The vision was to have a group of up to eight mildly – moderately intellectually handicapped children integrated into a Year 1/2 class at Monkland State School. The total class numbers were to be the same as for a regular class (for infants – 25) with two teachers, one of whom is trained in special education. The integrated group would progress through the school with their age peers. The needs of the children would be considered in the School Development Plan. The special needs group would be closely linked to the special school campus so its specific facilities could be utilised. Some students enrolled at special school would also have access to the Monkland group for some integration/link activities. In two years time a similar class in another school will be opened.

The concept of child and adolescent social competence is complex and multidimensional. Dodge (1985) has attempted to summarise various aspects of the concept into a parsimonious theoretical model. It is suggested that comprehensive assessment of social competence includes measures tapping into a range of dimensions illustrated by the model. A growing body of empirical data links children's low levels of social competence to various forms of maladjustment in adolescence and adulthood. Clinical and educational interventions directed at improving child and adolescent social competence offer a valuable direction for a preventative approach that should be considered and empirically evaluated. Available social skills interventions emerge from three major theoretical foundations: Behavioural, Cognitive Problem Solving, and Structuralist. Populations targeted for intervention also vary from children or adolescents with identified problems in clinical settings, to whole school educational approaches. Empirical comparison of alternative training approaches has demonstrated that social skills training is effective, and a combination of behavioural and cognitive components is important. Issues regarding child characteristics, outcome measures and consideration of wider systems are also discussed.

This paper is based upon a study of issues of self and identity of Chinese students in an Australian high school and uses indigenous concepts mainly drawn from the work of Hong Kong psychologists. Research was initiated because identity appeared to be developing in a different way for Chinese students compared with their Anglo-Australian counterparts. The case study of Chinese Year 12 students provided a framework for understanding and counselling Chinese students. It is this framework that is discussed first. Second, a concept of self — Big Me and Little Me — is presented as a way of conceptualising the tensions of interdependent functioning. Finally, implications for counsellors and general issues emerging in the counselling situation are discussed.

Whilst there are many critical elements in the teaching of micro-counselling skills, feedback is an essential component of an effective training program. This paper describes supervision linked to a program of instruction. More particularly it examines the relative merit and contribution of utilising both instructor rating and self-rating as a means of providing educative feedback during the process of supervision in a brief counselling training program. Instructor rating and self-rating measures were taken on two occasions, first at the commencement of a six-week training program and secondly at the completion of the course. It was found that instructor rating was consistently lower than self-rating, but both reflected an improvement in counselling skills acquisition. Students indicated an ability to be self-critical after a period of counselling training to the extent that instructor rating matched more closely self-rating, after the second interview.

Students with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Republic of Ireland are required to have a formal psycho-educational assessment from an educational psychologist to register with Disability Services in HEIs, to be eligible for support through the Fund for Students with Disabilities (FSD). Such assessments are expensive and often beyond the financial means of students and their families. However, there is a sustained demand from students experiencing academic difficulties for diagnostic assessment of SpLD (Association for Higher Education Access and Disability [AHEAD], 2012). This study describes the SpLD screening and assessment practices implemented by HEIs in Ireland (n = 14), finding that (a) there are no defined parameters for assessment of SpLD in higher education (HE), meaning that methods and accuracy of identification of positive indicators may vary across HEIs; and (b) the majority of HEIs screen for dyslexia only, with little or no recognition of the need to assess for comorbidity of learning disabilities. Findings support the requirement for a reliable and valid standardised assessment procedure for Irish HEIs, which would provide equitable access to an initial diagnosis. Finally, a screening model is proposed, which is currently provided by one HEI.

Many studies have examined the psychology of interest and interest development, with these studies spanning various fields such as educational psychology, personality development, and vocational guidance. However, the pragmatic benefit of being able to accurately measure interests has often overshadowed the broader potential benefits of research into interest development. Drawing from research across different fields, this article summarises the historical evolution of research into interest development, culminating with the four-phase model of interest development as advanced by Hidi and Renninger (2006). It proceeds to examine the impact of this research on the work of psychologists and counsellors in schools. Finally, this article concludes by problematising the current dominance of assessment services and the use of interest inventories, while exploring potential opportunities to better support student engagement through a broader understanding of interest development.

