This exploratory study sought to differentiate 24 delinquent, 30 at-risk and 30 not at-risk adolescent males according to a multidimensional model of self-concept. Participants completed the Song and Hattie Test of Self-Concept (1992), which consists of seven dimensions of self-concept; namely, achievement self-concept, ability self-concept, classroom self-concept, family self-concept, peer self-concept, physical self-concept and confidence in self.

Significant differences between the not at-risk, at-risk and delinquent groups were found across six of the seven dimensions of self-concept. Implications of these findings suggest an effective procedure for differentiating between not at-risk and at-risk youth within the school context, prior to involvement with the Juvenile Justice system. The implications for intervention are discussed.

The success of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) interventions is thought to rely on teacher social emotional competency, student-teacher relationships, and the readiness of the school environment. From an evolutionary motivational systems perspective, an underlying driver behind these aspects is the motivational state of students and teachers. Providing a foundational framework for supporting SEL development may be a critical differentiating factor in successfully incorporating SEL into curriculum to enhance individual and group-level wellbeing. This article presents compassion as a motivational framework that can be used to support SEL. We review theoretical perspectives and empirical research applying compassion to help regulate emotional experience and provide a series of possible suggestions on how to integrate compassion into classrooms. Specifically, we provide a series of suggestions on how compassion can help with student and staff wellbeing. A compassionate approach to establishing a positive classroom environment and incorporating simple activities adapted from compassion-focused therapy may provide a baseline conducive context in which SEL is accepted and thrives.

This research investigated the reliability and validity of the Mindfields Assessment Battery (MAB), measuring three components of self-regulation (forethought, performance control, self-reflection) of young offenders. Participants were 57 12- to 18-year-olds from youth justice service centres, alternative education schools, and a youth correctional facility (Nmales = 46; NIndigenous = 7). Psychometric properties of the battery were sound with adequate alpha levels for the scales. The factor structure and internal reliability of three measures were replicated and validated. Positive significant correlations found between these subscales indicated consistent relationships with young people's responses to challenging situations. Prodelinquency scores were significantly positively correlated with minor misdemeanours and negatively correlated with social competency. Significant positive correlations were found between social competence and goal commitment, and self-regulation and life satisfaction. The battery provides a reliable, valid way of assessing forethought, performance control, self-reflection, and treatment amenability within the conceptual framework of self-regulation.

School counsellors implement preventative programs to build student resilience and coping skills to counteract the rising mental health needs of children in Australia. School-based meditation programs are effective for individuals and groups, with documented benefits. Most literature examines mindfulness meditation, and the current, exploratory study aimed to add to the research breadth by considering stillness meditation. The stillness program ‘Let’s be Still’ is a 10-week, class-based program that was conducted between 2015–2020 by the school psychologist in a regional, independent New South Wales school. Data were collected from questionnaire responses of 169 Year 2 (7–9 years) and five teachers to document what the children had learnt and how it helped them. Thematic analysis of the responses revealed an emphasis on stillness promoting positive emotions and behaviours. Both students and teachers articulated that learning and practising stillness provided the students with tools to be calm, relaxed and settled, to deal with conflict and to have a break from the busyness of the school day. While the study design does not allow generalisability of the program’s effectiveness, this study may offer input for school counsellors considering the implementation of a school-based meditation program.

As the field of Positive Education gains traction globally, there is a recognised concern around sustainability. Many schools utilise external providers to engage and educate schools on ‘wellbeing science’, which in the main is comprised of research from the field of Positive Psychology. This often involves a significant financial and time investment, and while most schools have good intentions for their desired end states, often the initial motivation for change is impacted by the many competing responsibilities occurring within a school setting. Those schools that have successfully implemented strategic and sustainable approaches often continue to work with an external consultant who guides the school to successfully apply their learnings. Many schools, however, are unable to fund ongoing consultancy and are required to utilise their own internal resources. In many cases, this is the inspired and motivated educators who are keen to support the initiative, yet who are generally time-poor, often with other learning and extra-curricular responsibilities. More often than not, the school counsellor has not been consulted or included in these initiatives. We explore the potential role of the school counsellor in providing guidance on the implementation of a Positive Education approach aimed at improving mental health and wellbeing and performance.

