"It often is really unique and very individual to the setting": Educational psychologists’ experiences of the implementation of the Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) programme in one London borough

The Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) programme has grown in popularity since its inception in 2008; 214 educational psychology services across the country currently train Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs). Since 2008, studies have increasingly explored the impact of the ELSA programme on children and young people. However, less knowledge has been generated about the implementation of the programme in schools. More insight is needed because intervention outcomes can only be properly understood and evaluated with knowledge about how an intervention is implemented. In addition, less knowledge has been generated about the views and experiences of educational psychologists (EPs), despite their fundamental role delivering ELSA training, providing supervision, and overseeing the programme. This thesis therefore explores, using reflexive thematic analysis, 5 educational psychologists’ experiences of the implementation of the ELSA programme in schools within one inner London borough. The knowledge generated suggests that, from the perspective of EPs, implementation of the ELSA programme is varied and complex, and interacts with wider socioeconomic and political factors. EPs perceive successful implementation to be happening, but there are also implementation challenges. For example, some ELSAs may be increasingly supporting students with higher and more complex needs, and others don’t have time or space to practice, which leads to potential benefits of the programme being lost. In addition, EPs perceive support from those with power and authority as foundational for successful implementation. Finally, this study aims to move away from a binary view of implementation and, instead, applies systems theory to consider how factors interact to create and maintain circular patterns in implementation.