The 30th edition of this journal marks a significant milestone in The Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist. It is no mean feat, and many journals do not survive this long, or change their focus, or are much younger than the venerable AEDP. This longevity is due in no small measure to the professionalism and hard work of the various journal editors over the past 30 years. As we move forward with the partnership with Cambridge University Press, we are now listed with several key indices (e.g., SCOPUS and PsycINFO) and are currently undergoing assessment with Thomson Reuters for an impact factor. These are markers of quality and it is essential that the journal embarks on these strategies so as to ensure the future of the journal itself, as well as making it a more appealing submission prospect for high quality Australian and international authors.

Educational and developmental psychology faces a number of current and future challenges and opportunities in Australia. In this commentary we consider the identity of educational and developmental psychology in terms of the features that distinguish it from other specialisations, and address issues related to training, specialist endorsement, supervision and rebating under the Australian government's Medicare system. The current status of training in Australia is considered through a review of the four university programs in educational and developmental psychology currently offered, and the employment destinations of their graduates. Although the need for traditional services in settings such as schools, hospitals, disability and community organisations will undoubtedly continue, the role of educational and developmental psychologists is being influenced and to some extent redefined by advances in technology, medicine, genetics, and neuroscience. We review some of these advances and conclude with recommendations for training and professional development that will enable Australian educational and developmental psychologists to meet the challenges ahead.

The conceptual basis for a model of professional learning in educational psychology is presented in this article. The approach is one aimed at an integration and application of theories of knowledge management with educational and organisational psychology in a pragmatic research methodology underpinning professional learning. The model focuses upon the idea of praxis and the working ideal of a ‘thinking practitioner’. This is in turn applied to the development of individual differences theory as part of a critical revision problematising theory associated with researching style differences in cognition, learning and management. A need for critical revisionism, new directions in researching style differences and professional education is identified as part of an example illustrating a way to establish valid epistemic change and paradigm shift necessary for this development. The argument underpinning this approach, finally, concludes that the future is very much part of the past, as a knowledge source for informing contemporary professional learning thereby ensuring practice is not stuck in the present.

This article analyses current and future issues about the distinctive contribution of professional educational psychologists in a changing English service context. This is about the context of greater inter-professional and multi-agency working, but also the moves towards more quasi-market systems of service delivery. I examine the identity and service focus dilemmas that educational psychologists have to address. This raises questions about the distinction between basic and applied psychology, the nature of applying psychology and whether applying psychology requires professional educational psychologists. One of the main arguments is that how we think about applying psychology is crucial for the future in a changing context. The task is for professional psychologists to be innovative in service terms to ensure a continuing and valued position in the service network. The significance of this analysis of educational psychology in an English context for other countries is also discussed.

This article investigates the degree to which a consistent understanding of what psychologists do is present in a group of teachers and parents, and compares this with the job functions reported by psychologists themselves. Research on the role of school psychologists has focused on the perceptions of school staff in relation to ideal services, and has given little acknowledgment to the expectations of other clients of school psychologists, such as parents. Common understanding of the range and focus of services available from school psychologists would facilitate effective and appropriate referrals. Services are considered according to models of service delivery from systemic service to an individual case-based model. The current study involved 138 school psychologists, 107 parents, and 100 teachers from government, Catholic, and independent schools across Melbourne, Australia. Participants completed a number of measures, and significant differences between groups were found on 20 of the 30 items relating to school psychologists’ responsibilities (p < .001). Associations were also established between student–psychologist ratios and the work practices of school psychologists, specifically the frequency with which assessment (r = .35, p < .001) and counselling (r =−.25, p < .01) tasks were undertaken. It is concluded that service delivery would benefit by enhancing community understanding of the work of school psychologists. Analysis of work practices reflects that demand for assessment services tends to limit the development of systemic and preventative practices in the work of school psychologists.

The role of educational (school) psychologists around the world is often debated, and usually involves the discussion of many key functions. Traditionally, the role has focused on the importance of cognitive assessment; however, increasingly this role is gradually being marginalised in favour of other more generic and systemic activities, such as research. This article will outline the importance of research in the role of educational psychologists, and will consider how this role can be fostered across the profession in order to meet the demands of the educational marketplace, thus ensuring that the profession of educational psychology will survive well into the 21st century. Implications for the organisation of psychological services are also discussed, as well as implications for the training of educational psychologists.

The Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory of cognitive abilities has helped advance understanding regarding the relations between specific cognitive abilities and academic achievement in definite domains. However, questions over the generalisability of this research, as well the moderating effect age has on the strength of cognitive-achievement relations, means that further research is needed. This study therefore investigated the capacity for using the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery — II (MAB-II), a group-administered test of cognitive ability, to further CHC-driven research in Australia. After adapting the MAB-II verbal subtests to be suitable for use with an Australian sample, 179 adults completed the measure. Results were analaysed using both classical test and item response theory. Findings indicated that despite the MAB-II not being developed using CHC theory, the structure of the test appeared to conform to this model. Further, while an adequate number of subtests hypothesised to measure the CHC domains of Comprehension-knowledge (Gc) and Visual processing (Gv) were found to perform well psychometrically, the Arithmetic, Picture Arrangement, and Digit Symbol subtests returned questionable results. Given the advantages a group-administered test of CHC cognitive abilities would provide to CHC-driven research in Australia, suggestions for future modifications and adaptations of the test are provided.