colleges noted other support for this question: help with planning transition groups, joint delivery of training, training in Video Enhanced Communication, support in planning to meet students' additional support needs following a college merger and advice on policy development

8.36 Additional questions were asked about SO support in a range of areas in which services might have been offered. These were: overall level of support, consultation (general advice, facilitating communication between psychological services and the college, facilitating transition planning, contribution to assessment procedures, contribution to strategic planning), training and development (in-house training, BRITE, SFEU) and action research and project work. Each of these could be rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 'very little' to 'very high'.

8.37 Responses to these scaled questions showed a clear pattern. The key contribution rendered directly to Scotland's Colleges by the SOs was through BRITE and SFEU training, with more respondents rating this as 'high' or 'very high' than for any other service received. When the combined responses for these 2 training contributions were compared with the combined responses for all other contributions, the training ratings were significantly higher. Figure 8.1 shows average ratings for BRITE and SFEU training separately for all colleges and for those respondents reporting awareness of SO involvement in this training.

Figure 8.1 SO training contribution to Scotland's Colleges

8.38 The above findings from college questionnaire data were strongly supported in the individual interviews held with key college staff in all parts of Scotland for both the first and the second evaluative exercise. The majority of colleges referred to the contribution made through BRITE and SFEU training, described by one college as 'an important and timely initiative', and by another as representing a 'hugely important role, giving guidelines on best practice, at a strategic level and in developing transition planning'. These interviews confirmed that in many cases low overall ratings had been given for SO involvement in training because the focus of the response was on direct service to the individual college, while the interviewee was simply unaware of the link between the BRITE training and the SOs. Nevertheless, the training was highly valued and was often seen as an area where further training opportunities would be welcomed. This was clearly articulated in one case where it was stated that the SOs 'have no involvement with the college, nor do they need to have, but they perform a valuable role through BRITE'.

8.39 Box 8.1 illustrates the contribution of the SOs in a large city college, and the value of the range of supports provided.

Box 8.1 Scotland's Colleges: an example of the contribution of the SOs

Interview with Head of Division (Support for Learning) in a city College

'We obtained a considerable amount of support and advice from the SOs last year in connection with a merger we were undergoing, and this support has continued with a number of post-merger meetings. A 2-day training session for Support for Learning staff was excellent and was very well received by staff, with a follow-up day to take place next term. In addition, a handbook is being produced by the SOs jointly along with BRITE staff for use by staff in the division.

The SO has also given us advice about a particular student with issues which were concerning staff. We now also have links with local psychological services, interested in working with us post-school. This contact arose as the result of an initiative by college senior management, who were interested in developing links with a local secondary school with a view to offering 'taster' courses to S3 and S4 pupils, and perhaps also to a 'nurture' group of S1 pupils. Following preliminary meetings, further meetings took place between the SO, a psychologist, College staff, Careers staff and the Head of Support for Learning at the school, and a short-term working group was set up to look at the issue of transition. The purpose was to see if information already on record could be accessed more quickly and efficiently, so that support structures could be in place for students moving on to College. Importantly, students and pupils were also consulted to see what information they would like any transition form to contain.

All those on the working group are currently working on ideas for a transition document which pupils will take ownership of, to ensure that relevant information moves with the pupil, to enable them to make a more effective transition, and to obviate the need for unnecessary reassessment when such information already exists. A final draft will be piloted with 30 pupils in the school before they leave for the summer. If the pilot proves successful, the document will be rolled out to other schools in the area.'

The response of Careers Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and other post-school providers ( OSPs)

8.40 A total of approximately 200 questionnaires were sent to other service providers ( OSPs) in a very wide range of agencies. These included Careers Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and service and training providers throughout the public, independent and voluntary sectors. These questionnaires were similar in their questions to those sent to Scotland's Colleges, but were differentiated as necessary to match the working context of the recipients.

8.41 The number of completed returns received was 49 (for the difficulties in obtaining survey information from these service providers see Chapter 5.) As with Scotland's Colleges, these responses were viewed broadly as falling within Pathfinder or non-Pathfinder areas according to their geographical location. From Pathfinder areas there were 36 returns and from non-Pathfinder areas 13 returns.

8.42 Again, as noted elsewhere in this report (Chapter 5 and paragraph 8.7), questionnaire responses from individual OSPs represented a weak evidence source for assessing this contribution for the same reasons as applied to Scotland's Colleges. Many aspects of SO activity for the benefit of this sector related to major contributions made strategically at national level, to support given to Pathfinder psychological services in developing services or else to highly targeted services provided to specific OSPs. In addition, the OSP constituency, unlike Scotland's Colleges, is not organised within a coherent national framework but is extremely disparate, with numerous individual service and training providers who do not form part of any network. Many of these OSPs would not have reason to have contact with SOs within the timescale of this initiative.

