The School Apperception Story Procedure: Educational Psychologists’ experiences of using a novel measure to elicit pupil views.

The School Apperception Story Procedure (SASP) is a measure originally created for use in counselling psychology. However, its underlying theoretical bases (Personal Construct Psychology, Narrative Approaches and Projective Techniques) and focus on school situations are all features that facilitate the elicitation of pupil views in the current literature. Thus, this research aimed to investigate the utility of the SASP in Educational Psychology practice, due to Educational Psychologists (EPs) having a statutory duty to include the views of pupils in their assessments. A team of Local Authority EPs were trained to use the SASP, and four of these agreed to be interviewed about their experiences using the SASP 9 months later. EPs and Trainee EPs were also invited to complete an anonymous online questionnaire regarding their experiences of the SASP (n=14). Interviews produced qualitative data that were systematically analysed by thematic analysis, and questionnaires were analysed using basic descriptive statistics and cross-tabulations in SPSS. The questionnaires indicated that the SASP had been successfully used with children and young people (CYP) across various age ranges (4-18, with the most successful uses in the age bracket of 10-12) and with CYP with a variety of presenting needs (the most reported need of CYP was ‘emotional and mental health needs’). However, EPs reported some barriers and constraints to using the SASP including difficulties with CYP with ASD and also writing reports based on SASP findings. Interview data expanded on the questionnaires, including exploration of CYP views, the role of the EP, specific elements of the SASP and perceived suitability of the SASP. The SASP was revealed to be a useful tool for EPs to elicit the views of CYP and, when faced with specific needs of CYP, that it was flexible enough to be adapted. Therefore, it is argued that it should be a more widely dispersed tool among EPs and taught to Trainee EPs as part of their training.