A number of crucial issues face educational and developmental psychologists as they attempt to make sense of the emerging climate for contemporary practices. Downsizing, contracting out of services, and changes to standards of practice are examples of tensions in the work climate. This compilation of brief presentations at a symposium at the 33rd Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) is aimed to inform members of the APS College of Educational and Developmental Psychologists (CEDP) about some compelling issues in contemporary educational psychology work.

This paper reports a comparison between United States norms and the Australian Checknorms of the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales, and the implications for the diagnosis of intellectual disability. One hundred and twenty-five children with developmental disabilities aged between 4 and 10 years received two separate diagnoses relating to intellectual disability. One was based on their level of intellectual functioning plus their Adaptive Behaviour Composite score calculated using the United States norms of the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales. A second diagnosis was based on their level of intellectual functioning and an adjusted Adaptive Behaviour Composite score using the Australian Checknorms. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between scores and that this difference was clinically meaningful in 10.4% of the subjects. For a small and statistically non-significant number of children (five) the difference between scores led to a change in diagnosis from intellectually disabled to not intellectually disabled. Implications for the assessment of children with developmental disabilities are discussed.

The type of peer victimisation experienced is likely to influence the ways in which young people appraise and cope with school bullying. To examine this possibility, 269 adolescents (137 male, 132 female) aged between 12 and 17 years, completed a victimisation questionnaire, an adapted version of the Threat Appraisal Scale (TAS; Sandler, 1999) and the short-form of the Adolescent Coping Scale (Frydenberg & Lewis, 1996). Results indicated that there is an association between styles of coping and victimisation experiences, with physical and social bullying playing a part in the use of a Non-productive style of coping. Furthermore, the results indicated that there is also an association between threat appraisal and victimisation. Specifically, adolescents who reported greater threat appraisals reported more physical and social bullying.

This article is directed at both academic and practitioner psychologists. My reflections on the mythology that surrounds the application of intelligence tests and their educational equivalents in schools are directed at the former group, of which I am one. These beliefs persist partly because current developments in psychological theory generally have had very little impact on the practice of cognitive testing and even less impact on educational testing (Davidson, 1982a). When doubts are raised about testing of minority group children practitioners are often told simply that current testing procedures are inappropriate but are not told about alternative assessment procedures and the advantages and difficulties they impose.

A second aim therefore is to explore some of the alternatives. For that reason the title refers to “cognitive” assessment rather than to intellectual or educational assessment, the aim being to consider the contributions of cognitive science generally and cross-cultural cognitive psychology particularly to the development of alternative assessment procedures. It also refers deliberately to “educational” minorities rather than cultural minorities, because some of these principles apply equally to social minorities whose home circumstances and educational needs are different from those of the majority, and to groups that form cultural majorities but whose access to education is restricted by a politically dominant cultural minority.

Body dissatisfaction and eating disorders in the preadolescent population have increased over the past 10 years. The Eating and Me (E&M) scale of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating for use with prepubescent males and females (Sands, Tricker, Sherman, Armatas, & Maschette, 1997) was refined and used to investigate relationships among disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, and self-worth. The sample comprised 59 females and 57 males, with ages ranging between 10-12 years (M = 11 years). From the 18 item E&M-II, 6 items were removed to produce the 12-item E&M-III scale. Physical self-worth, current and ideal images, and Children’s Eating Attitude Test scores predicted high scores on the E&M-III. These results support the inclusion of body image assessment in screening for preclinical eating disturbances in nonclinical populations.

From an initial sample of 747 primary school students, the top 16 percent (n = 116) with high self-esteem (HSE) and the bottom 15 percent (n = 111) with low self-esteem (LSE) were selected. These two groups were then compared on personol and classroom variables. Significant differences were found for all personol (self-talk, self-concepts) and classroom (teacher feedback, praise, teacher-student relationship, and classroom environment) variables. Students with HSE scored more highly on all variobles. Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) was then used to determine which variables discriminated between these two groups of students. Learner self-concept, positive and negative self-talk, classroom environment, and effort feedback were the best discriminators of students with high and low self-esteem. Implications for educational psychologists and teachers are discussed.

