Understanding the development of school psychology in Mainland China

Introduction to school psychology in Mainland China

School psychology is one of the important divisions in psychology that emerged as an independent field of study at the end of the 19th Century (D’Amato, Zafiris, McConnell, & Dean, 2011). In the United States of America (USA), school psychology has become a distinct professional practice pursued by many (Doll, 1996; Yang & Liu, 2002).

The rapid economic advances and social changes in Mainland China have resulted in a high GDP– –providing people with a relatively high level of material wealth. At the same time, these advances bring many social problems and negative effects. The society is becoming complicated and people find it much harder to adapt. As the traditional belief system wanes, new philosophies emerge and it becomes important to value diversity of beliefs and thoughts (Bray & Kehle, 2011).

In Mainland China, significant changes in recent years have brought increased mental health problems and stress in families, children, youth, and schools (Yu, 2009). Competition is fierce and people in this somewhat toxic environment are prone to losing themselves in the process of pursuing material wealth (Guo & Uhm, in press). With rapid urbanization, stressors increase from finding employment, housing, transportation, health care, and tuition, to name a few. Little time is left for resting and recovery from stress. Many individuals and families are also suffering from physical illness or mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and isolation (Niu, 2008). At the same time, as society changes, busy parents are prone to ignore their children’s educational demands and needs for daily care, which may make their children more prone to feelings of isolation, anxiety, and other mental health problems (Power, 2002). Moreover, this could lead to internet addiction, personality problems, unhappiness, and the like. A quandary is created because children, youth, and families display significant needs related to swift societal changes but cannot access professional psychological help because of a serious shortage of psychologists, especially school psychologists (Niu, 2008). This issue is compounded by the fact that many people with problems are in denial because they elect not to admit difficulties because of cultural beliefs (Nastasi & Varjas, 2011).

School psychology and the importance of child development

School psychology began more than 100 years ago and is one of the major specialties within professional psychology (e.g., school psychology, counselling psychology, clinical psychology, and industrial/organizational psychology in the USA) (Bray & Kehle, 2011; Yang & Liu, 2002). School psychologists provide services for children and adolescents both directly and indirectly. The goal is to contribute to their healthy development by working together with teachers, principals, parents, and other related people, and using the principles and methodology of psychology merged with pedagogical practices. The American Psychology Association (APA) (1998) offered a definition of school psychology as follows:

School psychology is a general practice and health service provider specialty of professional psychology that is concerned with children, youth, families; learners of all ages; and the schooling process. The basic education and training of school psychologists prepares them to provide a range of psychological assessment, intervention, prevention, health promotion, and programme development and evaluation services with a special focus on the developmental process of children and youth with the context of schools, families and other systems. (Public Description, 2012)

This definition shows that school psychology is the result of a combination of psychological and educational practices, and an essential part of education. School psychologists not only safeguard children and adolescents at school, but also work with parents and practitioners in the community, offering a variety of services related to educational and human development, career guidance, and moral education.

A major task of school psychologists is to provide psychological services to teachers, assist in classroom management, school learning, social adaptation, and mental health growth (Liu, 2009). The main components of this position include:

Offering psychological evaluations to children and adolescents, including cognitive measures, academic tests, interviews, observations, personality testing, and behaviour programming, and examining the environment of the child.

The major focus of school psychologists are serving students age birth to 21, adults with learning problems or other special education needs, and teachers and parents who need consultation to help deal with their children (Doll, 1996). Indeed, childhood is a crucial time for individuals to form their ideals, ambitions and beliefs, and to develop world and life views. During childhood, students also begin to direct their own behaviour through growth of a moral consciousness (D’Amato & Rothlisberg, 1992). This development has unique cultural underpinnings and may be related to historical beliefs that helped to build society (Guo & Uhm, in press; Nastasi & Varjas, 2011). On the other hand, this period of growth for children and youth is a time when their body is beginning to mature more rapidly than their cognitions. It is a time when the children’s development leads to conflicts related to impulse and control, independence and dependence, and rebellious attitudes (D’Amato & Rothlisberg, 1992). Therefore, the main task of school psychologists in this transition period may be to help children, youth, and families handle the contradictions and challenges on the way to maturity. School programmes allow for many of these problems to be handled systemically if they are dealt with using tact and knowledge of the culture. These programmes should teach self-worth and acceptance as a normal part of development. Systematic school prevention programmes can effectively prevent or solve many school and family problems (Power, 2002; Rapp-Paglicci, Dulmus, & Wodarski, 2004).