This article examines recent research and developments relating to the role of phonemic awareness and phonics in early literacy education and the relevance of these findings for school counsellors and teachers. It defines and reviews the role of phonemic awareness and phonics in theoretical models of reading processes, including whole-language, code-based and balanced literacy programs, to determine the varying degrees of significance attributed to these components in early reading instruction. It critically reviews recent national and international government research, reports and recommendations to examine how phonemic awareness and phonics are conceptualised and translated into educational policy. In doing so, the article highlights the need for establishing a comprehensive and explicit theoretical and practical framework for the teaching of phonemic awareness and phonics, and a thorough analysis of the range of traditional and contemporary methods of teaching phonemic awareness and phonics in the classroom. The importance of school counsellors having a greater understanding of research about contemporary best practices in literacy education, and a key role, in partnership with teachers, in ensuring such knowledge is put into practice, is emphasised.

Welcome to the first issue of our journal under the new title Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools. This issue is a special one on psycho-educational assessment. We have a range of interesting and stimulating articles on this topic, reflecting the important and substantial role that assessment plays in the work of many school psychologists and counsellors. Psycho-educational assessment includes areas such as behavioural, social-emotional and vocational assessment, although most referrals for assessment in schools are related to learning difficulties. The issue has a truly international flavour, with authors from Australia, Greece, China, Ireland, Bangladesh, Peru, Iran and the United States.

The case is presented of an 8-year-old boy who was referred for psycho-educational assessment because of difficulties with writing. The article provides an example of the way in which a case unfolds as further assessment data become available, and describes a number of challenging aspects of the assessment process. In this case, dilemmas arose when test results were inconsistent at different time points, and when the results were inconsistent with clinical observations. The case report illustrates the ways in which practitioners can collaborate to make sense of such discrepancies, with each contributing a slightly different perspective or set of skills that, in combination, assist to better understand a child's difficulties.

Australian schools are experiencing an increase in enrolments for students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Many of these students, who are frequently from migrant, refugee or asylum-seeker backgrounds, progress academically, but a small number experience learning challenges. In these circumstances, practitioners (school psychologists and guidance counsellors) assess the students to determine underlying factors contributing to limited academic progress, and ways in which the student’s learning can be supported and enhanced. However, formal assessment can be challenging due to language and cultural barriers. Considering the gaps in the research and training, the present article proposes an assessment framework and highlights strategies that can be adopted by practitioners at schools to enrich their decision-making and assessment process. Two case studies are used to highlight factors that can impact students’ academic difficulties. Further interview protocols and assessment measures that can be used to assist these students and their families are discussed. Ways in which school authorities can guide and support these students in the classroom and in the school are examined.

For a school counsellor or classroom teacher, working with newly arrived students from refugee backgrounds can be daunting, particularly with the awareness that these students have likely experienced significant and potentially horrific trauma. There is now a wealth of evidence showing that traumatic experiences can significantly impact our neurological development, resulting in difficulties in areas such as learning, behaviour, relationship building and emotion regulation, meaning newly arrived refugee students will often arrive at school with some significant challenges. While there is an extensive amount of literature on trauma, there is very little that focuses specifically on the refugee population, and even less on young people from refugee backgrounds. Predominantly, the research looks at chronic or developmental trauma such as child abuse and neglect, or acute trauma such as natural disasters. The following article looks at the refugee context specifically, breaking down the difference between acute, chronic and developmental trauma; and describing the neurological effects of trauma and suggesting some practical classroom-based strategies that can be employed to support and facilitate the recovery of students from refugee backgrounds.

The need to provide support for the mental health needs of children and young people is not in dispute. However, there does exist confusion as to the most appropriate means and methods of providing such support. This confusion is particularly evident among those who work closely in providing daily for the mental health needs of children and young people, yet who lack specific mental health training. The confusion is heightened by the fact that those who have developed expertise in mental health cannot offer a consensual approach. This article discusses this confusion and its implications for other sectors by considering some of the theoretical and practical debates in the psychological literature concerning the most effective approaches to mental health interventions. Some commonsense recommendations from this literature for those working with children are offered.

Over the last decade, Australian Guidance Officers have been facing well documented challenges to their roles, training and their profession. This study surveyed 146 Guidance Officers and found them to report abnormally high stress levels but average burnout and self-efficacy scores. Previous research suggests that the most difficult aspect of the Guidance Officer's role, and the job for which they often feel least prepared, is dealing with the support needs of students with mental illness, emotional disturbance, behavioural and learning difficulties. Responses from Guidance Officers who deal with these students relatively often revealed significantly higher self-efficacy scores than the remainder of the group, higher emotional exhaustion (as anticipated) and reassuringly low depersonalisation scores. The good and bad news in these results are discussed and implications drawn for the profession.