8.43 A further factor relates to the way in which many of the OSPs were identified. Their details were provided by local psychological services who identified service and training providers in their areas with whom they had had contact. These contacts were very important to the evaluation, because they gave access to a range of post-school providers who would be able to comment on the quality of services they had received. It has been noted elsewhere in this report (paragraph 5.1) that the provision of these contacts could only favour Pathfinder services, because the non-Pathfinders generally had no contacts to offer (as they were not providing services). In the same way, they were bound to reflect a relationship with their local services rather than with the SOs.

8.44 The above point is borne out in the disproportionate number of returns received from Pathfinder areas - a total of 36 out of 49 returns. The contacts provided by local services were strongly represented in these returns, and the services they were evaluating were the local services. Nevertheless, the questionnaire and interview responses were again of crucial value in informing the evaluation regarding the SO contribution.

8.45 Seventeen OSPs (35% of returns) reported receiving support from the SOs. Of the returns from Pathfinder areas 14 (29%) had received support, compared with 3 (23%) from non-Pathfinder areas. Again, the most helpful service received was training, mentioned in 13 out of 27 items noted in response to this question. Video enhanced communication and solution-focused training were most frequently identified under this heading.

8.46 Because of the very diverse nature of local OSPs throughout the country, with many having no opportunity of direct contact with the SOs, average scaled ratings on individual questions were inevitably low. Nevertheless, 4 aspects showed significant differences between Pathfinder and non-Pathfinder areas: training, strategic planning, transition planning and contribution to assessment procedures.

8.47 The diverse questionnaire data gathered from widely differing local OSPs was balanced by the informed commentary available through the 36 individual interviews conducted with this group of service providers. In particular, many interviewees were able to provide their views on the contribution made by the SOs through nationally-organised initiatives. The following examples support the evidence provided directly in the progress records prepared by the SOs regarding their involvement in this area.

8.48 A Careers Scotland Inclusiveness Co-ordinator stated:

'Training delivered by the Strategic Officers has made huge differences to staff practice. The introduction of reflective practice has led to raised awareness of staff communication skills, and this in turn has made a big difference to Careers Scotland clients. We are currently looking at 3 areas of delivery of service to clients in the light of this training - group work, one-to-one delivery and peer supervisory skills and inter-staff communication.'

The same interviewee continued:

' SO support has been invaluable. Training senior staff, and this cascading down to key workers, has had a positive impact on our client group. Solution focus has become a key part of our working practice as a result of training from them. This, together with training SOs have delivered to training providers, should increase levels of sustainability of placement for Careers Scotland clients.'

8.49 Another Careers Scotland manager of key workers for inclusion stated:

'We have had an extremely positive experience of working with SOs. From the initiation of Beattie inclusion projects over 3 years ago, the then NDOs have been heavily involved in the training and support of inclusion key workers, and are still available for consultation and support if key workers are experiencing problems with particular clients. The involvement of 12 staff in a pilot research project involving training in peer support through the use of Video Enhanced Communication has led to this technique becoming part of working practice for inclusion workers in this Careers Scotland area, and Careers Scotland may take on VEC as standard practice for peer support within the profession. This technique enables team leaders and peers to support colleagues experiencing difficulties with progressing young people facing multiple barriers to employment or training.'

8.50 Some Scottish Enterprise interviewees referred to the delivery of nationally-negotiated training by the SOs to training providers in their area. This was viewed as generally positive, but one respondent indicated that staff would benefit from training in 'specific issues training providers deal with in daily work with clients with additional support needs, such as anger management or ADHD'.

8.51 Finally, a small agency in the voluntary sector commented:

'We are a small charitable organisation which supports school leavers or non-attenders into employment or further training or education. We have a limited training budget and therefore particularly welcome the training we received from SOs in solution focus. Staff were really impressed with this training and use it as another tool in working with our clients.'

Interviews with key personnel

8.52 A total of 28 interviews were conducted with key personnel who had been identified as people with whom the SOs had worked directly. Most of these individuals occupied key leadership positions nationally within their own sector, and they were well placed to provide their perspective on the value and impact of the contribution the SOs had made in a wide range of their activities. They represented the full range of post-school service providers in the various operations of Scotland's Colleges, Careers Scotland, Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Executive, the voluntary sector and the university training programmes. In addition to individual interviews, one group interview was conducted with key personnel in SFEU.