Historical development of school psychology in the USA and in Mainland China

School psychology in Mainland China began to grow gradually in the middle of the 1980s, behind the development of most Western countries that have practiced psychology for many years (D’Amato et al., 2011; Ye & Fang, 2010). The origin of school psychology in the USA goes back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the country was in a period of rapid development of urbanization and industrialization as well as learning how to help children, youth, families, and schools (Bray & Kehle, 2011). Children’s problems in the USA were becoming extremely serious at that time; childhood problems like learning disorders, attention disabilities, behaviour problems, and mental health disorders were drawing the attention of parents and various school authorities. In this context, the goal was to train individuals to meet the needs of students with various problems both in and out of the schools (Nastasi & Varjas, 2011). This promoted the rise of teaching and research with children and further resulted in the birth of school psychology (D’Amato et al., 2011) prompted, in part, by the need for mental health services. The mental health movement also attracted attention from society and fostered the growth of psychological testing, career counselling, and other relevant interventions that initially focused on adults but developed because of a concern to help children with behavioural problems.

In Mainland China interest in psychology (more generally) can also be traced back to the 1920s and 1930s, but school psychology is still a somewhat foreign product. School psychology in Mainland China mainly benefited from these early developments of a small, but important mental health movement. However, these endeavours were discontinued because of the war with Japan (Zhao, 1996). Further internal changes during most of the 20th century refocused the country’s development away from psychology and towards political turmoil. Psychology, in effect, was arrested and little pertinent development occurred in what could be seen as turbulent Mainland China times for about a decade. This changed near the end of 1986, when the Chinese Association for Mental Hygiene held its first academic exchange conference in Beijing concerning adolescent mental health. This conference marked the resurgence of the Chinese mental health movement, which also influenced the general education system. It reaffirmed the need for and conception of school psychology services. However, school psychology as is commonly practiced in the West was somewhat overshadowed by educational psychology and other areas of applied psychology such as clinical and counselling psychology (Fagan & Wise, 2007; Kong, 2008). Although both school psychologists and educational psychologists function in school or school-related settings, the interventions that these professionals offer tend to differ. In the USA, educational psychologists are concerned with how children learn in educational settings, the psychology of teaching and learning, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. School psychologists in the USA, on the other hand, practice in school setting where they focus on the diagnosis and treatment of children and adolescents with behavioural and learning problems. However, this distinction is not made in the United Kingdom (UK) and countries with a colonial past such as Hong Kong and Singapore, and where educational psychologists perform similar practices to that of the school psychologist in the USA (Chong, Lee, Tan, Wong, & Yeo, 2013; Luk-Fong, 2013).

In 1962, the Chinese Psychological Society established the Division of Chinese Educational Psychology, which marked the start of psychological research on school systems and children, youth, and teachers (Su, 2009). Initially, developmental psychologists, educational psychologists, and counselling psychologists or other professional practitioners (similar to what may be viewed as a social worker) performed the practices related to school psychology and school psychological services (Liu, 2009). They provided services to help schools, but not for theoretical or research reasons and they were not seen as school psychologists. They typically did not work for the school system. Paediatricians in large hospitals also assumed some parts of the role of school psychologists in Mainland China (Lavoie, 1989). In 1993, the Chinese School Psychology Professional Committee (CSPPC) was founded, another landmark showing the further development of school psychology (Lin & Wei, 2001). The foundation of CSPPC indeed established school psychology in Mainland China as a noteworthy specialty. In October 1993, the Chinese Psychological Society (CPS) changed its name from the Division of School Administrative Psychology to the Division of School Psychology (Lin, 1995), with the goal of encouraging further building of the specialty of school psychology in Mainland China. The Division of School Psychology addressed broad psychological issues, such as assessment, intervention, and services for children with special needs (Zhou, Bray, Kehle, & Xin, 2001). These initiatives further strengthened the development of school psychology in Mainland China. Moreover, children’s mental health problems were becoming serious, which required more mental health education. Similar to the USA, the origin of Mainland China’s services for children was related to the need to meet and deal with children’s problems in society (Ding, Kuo, & Van Dyke, 2008).