The communication style of adolescents was assessed using the factors of the Focus of Communication Questionnaire (FOCQ), gender and year level. The FOCQ has six factors that individuals focus on during conflict including success, task, other-person, concession, withdrawing, and confusing. Data from the 460 adolescent participants showed that there were interaction effects involving success and other-person focused communication. Younger students were lower on concession, task, and confusion focused communication. Females were more withdrawing, concession and less confusion focused than males. The magnitude of the effect sizes resulting from the gender and year level analyses was small. Profile analysis of the six communication factors resulted in two clusters similar to those from previous research. The third cluster comprised a group of students low in all six communication factors. The discussion addresses the relevance of the findings and profile analysis in school settings.

The present study explored the component structure of coping in preschoolers as measured by the Children's Coping Scale — Revised (CCS-R) through principal component analysis (PCA). The study also examined the relationship between different coping patterns and mental health (as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; SDQ) in preschoolers. One hundred and thirty-two parents of preschoolers enrolled at a university-affiliated Early Learning Centre in Melbourne, Australia completed the CCS-R and the SDQ as part of a larger project. The PCAs found that a three-component structure of coping in preschoolers best fit the data for all general and situation-specific forms of the CCS-R. The majority of the forms, for both mothers and fathers, resulted in the components of: (1) Positive Coping, (2) Negative Coping — Emotional Inhibition, and (3) Negative Coping — Emotional Expression. The Situation Specific Coping forms resulted in the most reliable components, and the items that loaded on each component were the most consistent with previous research, underscoring a need to focus on situation-specific, as opposed to general, coping in preschoolers. Results for the relationship between the CCS-R and the SDQ found associations between positive coping and positive mental health, and negative coping was associated with some aspects of poor mental health. The patterns of associations provide evidence of construct validity for the component structure of the CCS-R and also highlight opportunities for intervention for this age group. Understanding the processes involved in managing and adapting to stress provides the opportunity to develop prevention and intervention approaches targeted at healthy adaption. Coping in preschoolers, and the degree to which preschoolers’ coping is associated with mental health, is largely under-studied in comparison to other life stages. The present study contributes to this small body of research in an effort to help inform teaching and therapeutic approaches for preschoolers.

Whilst the Victorian Education Department does not provide school based psychologists, many non government schools in Victoria have done so for a number of years. The girls'school at which I work has employed “counsellors” for nearly 40 years. The counsellor has been a psychologist for about 20 years and for the last 6 years the school has employed two full time psychologists. The school currently has 1004 students in the Senior School (years 7 to 12) and 370 students in the Junior School (preparatory to Grade 6). I believe all schools, both government and non government should employ school based psychologists because they can contribute in ways that are not possible for a person who is based elsewhere and visits a school once, or even several times a week.

The current study investigated the associations between the influence of parent and peer characteristics and adolescent involvement in different types of out-of-school leisure activities using a structured versus unstructured activity dichotomy. Questionnaires completed by 1280, 12- to 17-year-old, Western Australian metropolitan, high-school students were analysed. It was found that perceived parent strictness, connectedness to adolescents, and parenting style were positively associated with adolescent participation in structured leisure activities, but negatively associated with time spent in unstructured activities. Hours of involvement in structured and unstructured leisure activities were negatively associated with perceived susceptibility to peer pressure. Peer connectedness was positively associated with hours spent in unstructured activities, but there was no significant interaction with participation in structured leisure activities. These findings suggest that peer influence is not always a dominant force in all aspects of adolescents' lives and also endorse the continued influence of parents as per Individuation and Relatedness theory in which it is argued that individuals' transition through adolescence is optimised if they remain connected to parents while concurrently developing their autonomy.