8.53 The interviews with key personnel were of particular value at various levels. They provided:

• validation of the activities described by the SOs in their own records
• the perspective of recipients of services on the value of the contribution made
• informed views on the impact the contribution had made throughout organisations in terms of policy and practice
• examples of how benefits had cascaded through organisations after the SO contribution had been completed
• views on how the work of the SOs had affected outcomes for young people.

8.54 The general message emerging from the 28 interviews was that in every case the expressed view of the contribution of the SOs was highly positive; in many cases it was described as being of considerable importance; and in some cases it was regarded as invaluable or indispensable for the effective development of the organisation and for enhancing its capacity to meet its objectives. The following paragraphs provide a number of illustrative examples from a range of interviews. Four closely related aspects of the SO contribution have been highlighted in the illustrations selected: promoting links across agencies, provision of training, contributions to documentation and strategic support. Box 8.2 shows an example of good practice from the manager of one organisation, Project Scotland.

Promoting links across agencies

8.55 Many respondents emphasised the value of the SOs' experience and national perspective in developing links throughout the PSPS field:

'The contacts and expertise of the SOs have enabled Careers Scotland to link with others working in the field of integrated children's services, develop good principles and practice and a framework for information sharing.'

'Following a fact-finding trip to Ireland to visit an Irish programme similar to GRfW, the SOs on their return made sure this was put on the agenda at the strategy meeting, where they passed on the details of good practice they had encountered in Ireland to the group. They have the knack of making links, and they share their knowledge of developments with others they think might benefit from them.'

Provision of training

8.56 The value of training provided or supported by the SOs was very frequently stressed in interviews with key personnel:

'Thanks to SO involvement and training, our staff now have better understanding of issues underlying apparently 'difficult' behaviour, and can help the young people become more positive and resilient. If we can deal with behaviour issues first, we can then move on more effectively to training or employment issues.'

'The impact of training delivered by the SOs cannot be over-estimated. Solution-focused training delivered under the auspices of Scottish Enterprise to 100 training providers delivering GRfW,, was attended by between 250 and 300 staff. During attendance at local GRfW, forums throughout Scotland nothing but praise was heard for it, with one member of staff commenting, "It's the best training I've ever had".'

' VEC is a powerful tool for promoting reflective practice within an organisation.'

8.57 Provision of training was the central focus among an extensive range of SO activity described by the National Co-ordinator of the BRITE initiative. The SOs and BRITE worked together on a validated model to allow college staff to take on a more central role in planning assessment and intervention. This was a 'crucial partnership', and the view was expressed that:

' BRITE would not have ventured down that route if the rigour, professional expertise and credibility of the SOs had not been brought to it.'

Box 8.2 Establishing good practice in new projects: the contribution of the SOs

Interview with Volunteer Development Manager, Project Scotland

The SOs have played a particularly influential role in advising staff involved in setting up this new project, by advising on staff training and helping establish good practice from the outset.

The manager of the project had previously benefited from training delivered by the SOs, organised by Scottish Enterprise for GRfW, training providers, and had found the solution-focused approach useful in her work. Working now for a new organisation funded by the Scottish Executive to provide financial and mentoring support for young people willing to train full-time with a voluntary or non-profit organisation, she faced the task of devising the extensive documentation and training materials necessary for an innovative and emerging project. She found the SOs both enthusiastic and accessible in relation to providing a consultative and training role that would bring to the organisation the perspective and expertise of psychologists.

The SOs attended 5 meetings with her to discuss developing material for use in training the volunteer mentors and for interviewing the applicants, to ensure a good match in training placement, and between trainees and mentors. They collaborated in the development of:

• the Volunteer Handbook
• personal development and needs analysis record forms
• placement review forms
• interview schemas.

The view of the manager is that it is 'substantially owing to their advice and input that the young people find undergoing the initial meeting on applying to the project such an enjoyable experience'. Their specialist knowledge led to the personal profile applicants complete, including scaling exercises in relation to different areas of their lives, mind-mapping for applicants who may find this more suitable as a way to express themselves and a goal-setting section.

'This helps applicants who, before being taken through this self-evaluation form may have lacked direction and focus, to get a clearer idea of what they will get from the experience of being a volunteer, and how this will help them to achieve their goals.'

The SOs have also been enthusiastic about training the mentors, and contribute a section of the training they receive. They explore the role of the mentor through goal-setting and role-play, leaving them 'with high expectations of what they can expect to achieve with the young people'. As mentoring is critical to supporting the young person in sustaining the placement, this contribution should have a considerable impact on the success of the project. The manager also found the approaches suggested by the SOs very useful in her work in training new staff for the organisation.

The contribution of the SOs has proved invaluable and has become embedded in the organisation's policies and practices. The documents developed are in use, and solution-focused approaches are standard within the organisation, allowing the support required from the SOs to be systematically reduced.

