Within and beyond: Some implications of developmental contexts for reframing school psychology

Abstract

Disadvantage negatively affects human development but is amenable to change. Education is important in reducing disadvantage and school psychologists and counselors make critical contributions to reducing inequity and maximizing social mobility. Counselors and psychologists can further enhance their contributions in two ways. The first is to prioritize synergizing the strengths and resilience that all students bring. The second is to reconceptualize “the client” as the ecosystem in which all students develop and learn. Considering evidence through the lens of Bronfenbrenner's bioecological (Process–Person–Context–Time) model, this article presents promising evidence that where deliberate, collaborative efforts are made to strengthen multiple developmental contexts, both within and beyond schools, these can successfully improve student outcomes across multiple domains and have a greater likelihood of achieving scale and sustainability than traditional, individual‐focused therapeutic approaches.

Relationships between role stress, professional identity, and burnout among contemporary school counselors

“…School counselors have various professional responsibilities, such as one‐on‐one counseling, group counseling, primary prevention programs, and parent and teacher consultations. Also, school counselors promote students' academic, social‐emotional and career development, their vocational choice and college transitions, and their healthy personal and social development (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2012; Fan et al, 2019; Hacker & Hayes, 2017; Mullen & Lambie, 2016). In addition to their professional responsibilities, due to unclear perceptions of the counselor's role by other individuals in the school system, school counselors are frequently called on to perform noncounseling duties, such as clerical tasks and administrative duties (Chandler et al, 2018; Culbreth et al, 2005; Kim & Lambie, 2018).…”

How School-Based Wellbeing Interventions, Socioeconomic Status, and Gender Impact Anxiety Development in Middle Childhood

“…When looking through the lens of Bronfenbrenner's PPCT theory, it is indisputable that to create and implement culturally sensitive wellbeing interventions, the cultural and ecological influences on children's development must be understood and considered [45]. Even though wellbeing interventions span several ecosystems and can result in improvements across a variety of developmental areas [46], the value, meaning, and efficacy of wellbeing interventions for diverse populations have recently been called into question. This is because most wellbeing interventions are not designed with diverse populations in mind and are therefore potentially less ac-cessible for children who are not White and middle class [47].…”

Stress, Depression and Turnover Intentions Among School Counselors: Professional Identity and Burnout as Mediators

“…This definition implies that school counselors are primarily teachers who are expected to perform teaching duties concurrently with counseling duties. The ambiguous definition of school counselors means that they are frequently called on to perform non-counseling duties, such as substitute teaching, in addition to their counseling duties (e.g., one-on-one counseling, group counseling; Chandler et al, 2018;Hacker & Hayes, 2017;Kim & Lambie, 2018).…”