School Psychology International

This article reports on the findings of a questionnaire survey of 142 educational psychologists from England and Wales on their approach to the assessment of children with learning and behavioural problems. Participants were asked to report on the frequency with which they used a variety of approaches to assessment, including interviews with pupils and parents, observations, psychometric tests of ability and achievement, criterion referenced approaches and dynamic assessment. They were also asked to indicate the approaches that they found most useful. The findings indicate that partial psychometric assessments of ability feature prominently in the assessment of children with learning difficulties, though less in the assessment of children with behaviour problems. Approaches based on dynamic assessment are not used frequently although those who do use them find them to be useful to the purpose of the assessment. On the whole, the educational psychologists in this survey were not influenced by the written guidance proposed by the professional associations - the Division of Educational and Child Psychology and the Association of Educational Psychologists. In addition, 40 percent of respondents indicated that their work was not influenced by any one or more theoretical orientations in psychology that could be linked to the origins of behaviour or learning difficulties or about approaches to intervention. The findings are discussed in the light of developments in which the British Government is proposing to introduce wholesale changes to the ways in which services for children will be organized and to the professional roles and qualifications of different helping professions. Within these developments, it seems likely that educational psychologists will be required to justify their distinctive contribution to child assessment and intervention.

This study examined the supervision arrangements and job satisfaction among school psychologists in Victoria, Australia. Participation in professional supervision was explored in relation to the type of employment and job satisfaction. The results revealed that the frequency of participation in supervision activities was less than optimal, with many school psychologists reporting that they were unsatisfied with their supervision arrangements. Although school psychologists reported that they were generally satisfied with the nature of activities that make up their role, those in the Government school sector reported less satisfaction relative to those working in Catholic and Independent schools. Overall, more school psychologists working in Catholic schools reported that they participated in supervision than Government and Independent school psychologists. It is notable that many Catholic schools paid for supervision among school psychologists. Implications for practice and scholarship in the field of school psychology are discussed.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate what active as well as student teachers (i.e. future teachers) think about the provision of school psychological and counselling services within Greek elementary schools. Two hundred and eight active teachers and university students were asked to complete a Likert-type questionnaire rating the importance of nine roles and activities typically performed by a school psychologist. Results suggested that both active teachers and students regarded all activities very importantly with the exception of school-community liaison, an activity considered not so important by either side. However, student respondents differed from active teachers in how much importance they attributed to each activity. Given the structure and organization of the Greek educational system, the presence of additional support personnel is highly regarded by teachers who have been serving in it for several years. It is also encouraging to note a similar attitude in the responses of future teachers. Implications for educational policy regarding such additional personnel are considered.

An international trend in school psychology services is a shift from an emphasis on assessment-based activities to a paradigm of consultation problem-solving and behavioural intervention. As the profession experiences an expansion of roles and functions, school psychologists should have an understanding of a critical aspect of behaviour change: treatment integrity (Gresham, 1989). Treatment integrity (or fidelity) refers to the extent to which an intervention is implemented as intended (or planned). This article describes the construct of treatment integrity as it relates to the implementation of consultation-derived behaviour intervention plans. Practical approaches for assessing and monitoring the integrity of treatments are presented. A treatment-monitoring interview (TMI) is proposed as an initial step towards developing a technology to assess and facilitate treatment integrity in school-based behavioural consultation practice. Limitations, implications for practice and future research directions are discussed.

For decades Colorado, USA, has had a shortage of school psychologists, especially in rural areas. The program ‘Giving Rural Areas Access to School Psychologist’ (GRAASP) was developed to meet this need by offering a technology based distance education program that trained candidates from remote sites across the state. Through the use of in-depth interviews the authors sought to answer the following question: What are the student-candidate perceptions of the GRAASP program? Students’ perceptions of their experiences added significantly to our understanding of the effectiveness of the GRAASP program. This article offers insight to educators of school psychologists and others who are considering the use of technology to train learners in remote areas to meet current shortages of qualified personnel in education and related areas.

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher characteristics that may lead to special education referrals, including efficacy, burnout, experience, and preparation. We hypothesized that likelihood to refer for special education is related to these teacher characteristics. This study involved 106 elementary teachers who rated themselves on the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Teacher Efficacy Scale (TES). They were given a case vignette of a child exhibiting behavioural problems in a classroom and were asked how likely they would be to refer the child for special education assessment. Analyses revealed that teachers who were uncertain whether they would refer a child for special education testing had higher levels of burnout than teachers who were more decided about whether to refer. No relationship was found between teacher sense of efficacy, experience, or preparation and decision to refer. Significant correlations between the subscales on the MBI and the TES suggest an inverse relationship between teacher sense of efficacy and teacher burnout.

In this study, 285 middle school students in the United States were surveyed to obtain their preferences regarding anti-bullying intervention strategies. Participants rated their preferences for 15 common anti-bullying intervention strategies involving teachers, students, and non-teaching staff. The strategies were generated based on a review of the literature. Overall, students rated seven of the 15 strategies as being ‘sometimes’ or ‘almost always’ helpful. Participants tended to prefer intervention strategies in which teachers effectively managed their classrooms, thereby deterring bullying, as well as providing direct assistance to students. The results were also suggestive of students desiring teachers to be proactive in helping them solve bully-victim conflicts. Students tended not to prefer strategies that involved non-teaching staff.

This article enquires into the role of gender in the use of different forms of aggression and in the appearance of conflicts within the interactions between students of 12-17 years of age. In order to understand both aspects, the conversational fragments of students and teachers from two high schools are expounded; discourses obtained using a qualitative methodology with focus groups and individual interviews. The results suggest that aggression is used as a tool to solve certain problems between pairs of the same sex, but is also present in relationships between genders as a form of intimidation that tries to influence heterosexual encounters. The aggression between genders adopts subtle and less visible forms than the aggression in pairs of the same sex due to the negative social opinion that exists about forms of aggression directed towards women. The information presented possesses implications for researchers and teachers if we bear in mind that relationships between genders at these ages reflect future relationships as adults.