The significance of the interculturally competent school psychologist for achieving equitable education outcomes for migrant students

Abstract

This article examines procedures and processes that result in the over-referral of migrant students to separate special education programmes and, as a consequence, their exclusion from general education. The particular focus is on the role of the school psychologist in this process. The empirical study is a comparison of Swiss teachers' and school psychologists' responses to the paper case of a boy with behavioural and learning difficulties whose name and ethnicity was varied so that one version identified him as from an ethnically mainstream, Swiss German background and the other as a migrant and foreign first language speaker. The results show that, compared with teachers, school psychologists' assessments and choice of interventions demonstrated less cultural bias and higher levels of intercultural competence. These findings support the call that school psychologists have a vital role to play in the reduction of discrimination against migrant students and in the implementation of a more inclusive and equitable education system.

An overview of internationalization and its relevance for school and educational psychology

“…This fact is certainly not a limitation of these two articles or others that briefly mention the term, nor does it suggest that existing scholarship in school psychology has been completely unrelated to internationalization. On the contrary, in addition to the work presented in this special issue, there are many other good examples of work and scholarship that clearly relate to internationalization for the profession (e.g., Arora et al., ; Farrell et al., ; Lanfranchi, ; Nastasi, ; Oakland & Hatzichristou, ). Over the past years, my colleagues and I have also been engaged in empirical work directly related to the topic (e.g., Begeny et al., , in press), but this initial work was not focused on comprehensively describing or conceptualizing internationalization.…”

“…Many have also described how internationalization strengthens researchers' and practitioners' professional development in locations around the globe, including but not limited to their university training (e.g., Turner-Essel & Waehler, 2009). This arguably helps to enhance professionals' intercultural competence-or critical consciousness-so they are better able to meet challenges (domestically or internationally) that arise within a globalized society (Lanfranchi, 2014;Ng, Choudhuri, Noonan, & Ceballos, 2012). Similarly, intercultural knowledge and understanding should directly help to minimize the number of psychology professionals who lack multicultural interest or "competencies" (Leong & Leach, 2007;Oakland, Jones, & Callueng, 2012), hold culturally encapsulated assumptions about theory or practice (Pedersen & Leong, 1997;Pieterse et al, 2011), or, at worst, harmfully misapply knowledge or resources developed within one country to clients in (or from) other countries (Gerstein & Ǽgisdóttir, 2005;Leung, 2003).…”

“…Of course, this perspective extends to psychologists practicing outside of counseling, such as school psychologists, and to professionals working outside of the United States (see, for example, Farrell, McFarland, Gonzalez, Hass, & Stiles, 2014;Lanfranchi, 2014;Spilka & Dobson, 2015;van de Vijver, 2013). It is similarly important to recognize that globalization not only requires professionals within a respective country to address within-nation diversity through factors such as immigration and/or bicultural identity (Arnett, 2002;Marsella & Pedersen, 2004), but it also offers greater opportunity for professionals to participate in international work (Berzins, 2008;Farrell et al, 2014;Hurley, Gerstein, & AEgisdóttir, 2013).…”

The role of schools in providing educational opportunity: An integrative review

“…Experts are also necessary when it comes to ensuring decisions are not marked by bias. Lanfranchi (2014) analysed the assessment procedures primary school teachers and school psychologists in Switzerland used to decide whether to refer students for placement in special education or in‐class support. Lanfranchi (2014) found that school psychologists demonstrated less prejudice and higher intercultural competence in their decision‐making when compared to teachers.…”

Impact of internal migration movements on the schooling process in Turkey: Supervisors’ views

“…In that sense, both for the well-being of students and engaging migrant parents in the schooling of their children, we call for including more well-trained school counselors as research indicates that they play a vital role in the improvement of adaptation to new school contexts and in the implementation of a more inclusive and equitable education system as research indicates that migrant students showed less cultural bias and higher levels of intercultural competence compared to that of teachers (Lanfranchi, 2014).…”