The solution-focused training for Scotland's Colleges, in which the SOs delivered one unit in a 4 unit staff development programme, was also highly valued. It 'provided a sustainable and effective route into supporting the skills of college staff'. The development of this training has provided a good example of a 'cascade' model of service delivery, beginning with direct delivery by both SOs, and moving to delivery by one SO together with the BRITE Co-ordinator.

8.58 Both of the programme directors for the postgraduate training programmes for educational psychologists at the Universities of Dundee and Strathclyde also highlighted the contribution made by the SOs to the university sector, including a joint training day in Dundee in December 2005 for all trainees on the 2 programmes. This was provided jointly by the SOs and key training providers in the post-school sector. Wider support for the development of the postgraduate curriculum in relation to post-school work and for supporting PSPS trainee placements was also noted and valued.

Contributions to documentation

8.59 The records of the SOs provided considerable evidence of contributions to national and other policy and practice documents, and this was strongly endorsed in many interviews with key personnel. An example at national legislative level was described by the senior psychologist seconded to the Scottish Executive Education Department to draw together a draft for the Code of Practice to accompany the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. The SOs contributed very extensively to the production of this document, including the preparation of all of the post-school aspects. Their contribution was agreed to be 'indispensable'.

8.60 A further key contribution to documentation was the Careers Scotland handbook for additional support needs. SO involvement began with the purpose of ensuring that the section on assessment was compatible with the framework being developed for assessment and information sharing. Once on the working group, the SO:

'examined all sections relevant to his expertise, contributed amendments to the ADHD section, rewrote the dyslexia section, and contributed generally to all strands of the handbook. Especially useful was his considerable knowledge of the new ASL legislation.'

He was then 'instrumental in developing an activity pack to accompany it'.

Strategic support

8.61 The strategic contribution of the SOs is central to their remit, and it was also a central feature of many of the interviews with key personnel:

'They concentrate on capacity building within other organisations, by informing them of new developments relevant to them, by joint training and by strategic input. The strategies developed are better and more robust as a result of SO involvement.'

The same respondent, in describing the SOs as 'the drivers behind the PSPS programme', noted that:

'they have a good working knowledge of our organisation, and yet are outside it, which enables them to be both impartial when advising us, and to see where connections can be made to other organisations'.

8.62 The importance of capacity building was also noted in relation to the NEET group:

' We would look for a long term relationship with the SOs as they seem able to add value for the NEET client group - for example, by building capacity into rural providers where other resources are scarce.'

This was endorsed in the experience of Careers Scotland staff. The SOs had:

'helped them to develop new policies appropriate to their changing role with a changing client group. Prior to Careers Scotland, careers advisors worked mainly in schools dealing with engaged clients. Now they are reaching out to the NEET group and looking for strategies to engage them. By contributing the PSPS perspective, the SOs have undoubtedly had a lot of influence on CS policy across the board'.

8.63 The group interview with key personnel from SFEU highlighted a large number of areas in which the SOs had worked efficiently and effectively, and in which their contribution was highly valued. One of the many contributions described in detail was Video Enhanced Communication training. Box 8.3 illustrates this.

Box 8.3 Video Enhanced Communication training: part of the SOs contribution to SFEU

Group interview with key personnel, SFEU

'The SOs set up ways with SFEU of getting people in colleges to review their work with students. Staff brought videos of their work and this was the subject of an interview by the SOs to look at how they worked - at what was working and what wasn't.'

One Lead Specialist sat in on 3 interviews in a college. The SOs worked skilfully and sensitively, and the staff became increasingly enthusiastic and brought more and more material. This was a worthwhile vehicle for peer evaluation. It also provided an affirmative critique of practice, which was very important.

All of the SFEU group being interviewed had been taken through the process, or were about to be taken through it.

This training contribution represented only one of a wide range of contributions the SOs had made at training, consultative, policy and strategic levels.

8.64 Finally, as well as recognising situations in which the SOs could phase out their involvement once new practices were embedded, some respondents looked constructively for an extension of their role in a variety of areas:

• helping to develop specialist intervention programmes, with advice on content and delivery
• developing further the improvement of assessment procedures and identification of need
• designing programmes to support motivational strategies.

Summary

8.65 This chapter has outlined the role and remit of the Strategic Officers. On the basis of multiple sources of evidence it is concluded that the SOs have made a crucial contribution to the development and effectiveness of PSPS in Scotland. Their central contribution in establishing and developing a working model for this new initiative in service delivery, and also in relation to the establishment of the PSPS Network and website, is described. Evidence is presented from psychological services, Scotland's Colleges, other service providers, key personnel and available documentation.

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