Between the mid 1940's and the mid 1980's psychology, guidance and counselling services were established and rapidly expanded within Australian state departments of education. This occurred in a socio-political context where the values of social justice and concern for the disadvantaged were regarded as important by communities looking to governments to reflect these values through appropriate policies and programs. Since then a distinct change has occurred. Economic Rationalism and the move to greater school autonomy has led to the abandonment of central structures and centralised training that supported professional psychological services in schools. Schools increasingly will be expected to “buy in” contracted services as perceived needs arise. The resulting deprof essionalisation, whilst shared at this time by psychologists in other agencies, is particularly threatening in the case of school psychology. By destroying continuity of service and the possibilities of building of long-term relationships, it will reduce opportunities to initiate those school-wide initiatives that can maximise the impact of case work. The authors are of the view that, given the prevailing ideology, governments will persist in ridding themselves of responsibility and the expense of providing psychological and counselling services to school communities. At the same time information from principals suggests that schools' will find it difficult to afford these services from their limited global budgets, despite urgent and growing need for more, not less school-based support for teachers, students and parents. As a profession we must look to old and new models of service delivery and devise practical ways of providing cost-effective, equitable and high quality services to schools. This paper attempts to bring forward the issue as one for urgent debate and planning by our professional associations. Rather than let the profession wither away or end up providing services for the wealthy only, we must take action ourselves to see that it not only survives, but thrives. ( In this paper, the terms guidance officer, school counsellor and school psychologist are used as if they are interchangeable. The reason is that education departments around Australia use different names for those of their student support workers who have qualifications in education, psychology and counselling.)

The act of labelling is always wrought with uncertainties, as the mercurial history of Attention Deficit Disorder (now called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-ADHD) reveals. Controversy has raged for years over the recognition, classification, naming, etiology and intervention of this disorder, resulting in a hotchpotch of treatments by professionals from the medical, educational and psychological fields (Whalen & Henker, 1991). Research has been prolific but results have been conflicting and controversial, especially in terms of overlap that occurs between ADHD and other disorders.

Alternative education and ‘off-campus’ units are becoming an increasing focus for Governments as a solution to the rise in behaviour problems in schools. Generally, the national response to the issue has been to promote an inclusive policy aimed at keeping young people in the education system and adapting curriculum to meet young people's needs rather than isolating them. This approach is supported by numerous studies demonstrating the low percentage of young people attending these units who actually return to the mainstream system. However, the Queensland Government is presently considering the development of ‘Off-campus’ education centres for young people with behaviour difficulties in each of the eleven regions throughout the state.

Guidance counsellors and psychologists have an important role in the alternative education scene. Their involvement can be multifaceted and extends into roles of support (student and teacher), intervention, advising, interagency, evaluation, assessment, counselling, referral collection, and so on. The Ipswich Off Campus Unit (OCU) – The Basement – is an alternative education program already existing in the City of Ipswich, Queensland, for long-term truanting young people. The program is jointly funded by the Ipswich Youth Action Group Pty Ltd and the Queensland Department of Education. This paper is based on an evaluation completed in 1993 of the Basement which utilised the Youth Self Report Form (Achenbach, 1991), Teacher Report Form (Achenbach, 1986), Family Review Form, Referral Satisfaction Questionnaire, Community Satisfaction Questionnaire, Observations, Juvenile Bureau Records, Attendance Records and Academic Records. It is proposed that the effects of an alternative school for truanting young people may provide many benefits and some concerns for the participating young person. The most observable change for young people in the program was the increased consistency of attendance rates and the lessening involvement in juvenile criminal activity. To support this contention, further longitudinal research and evaluation of alternative schools and programs for young people is encouraged.

This paper describes the development of two mechanisms that can be used to measure the learning outcomes of counselling. It is particularly important to encourage clients and adolescents who have participated in a counselling experience to reflect on what they have learned and how the experience has affected them. Adolescents over the age of 13 years have the metacognitive skills to be able to reflect on their learnings and should be encouraged to engage in such activity. This approach contrasts the dominant outcome paradigm of assessing behaviour and attitude changes over time by analysing group data using statistics and meta-analytic techniques. This paper expands the ideas reported by Burnett (1999), Burnett and Van Dorssen (2000), and Burnett and Meacham (2002).

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of a didactic stress management program, group counselling, and a control group on school counsellors' stress coping strategies. Thirty-four school counsellors were randomly assigned to either a didactic stress management group, group counselling, or a control group. The didactic stress management group and the group counselling for stress management group were conducted concurrently for 10 consecutive weeks. A control group received no treatment. The Ways of Coping Inventory was administered to all participants at three different stages: pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at 6-month follow-up. The results indicated that both the didactic stress management group and the group counselling for stress management group showed a significant reduction in the use of helpless coping strategies and a significant increase in the optimistic coping strategies at post-treatment. At follow-up, there were obvious group differences in the use of helpless coping strategies. Only those who were treated using group counselling exhibited a decrease in helpless coping strategies at the follow-up assessment.