Little is known about the criteria used in selecting applicants for guidance and counselling positions in schools. This article reports the findings of a survey completed by 91 Queensland secondary school principals and 115 guidance officers and senior guidance officers working in secondary schools. The instrument was a 105-item forced-choice instrument in which each of 15 criterion statements was paired with each other. Both groups indicate the applicant's practicum performance as a major factor in making selection decisions. Communication skills also were regarded as important. In contrast with similar studies conducted in the United States, teaching experience was not deemed to be a crucial consideration. The implications of the findings for training programs are discussed.

Different disciplinary groups are increasingly questioning current conceptualisations of young adults' educational, social and personal lives after compulsory schooling. New perspectives are being advanced on the life trajectories of choice and complexity now experienced by school leavers. A consistent theme is the changed nature of young adults' lives, reflecting social and economic pressures on educational, work and personal life goals. This age group has the highest incidence of mental disorders of any age cohort (Andrews, Hall, Teesson, & Henderson, 1999). The changed learning environment in the move to university entails life and environmental events that create risk conditions for young adults. In these circumstances varying degrees of loss, challenge and personal growth exist. Concurrent personal losses, such as death of a peer or family member, broken love relationships, and failure to achieve the dream of a future career, can create particular vulnerabilities. Loss may interfere with the natural progression of intellectual–emotional–psychological growing up (Kastenbaum, 2001). In this article the mental health of young adults is viewed through the lens of loss experiences within a context of change in their life trajectory. Data is drawn from a mixed method study involving questionnaire completion and in-depth interviews of students in four university campuses in New South Wales.

This study explored the conditions required for the practical implementation of dynamic assessment in schools. It involved the development and implementation of a curriculum-based dynamic assessment procedure in the area of school mathematics for use by school counsellors. Dynamic assessment has been developed within Vygotskian theories of learning, teaching and assessment. It incorporates a teaching or mediation phase that requires the application of clinical assessment and teaching skills. This paper argues that the competencies needed to conduct a successful dynamic assessment are a blend of professional skills possessed by school counsellors. The assessment procedures used in this study resulted in valid assessment information about students' cognitive development as well as aspects of their general cognitive, social and emotional functioning. The information gathered through dynamic assessment was particularly useful for informing classroom teaching. The practical problems associated with dynamic assessment identified in the literature were not found to be barriers to the use of these techniques in schools in this study. Instead, dynamic assessment, used to complement conventional assessment instruments, has the potential to enhance the classroom utility of assessments carried out by school counsellors.

Despite state support for mass education in Turkey, there are many primary school children who do not attend school or who drop out before finishing school. This study is part of a project investigating the problem of school dropout in a district of Istanbul. Factors related to school, such as failure, non-acceptance by teachers and peers, poor attendance, and low levels of involvement, have been associated with increased likelihood of dropout. Modifying the instructional environment, strengthening school membership, and creating alternative schools have been suggested as means to prevent dropout. A questionnaire assessing attitudes toward school was administered to 480 students from 13 elementary schools for the purpose of identifying the characteristics of schools that lead to dropout. Factor analysis results indicated five factors of school-related attitudes, including attitudes toward learning; toward teachers; toward school and school facilities; and students' perceptions of parent-school relationships.

Students who are refugees need understanding and support to settle successfully into mainstream Australian classrooms. Teachers not aware of students' prior learning and the process of second language acquisition may have difficulty providing the most appropriate learning environments to meet these students' needs. This study found that, with no coordination of information on students' learning backgrounds nor of their learning needs and development, students were in danger of being identified as at-risk of having a learning disability, with little support to substantiate such claims.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the anxiety disorders with particularly debilitating effects due to flashbacks and hypervigilance in daily life. Treatments commonly focus upon either pharmacological or psychotherapeutic modalities, but there is often a need to merge both of these approaches to deal effectively with the somatic, as well as the psychological, symptoms of PTSD in particular clients. This case study reports the application of a combined approach, using both client-centred counselling plus biofeedback of respiratory sinus arrhythmia to train the client to control his exaggerated sympathetic nervous system responses. Results indicated that both physiological and psychological measures of PTSD in this client significantly reduced during the seven treatment sessions.

The incidence and circumstances of young people carrying knives and dangerous implements was investigated through surveys conducted with 150 ‘street youth’ and 184 ‘school youth’ in Sydney. It was found that a significant proportion of both samples carry and use knives/dangerous implements and that these implements had been used within the last week by many respondents. These implements are most commonly carried by young people between the ages of 13 and 14 years. A significant proportion of the sample reported having been threatened with knives/dangerous implements in the past. Police involvement was reported for both samples, but there was a higher proportion reported for the street sample. Young people report carrying knives/dangerous implements for safety, pressures from within and outside themselves, and to exert power and control over others. The research suggests that more emphasis needs to be placed on making young people feel safer in the community in order to address this problem.