In the 1980s, educational reforms began to slowly develop and quality schools were created in what was now a more open society. The emphasis was on educational administrative psychology and the use of psychological theory and practice for school administration and management. In 1981, the first indigenous book related to school psychology was published in Chinese in Mainland China (Su, 2009). This book focused on psychological knowledge as it related to school teaching, school administration, and pedagogy. The publication of this book was a clear breakthrough for psychological research and its application to schooling and school systems in Mainland China. These developments helped educational practitioners and citizens who were concerned about mental health education in schools.

What do school psychologists do in Mainland China?

School psychology in Mainland China focuses on the development of mental health education (Ni, Jones, & Bruning, 2012; Ye & Fang, 2010). From 1992 to 2004, with the constant emphasis on quality education in the country, a series of central government policies on educational reforms have focused attention on students’ mental health needs and have made recommendations urging the availability of school psychological services in the general education system. According to Ye and Fang (2010), current school psychological services in Mainland China include eight aspects: comprehensive psychological evaluations (e.g., testing cognition and achievement); counselling and support for students with learning problems; assistance for individuals to develop self-knowledge and self-esteem; family counselling (e.g., divorcing parents); social skills counselling (e.g., how to get along with friends); interpersonal and relationship counselling (e.g., sexual development); counselling to intervene with children having behavioural disorders; and career and educational counselling (e.g., focusing on jobs and universities). Despite these admirable goals, school psychology is still hampered by traditional beliefs and ideologies governing the education system in Mainland China. Teachers have little or no opportunity to deal successfully with children with learning disabilities or other related problems (Ding, Xiao, & Yang, 2005; Ding et al., 2005). Rather, such children are sent to special schools or, in urban areas, offered tutoring to help them succeed academically—parents routinely pay for special tutoring for their child. This could be seen by some as a benefit in that parents work hard to help their child do well academically (Van Schalkwyk, 2010, 2011). However, the actual needs of the child to develop holistically and to her or his full potential within the education system are often overlooked.

Furthermore, competition among grade 11-plus students in Mainland China is extremely strong, which makes grades critically important, and creates dangerous levels of stress. This pressure involves principals, parents and families, educational standards, and, of course, teachers. The one child per family policy has also added to the tension of this issue. Customarily, school days and school hours are long with a great deal of homework for students. Schooling also begins early, sometimes as early as age three. In essence, a student’s life is school and learning and thus, as noted, additional anxiety is created. Suicide is a common problem under this inflexible system (Niu, 2008).

Due to the political system, traditional ideological and political education is taught in Mainland China. Applied psychology, such as counselling and school psychology are usually included as part of ideological and political education. Consequently, the development of school psychology has been decelerated with only a limited focus on mental health (Ding et al., 2008; Ni et al., 2012). Unfortunately, providing comprehensive school psychology mental health services does not combine well with political training. Thus, school psychology has had an impeded and obstructed development. This is troublesome because the need for school psychologists is great given the high level of stress in schools as well as in families.

In the tertiary education system within Mainland China, there are also very few training programmes for school psychologists or educational psychologists—the term educational psychologist is often used to signify the same profession as the term school psychologist in the USA, as is done in a number of other English-speaking countries. There are also not enough institutions qualified to train school psychologists, and most of them are located in the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao. Moreover, compared with the USA, there is a large shortage of qualified professors, textbooks, and clinical training methods. This needs to change. In fairness, however, China has undertaken the expansion and building of numerous universities at the current time.

Comparing school psychology in Mainland China with the West

In Mainland China, the development of psychology was neither even nor smooth. The history has mostly been a process of imitation of Western developed countries. Compared with professional practice in the USA, the number of psychologists in Mainland China is extremely low (Cao, 2002). Some say as many as 60,000 school psychologists are needed to maintain even a very low student-to-psychologist ratio (Bray & Kehle, 2011; Ye & Fang, 2010). Furthermore and contrary to the USA focus on younger children, adolescents, and teachers, school psychology in Mainland China has paid more attention to having a high school career focus– –that is, helping students and parents select careers including who will enrol in college. In addition, these career-focused services have begun to spread to primary schools. From a Western view, it is unclear if such ‘tracking of students’ should be viewed as a help or a hindrance. For example, advocating that a student is not college material certainly could be regarded as an adverse feature for some families. This removes family choice from employment options.

