Results: Election of National Executive Committee

I am standing for Trainee Member of the NEC because I care deeply about the future of educational psychology and the wider education system it serves. I come to EP training from a teaching background, having worked closely with children, families and colleagues across a range of settings for a long time. This experience continues to shape how I understand children’s needs: as inseparable from their relationships, their communities, and the systems around them.

I have always been a union member and have always valued the trade union movement as a collective, principled response to inequality and injustice in society. My commitment to social justice is not abstract; it has been forged through daily encounters with under-resourced schools, rising poverty, increasing mental health needs, and the challenges faced by children with SEND and their families. These experiences motivate my desire to contribute to the AEP at a strategic level.

I am particularly concerned about current pressures on inclusion, including long waiting times and the framing of children’s needs through deficit-based or medicalised lenses. I believe educational psychologists have a vital role in advocating for genuinely inclusive, relational and preventative approaches, while also supporting practitioners who work under immense strain.

As a Trainee Member, I would bring curiosity, openness and a willingness to listen, alongside the confidence to represent trainee perspectives thoughtfully to the NEC. I am keen to make a contribution that is reflective, socially engaged and firmly rooted in the values of equity, care and collective responsibility.

I am seeking your support to serve as a National Member on the Association’s NEC. I have previously held a number of different posts on the committee including President, Association Secretary and most recently Treasurer. 

During a two-year break from the Committee, I have undertaken work for the HCPC, including sitting on their Fitness to Practice Panels. Considering complaints against Psychologists has convinced me that the Association needs to take a lead in providing advice, particularly to members in non-LEA posts, as to how to avoid finding themselves the subject of complaints.

One of the key roles of this post is to assist with the organisation of the Association’s Annual Conferences. Having organised a number of conferences, I believe that I have the experience and skills to ensure that future conferences are of the standard that members have come to expect. 

National Members also assist where a post on the committee is unfilled. As a former regional representative, I would be happy to support members should any such posts remain unfilled. As I currently work part time, I have the time and space to undertake duties for the Association.

Finally with a new General Secretary in post and a new President from December 2025 I would see a major part of this role as being to support them at what is a crucial time for the profession with the SEND Review due to report in the New Year and the 2025 pay negotiations still to be concluded.