How do educational psychology service referral forms help support the enactment of social justice?

Monitoring educational psychology service (EPS) referral information to support anti-racist practice is recommended. However, few papers have examined the role of referral information collection and monitoring in the promotion of social justice. To explore how demographic data are collated by EPSs, a systematic scoping review of referral documentation was undertaken. Forms were collected from publicly available sources and from services across England. In total, forms from 31 EPSs were hand searched, and iterative rounds of analysis were conducted. The review examined demographic and contextual data collected (for example, ethnicity, religion), methods used to gather this information (free text fields or closed categories), and consistency of terminology. Findings reveal marked inconsistencies in data gathered, with particularly limited information collected about socioeconomic status, which can be a key indicator of educational disadvantage. This review represents the first systematic examination of EPS referral form content, highlighting the importance of this aspect of service practice in promoting social justice. Implications for practice are suggested, including a proposed referral data analysis framework.