The number of school psychologists in Mainland China is far less than the demand (Nastasi & Varjas, 2011; Ye & Fang, 2010; Yu, 2009). Given this demand-ratio problem, teacher-counsellors, development psychologists, educational psychologists, and other specialists tend to provide school psychological services. At the same time, paediatricians, psychiatrists, and special education teachers also provide services, especially when students are severely disabled. Another avenue that provides mental health education services in schools is that of the psychological teacher who should have a teaching certificate awarded by the Education Department (He & Huang, 2005). Most counselling in schools is provided by these psychological teachers. Accordingly, the current specialty of school psychology in Mainland China is still at a rudimentary stage (Ding et al., 2008). There is also a cultural bias against seeking psychological services when experiencing mental health problems, whether for adults or children. There is a need for clear guidelines regarding training, accreditation and licensure, as well as the roles and functions of school psychologists. There is also a need for research that could provide a framework for culture-specific and indigenous school psychology in Mainland China.

The future of school psychology in Mainland China

Psychological services could have a comprehensive influence in school education and in the daily lives of people in Mainland China (Doll, 1996). Most primary and secondary schools have mental health education courses. There is a growing interest in developing university Departments of Psychology in Mainland China (He & Huang, 2005); in other words, in some universities, psychology is gaining popularity. However, few universities in Mainland China offer specialist school psychology programmes at the graduate level. The growth of school psychology has been slowed, in spite of interest, because of actions related to psychology and the political structure of the country. There is a lack of formalization or accreditation, few faculty members are trained or hired in psychology, and teachers and counsellors provide services in place of psychologists (Chen, 1996; Ding et al., 2005; Ye & Fang, 2010).

Naturally, significant changes will be needed in all areas if school psychology is to be developed across the most populated country in the world. The number of school-age children in Mainland China was 208 million in 2007. At present, the country has an unknown number of school psychologists (Jimerson, Stewart, Skokut, Cardenas, & Malone, 2009), although, according to the student-to-school psychologist ratio of 1:2,500 from the World Health Organization, China needs at least 83,249 school psychologists (Bray & Kehle, 2011; Fagan & Wise, 2007). Obviously, the current responsibilities of psychological teachers are not the same as the type of work completed by school psychologists. Another difficulty relates to the fact that people are generally afraid of using psychological services because of stigmatization and resistance to help-seeking behaviour (Van Schalkwyk, 2011). This will need to be addressed if school psychology is to succeed in Mainland China (Nastasi & Varjas, 2011; Zhou et al., 2001).

To face these challenges, Ye and Fang (2010) have suggested what we can do to further develop the field of school psychology. Suggestions include: (1) integrating school psychology with educational instruction, supervision and school assessments; (2) requiring school psychology implementation at the legislative level by the central government; (3) formulating uniform qualification examinations and accreditation standards for programmes at the graduate level; and (4) setting up a school psychological services steering committee to coordinate and regulate the activities of school psychological services.

Furthermore, data supports the idea that the functions of school psychologists should be expanded in the future. School phychologists should work within a context related to people serving children, youth, schooling, and families (Sheridan & D’Amato, 2003). There are different interventions available for meeting different needs, including primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention activities (Rapp-Paglicci et al., 2004; Sun & Xu, 2008). For instance, interventions could include helping problem students with poor academic performance and diagnosing learning disabilities for students. Students with mental health problems could also receive counselling, while therapy can be provided to families to deal with stress issues. Consultation with teachers about student and family issues, conducting school research, helping with classroom management and instructional design, leading school-wide programmes such as positive behavioural support and guiding students in their career planning, and assisting education administrators to improve the school environment are further interventions school psychologists could develop within schools in Mainland China.

However, it should be clear that the needs, unique features, functions, and ways of providing school psychology services differ greatly in different countries, based on cultural mores (Hatzichristou & Lampropoulou, 2004; Hatzichristou, Lampropoulou, & Lykitsakou, 2006). Mainland China therefore needs to have its own pathway for developing school psychology rather than replicating Western developed countries. A possible pathway to achieve an indigenous school psychology for Mainland China is to learn Western-based school psychological theories and skills and then to adapt and adjust these to traditional Chinese approaches with the goal of modernizing and integrating these skills offering culturally appropriate services to children, youth, teachers, and families (Akin-Little & Little, 2013).

