Thirty-five new places for educational psychologist training routes have been announced government amid a “chronic shortage” of specialists. The Department for Education committed as part of planned SEND reforms they would train “at least” 200 EPs a year from 2026-27, forming an integral part of councils experts at hand offer. Now the DfE has revealed 239 funded places for this year, up by 35 places from last year. These will be trained to start work for councils in 2030. The Education Policy Institute warned in April that the “chronic shortage” of EPs put the new experts at hand service “at risk”. Dozens of councils have also told the DfE a shortage of specialists threatened the success of reforms in their draft SEND reform plans. However, demand for the courses is high – with Schools Week previously revealing how almost nine in 10 applicants for DfE-funded courses were turned away last year. New places announced The DfE announced today that 35 new places for government-funded EP training routes have been created, with applications now open. This takes the number of places from 204 to 239. EPs play a fundamental role in assessing the needs of children with SEND for education, health and care plans. The DfE said: “Educational psychologists will play a vital role in our experts at hand service expanding access to specialist support in mainstream settings – meaning earlier identification, earlier intervention, and more children thriving in their local school.” Funding includes a two-year placement which will “improve trainees learning on the ground and provide supervised support to local EP services”. Figures seen by Schools Week show 1,766 people applied for last year’s 204 spaces on university courses across England – a success rate of 12 per cent. The Association for Educational Psychologists, which runs the applications service, told Schools Week it had already received 22 applications in the first ten minutes of them going live. General secretary of the AEP Donna Wiggett said it is “absolutely great that they’re increasing the number of places”, but that “it’s never enough considering the experts at hand and local authorities trying to put their action plans in place”. Schools minister Georgia Gould said: “Every child deserves the right support, at the right time and close to home, but that can’t happen without local experts on the ground. “Educational psychologists have an integral role to play, including in identifying and assessing the needs of children, developing support plans and training school staff so more children can achieve and thrive, but we know they’re under real pressure.”