Email: cc21g15@soton.ac.uk
Claire is a Trainee Educational Psychologist, based in the School of Psychology at the University of Southampton. As part of her training, Claire works as a trainee Educational Psychologist in a Local Authority Educational Psychology Service alongside completing her thesis and attending taught university sessions. Claire has an interest in collaborative research, where the researcher learns from their participants as opposed to being an ‘expert’ in the research process.
Claire’s current research focuses on developing culturally responsive educational psychology practice, specifically within autistic children and their families in early years. This research is being conducted with a view to understand how educational psychologists can better serve diverse communities, and to ensure autistic children, young people and their families receive appropriate and respectful support in their early years.
This research investigates the experiences of educational psychologists current practice, and the experiences of parents and caregivers who have received involvement from an Educational Psychologist, with a focus to collaboratively produce a framework for future educational psychologists to work in a culturally responsive way when supporting families. Semi-structured interviews are used to investigate the experiences of both groups of participants, and reflective thematic analysis will then be used to identify themes in the participants responses. The themes will be used to construct a framework for future use.
Thesis title: Culturally Responsive Educational Psychology Practice in Early Years Autism
Supervisors: Dr Hanna Kovshoff, Professor Sarah Parsons
Date started: December 2022
Before joining the University of Southampton as a trainee Educational Psychologist, Claire worked in a range of education settings including a mainstream grammar school, an integrated learning space, and an alternative education setting in inner-city London. Claire has BSc in Education and Psychology from the University of Southampton, and an MSc in Psychology of Education from the Institute of Education, London. Claire’s Masters dissertation investigated the role of Parent Support Groups for parents and carers of children with Special Educational Needs. Claire has also been involved in a small-scale research project investigating the experiences of children with special educational needs who are from Military Families.