The accreditation system for school psychologists

One way to legitimize the role and function of school psychologists is an accreditation system that validates the training and skill development of practitioners. At present there is no special national accreditation for school psychologists in Mainland China, except two accreditation systems for general counsellors—one of which is from the National Labour Department (Lin & Wei, 2001; Liu, 2009). In this system, anyone with a bachelor’s degree in psychology or other related disciplines can complete the professional examination conducted by the National Labour Department. Once achieving the appropriate score, one can earn the national primary counsellor certificate. Practitioners with a master’s degree in psychology or a bachelor’s degree plus three years internship experience, can complete a higher-level national secondary counsellor exam. Once completing this examination and a related practicum, individuals can earn a national secondary counsellor certificate (Yang & Zhao, 2006). The Division of Clinical and Counselling Psychology of the Chinese Psychological Association, which mainly functions under the auspices of the Department of Psychology at Peking University oversees another available credential (Liu, 2009). This certificate sets the highest standard in learning, counselling, and clinical supervisor hours, and is considered a more esteemed certificate in Mainland China. However, a doctoral degree is not required. Without suitable accreditation, training, and recognition of their role and function in school settings in Mainland China, school psychologists face many challenges to establish appropriate practices in a country much in need of such psychological services.

In the USA there are two different training programmes that are most typically offered for individuals learning to be school psychologists (Bray & Kehle, 2011). As in most developed countries, training to become a school or educational psychologist is offered only at the graduate level (that is, after the completion of a bachelor’s degree) (Fagan & Wise, 2007). School psychology programmes typically involve about 60 graduate semester credit hours (including a one-year internship) and lead to a specialist level degree, which takes three years. There are also programmes of 90 to 140 graduate semester credit hours (including a one-year internship) leading to a doctoral degree (i.e., PhD, EdD, PsyD), and which take about five years (D’Amato et al., 2011; Fagan & Wise, 2007). In the USA, credentialing for this type of practice is offered through State Departments of Education and after completion of doctoral studies, it is possible to seek licensure by most State Boards of Psychology. A national certification in school psychology is also available (D’Amato et al., 2011; Fagan & Wise, 2007).

Schools in Mainland China could follow the Western model and provide comprehensive psychological services to meet the needs of stressed children, families, and schools (Bray & Kehle, 2011; Ding et al., 2008). School psychologists could provide evidence-based decision-making, interventions, consultation, and collaboration. Children and adolescents in Mainland China face numerous obstacles that can interfere with appropriate physical, cognitive, and social development (Power, 2002). School psychologists can help identify such issues and work with students, parents, other mental health professionals, and educators to create a supportive learning environment for all students (Rapp-Paglicci et al., 2004). In addition to strengthening the quality of school psychologists in Mainland China, other changes should also be considered in the way school personnel are trained. For instance, many school employees would benefit from psychological training to work better with students in schools. Currently, three groups of educational practitioners could benefit from such training: (1) The idealism/political science teachers; (2) administrative staff, school tutors, and school medical workers; and (3) teachers in related fields, such as psychological teachers, and educational teachers (Jiang & Wei, 2009). The point of additional training would be to provide these individuals with skills in dealing with everyday student and family problems, and to help them relieve the stress inherent in a hierarchal test-based system. The problem is that current training for these groups is limited in school psychological theories and related interventions (Doll, 1996).

Conclusion

School psychology in Mainland China emerged much later than in the West and is therefore far less developed at the current time. There are very few practitioners in school psychology today in Mainland China, and the specialty is not systematic nor comprehensive– –in other words, far from what is necessary to meet the ever changing and demanding needs of the society. Obviously, the rapid development of school psychology in Mainland China is urgent. Improving school psychology would profoundly influence the educational enterprise, fostering the progress of developmental schooling, fulfilling the goal of enhanced education, and promoting the advancement of national literacy and social harmony. Without systematic school psychological services, mental health education cannot readily address the issues underlying the challenges that students face in their daily lives. There is an obvious and great need for school psychologists in Mainland China to help children and youth comprehensively develop. In this regard, it will be necessary to develop programmes in China that will lead to graduate level training in school psychology. Given the diversity of the Chinese culture, the provision of comprehensive services will need to be unique. Cultural changes will also be needed to enable students, teachers, and families to feel comfortable consulting with a school psychologist. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a psychology of schooling, families, and youth that is firmly rooted in Chinese culture. If society is to develop to its fullest potential, school psychologists will be needed as a critical component of all school systems in Mainland China.