Although there appears to be little dispute regarding the philosophical principles underlying the policy of integrating disabled children into regular classes (mainstreaming), no such consensus exists about the effectiveness of its implementation. One possible method of identifying factors which may be related to the efficacy of the mainstreaming process is to examine the attitudes of principals and teachers towards the integration of disabled students. This is primarily because principals’ attitudes may influence their enrolment policies, while teachers’ attitudes appear to reflect their confidence in teaching a typical pupils (Hararsymiw & Horne, 1976).

The fourth edition of the Stanford-Binet lntelligence Scale is now available for sale and use in this country, from the Australian Council of Educational Research. Many of the individual items appear culturally suspect. Use of the test is not recommended until some clear guidelines on this important issue are established. Comment on the many individual items of concern is included as a first step towards the establishment of such guidelines.

Few studies exist that address the relationship between the higher order factors of fluid (Go and crystallised (Gc) intelligence and Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) outcomes. In this study, for each of five cohorts, longitudinal data have been collected over a six-year span, consisting of results from standardised achievement and ability tests and ending with achievement outcomes.Two factors, interpreted as Gf and Gc, are derived from the standardised measures. In Year 7, these measures were the Progressive Achievement Test Mathematics (PAT Moths), Progressive Achievement Test Reading Comprehension (PAT Comprehension), and the jenkins Test of Nonverbal Ability. In Year 10, the measures were the subtests of the Differential Aptitude Test (DAT).These factors are investigated in order to identify whether they are differentially important in regard to VCE Performance. The standardised measures and final VCE results were collected at a Melbourne independent girls' school from 414 exiting Year 12 students, in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. Both Gf and Gc accounted for a significant amount of the variance in VCE performance, with Gc being the most significant indicator.

Adolescents who are coping with their final years of secondary schooling may be stressed. The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) has been the subject of considerable anecdotal controversy, including concerns over the level of stress that it places upon students and its effect on students’overall well-being. The present study provides some initial empirical data to inform this debate. The Australian Adolescent Problems Inventory, the Adolescent Coping Inventory, and the General Health Questionnaire were used to examine the constructs of school-related stress, coping, and well-being in 118 Year II Victorian secondary school students. Students reported a range of school-related problems. They coped by positive avoidance or problem-focused methods that promoted independence. Students reported feeling high levels of global stress. Anticipation of the final year of schooling placed pressure on young people, but students found several ways to cope with the demands. Therefore, it could not be concluded that the Victorian Certificate of Education was significantly related to unhealthy levels of stress, worry, and poor coping.

Most popular tests of motor proficiency have been developed using classical test theory. Recently, item response theory (IRT) has been used to address some of the difficulties inherent with these traditional psychometric approaches. This paper focuses on the application of IRT in the psychomotor domain where analyses involving both dichotomous (Cole, Wood, & Dunn, 1991; Werder & Bruininks, 1988) and polytomous criterion referenced measurements (Puderbaugh & Fisher, 1992) have met with equivocal results. The application of the method to quantitative data has to date proved challenging. An example reported here is based on outcome measures used in the development of a test of movement skills for children aged 5 and 6 years. The results appear very promising, but some caution is required in interpreting results.

School belonging is generally regarded as a student's sense of affiliation or connection to his or her school. Anyone who has personally navigated the sometimes torturous terrain of secondary school is able to have some level of direct understanding of the importance that belonging, fitting in, and identifying with a school holds for most people. Educators and practitioners often work with young people who feel that they do not belong to the school community, in which they attend. An absence of belonging can manifest itself in mental health concerns, school attrition, and risk taking behaviours. Opportunities for early intervention through fostering school belonging are born from a greater understanding and awareness of what school belonging is and how it is contextualised and fostered. This special issue aims to place a focus on school belonging and highlight it as a significant social issue of our time.

Parental involvement as tutors or behaviour problem-solvers with regular school children is increasing. This paper sketches some reasons for this and outlines a set of principles for working with parents for use by practitioners.