The DfE said that despite recruitment for training courses being high and attrition rates being low, it knows that "many local authorities experience difficulties recruiting sufficient educational psychologists to meet demand for their services".
Currently the DfE funds 160 training places a year, across 13 universities - with trainees required to undertake a three-year course. The first year is university based, with the second and third years spent on practice placement, usually in a local authority.
Once they have qualified, the majority of educational psychologists work in local authorities, supporting children and young people who have special educational needs or a disability, as well as with other vulnerable groups.
The DfE believes the issue may be down to students being unwilling to take up placements far away from their university.
"Based on anecdotal evidence, one possible driver of [the shortages] is a lack of trainees undertaking practice placements at these [local authorities], with trainees citing long travel times and possible relocation costs as barriers to taking up placements far from their university," a DfE document states.
"Responding to these concerns, DfE is considering the possibility of moving to a regional commissioning model for [educational psychologist] training providers.
"The current distribution of training provider places does not correspond to the distribution of [local authorities] in England: a regional model, meanwhile, would see places redistributed so that they broadly correspond to the number of [local authorities] in each region."
The DfE is commissioning an evaluation prior to taking action. The work will map the current educational psychologist workforce, look into the factors driving shortages, and assess whether regional based commissioning, or an alternative solution, is necessary.