The importance of social emotional learning (SEL) has been well acknowledged as a significant feature of education and emotional development across the life span. School psychologists play an important part as innovators, implementers and evaluators of resources in the social emotional domain. When it comes to the early years in the education system, social emotional aspects of the curriculum form the basis of the learning experience. Teachers utilise resources that enhance their classroom practice. Coping research and practice has had a long history in the literature, but the translation to early childhood educational practice, supported by school psychologists, is a more recent development. This article details three innovations, namely, The Early Years Coping Cards, Families Coping and the COPE-Resilience Program. Development, applications, and evaluations are considered to highlight the significant role school psychologists and trainee psychologists can play.

There is growing evidence of an escalation of depression in young people. In light of this, schools are increasingly being confronted with the challenge of how to best manage students with depressive disorders. Such management includes consideration of the academic, behavioural, social and emotional implications of the disorder. This article provides school practitioners and management with a review of what constitutes ‘best practice’ in school management of students with depressive disorders. It adopts the mental health intervention framework of the Institute of Medicine, considering how school-based intervention occurs across the four domains of mental health promotion, prevention, case identification and treatment, as well as maintenance of students with or at-risk of depression. It provides a checklist for practitioners at each stage of the Institute of Medicine intervention spectrum. Moreover, it takes the view that best practice in psychology is always evidence-based practice, although discerning a clear path through the available research is not always obvious.

This paper looks at social skills intervention programs for students. The arguments and research evidence for teaching social skills are discussed as well as the issue of which social skills should be taught. Conclusions are drawn about the most effective kind of intervention programs and arguments are presented for educational psychologist to work in collaboration with teachers to present social skills programs. The issue of peer reputations is discussed.

Intervention is considered the ultimate goal of the diagnostic process. However, when diagnostic assessment is largely focused on student (mal)adjustment and when the role and perspective of the teacher is not systematically evaluated, the assessment may fail to generate useful recommendations for intervention or teacher consultation. Based on a descriptive case report, the potential contribution of the Teacher Relationship Interview in making the assessment phase more relevant to intervention is outlined and illustrated.

The present study examined the association between adolescents’ extracurricular activities and bullying perpetration and victimisation. The sample was drawn from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health dataset. Analyses included descriptive statistics and logistic regression for the early adolescent and middle adolescent groups. Among early adolescents, sports were negatively associated with victimisation. Participation in clubs/organisations, organised activities or lessons, and community services were negatively associated, while employment was positively related to bullying perpetration. Among middle adolescents, all extracurricular activities were negatively related to victimisation. As for bullying perpetration, organised activities or lessons and community services were negatively associated with bullying. The study highlights the potential for sport and extracurricular involvement as ways to possibly deter bullying perpetration and victimisation. Future research should consider these associations longitudinally.

The Internet provides access to electronic mail (e-mail), chat rooms, visually represented social interactions, voice and video connections, games, and general Word Wide Web (www or web) surfing. For children and adolescents the Internet has three main uses: information-gathering, entertainment, and interpersonal communication. Many adults fear that youth Internet use will result in negative consequences. Other individuals promote the use of the Internet as supporting positive growth in children and adolescents. This article presents an overview of some of the main areas of concern regarding Internet use as well as its possible benefits. It is hoped that this information will assist school counsellors and psychologists support positive youth Internet use while avoiding negative aspects of Internet involvement.

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children — Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and the Stanford-Binet — Fifth Edition (SB5) are two of the most commonly used intelligence tests for children and adolescents. No comparative studies of the WISC-IV and SB5 have yet been published. In the current study the WISC-IV and SB5 were administered in counterbalanced order to 30 typically developing 12- to 14-year-old adolescents. There was a significant difference between Full Scale IQs on the two measures, with scores being higher on the WISC-IV. A significant difference was also found between Verbal IQs and there were large score differences for some participants. The article concludes that the WISC-IV and SB5 cannot be presumed to be interchangeable measures of intelligence.

This article describes a novel format for enhancing the professional skills of school counsellors who are faced with increasing demands to adopt a consultancy model in order to manage their work responsibilities. The system, known as SHARK-Net, utilises the Internet in a consultancy model which links school counsellors with expert support. The purpose of this article is to describe the communication features of the system and how information is managed, and to explain its benefits to the development of consultancy skills among school counsellors.