School Psychology International

Relationships between negative life events, perceived social support and emotional problems were assessed in a national representative sample of 1053 adolescents in eighth grade. Thirty-one percent of the adolescents reported that they had experienced at least one negative life event during the last year. Serious illness or injury among close relatives or friends was reported as the most prevalent negative life event. Negative life events were significantly associated with emotional problems among both female and male adolescents. Moreover, support from parents, friends and teachers was directly, negatively associated with emotional problems in both sexes. Finally, results indicate that support from parents moderate the relationship between negative life events and emotional problems among adolescent girls.

The educational inclusion of pupils with special or additional educational needs is being promoted internationally. One would expect that professionals for whom the group identity as ‘special professional’ is both important and perceived as being under threat, would only be supportive of inclusion if it could be orchestrated in a way which fosters that identity. This article provides a review of the research literature concerning social group identification and perceived threat with particular reference to derogation of the out-group, perception of group structure and in-group affirming behaviour. This article provides the context for findings from a scale about social identity (devised for this research) concerning an email group oriented to professionals working with children with special needs (n= 105). The survey identified three social identity factors (perceived typicality, public reference to the group and identification with prototypical group members). High (compared with low) email group message senders were less likely to see themselves as typical of workers in the field but more likely to identify with SEN as a group. The work has conceptual interest in that it supports recent theorizing in social identity in an area for which there is a need for a greater variety of studies having good ecological validity. The work also has considerable relevance as an example of the possible application of psychological theories to the special needs context of fostering effective change concerning inclusion and integration.

Master Mind is a commercial game, popular in the 1970s, that has been extensively used in psychological and educational research. Here, a dynamic assessment format is developed in order to test metacognitive skills in individuals with mental retardation. The main objective is to obtain valid scores that adequately reflect individual differences among low-functioning individuals. Sixteen persons with mental retardation and 13 of average intelligence were compared on static and dynamic Master Mind scores. Scores for subjects of the mental retardation sample were also obtained on the ICAP adaptive functioning score (Bruininks et al., 1986), and on a metacognitive functioning scale, the Cognitively Enriched Behaviour Matrix(Mora and Mora-Merchán, 1995). The latter was administered while participating in a thinking skills programme, Comprehending and Transforming (Mora, 1997) following assessment with Master Mind. Differences between persons with average intelligence and mental retardation were statistically significant on all processes and both on dynamic and static scores. More importantly, dynamic scores on Master Mind were related to adaptive behaviour (d= 0.482, p< 0.001), and predicted metacognitive functioning in the learning environment of the thinking skills programme (d= 0.727, p< 0.001). Neither IQ nor static scores related significantly to these criteria.

This article reviews the requirements to practice for educational psychologists in the main employer base in the Republic of Ireland. The discrepancies between recruitment standards by the main employer of educational psychologists in Ireland and the training standards for the profession as laid down by the governing body for psychology are debated. The implications for the profession are considered. The need for a shared vision, a consensus of opinion in relation to the identity, role and function of educational psychologists and the need for a proactive response to address training skills shortages are explored.

Organizational change in education, as manifested by school reform, is indeed complex. In this article, we describe our experience with organizational change and analyse it using organizational change theories common in education. An evaluation of the reform initiative yielded unexpected problems related to sustainability. As a result, this article revisits the assumptions from the organizational change literature that guided our change strategy. This reflection led to the discovery of key theoretical ideas that, although less familiar, may have more practical utility for those engaged in organizational change within schools.

Researchers and clinicians develop prevention programs for problem gambling. These programs, which mainly target youths, are usually applied within the school environment by teachers. It would be useful to verify beforehand whether teachers understand this problem and to evaluate their interest in applying these rograms. We surveyed 517 teachers in order to assess their knowledge and attitudes with regards to gambling habits among youths. The results show that teachers have a good understanding of youth gambling problems. However, they are not ready to spend time on the prevention of gambling, even though they show interest in learning more. Recommendations to increase teachers awareness toward youth gambling are discussed as well as their general attitude and knowledge toward gambling.

A questionnaire survey was conducted in Hong Kong to investigate the types, frequency, popularity and quality of continuing professional development (CPD) in school psychology. The results indicated that 60 percent of the 32 respondents received regular supervision, however, the majority met their supervisors less than once a month. The characteristics of their supervisors also suggested that the supervision tended to be administrative instead of professional in nature. The most popular CPD activities were attending conferences/seminars, self-study and individual supervision. Large variation was found among the school psychologists from different work settings. The few school psychologists in private practice reported the least amount of CPD activities. The results are discussed with reference to the need to establish regulatory systems with mandatory CPD.