AN INVESTIGATION OF ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE PRACTICE OF SCHOOL-BASED PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES Ms. Monica Thielking B.A. Youth Affairs, RMIT University B.A. Honours Psychology, Swinburne University Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology in the School of Life and Social Sciences at Swinburne University of Technology March, 2006 ii DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I declare that this dissertation is my own account of my research and does not contain any work that has been previously submitted for a degree at any institution, except where due reference is made in the text. To the best of my knowledge this dissertation contains no material published by another person, except where due reference has been made. The ethical principles for research as stipulated by the Australian Psychological Society and Swinburne University of Technology have been adhered to in this research. Several papers have been presented at conferences and published during the process of completing this thesis. These papers have used parts of the data analysed in the thesis. A list of the published papers is included for interest in Appendix C. Monica Thielking 17 March 2006 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to acknowledge my husband, David, for his support, friendship and love. The path to becoming a psychologist has been both challenging and exhilarating and he has always walked close by me, through the various terrains in which it has taken us, sometimes carrying my load when I felt that I could go no further and always sharing in my delight when I reached heights never before achieved. Now, I enthusiastically look forward to the next chapter of our life and journey together. Thanks go to my family, for providing support and encouragement and for the extra care when needed along the way. I must also acknowledge all my friends, especially ‘the (wonderful) book club’, who have all provided a sense of balance and joy to my busy work and study schedule. A huge acknowledgement goes to my supervisor Sue Moore. Her constant encouragement, professionalism and dedication never waned. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity of being supervised by Sue. I would also like to thank my second supervisor Ann Knowles for her advice, Christian Bickham for reading my thesis and for all his valuable feedback, those that read and provided information towards the history section of this thesis, all my lecturers and tutors who have shared their knowledge and passion for psychology over the last ten years that I have been at Swinburne, and finally the library staff, particularly Mez Wilkinson, for their willingness to assist over the last few years. I would also like to acknowledge the participants of this research study, particularly those who helped to disseminate surveys and who voiced an appreciation and need for the topic under investigation, thus helping to increase my motivation by giving meaning and purpose to the study. Last, but definitely not least, I acknowledge my other fellow-traveller and study- buddy: Julie Fricker. Studying wouldn’t have been half as fun if it wasn’t for sharing it with you. Thank you so much for all the support, friendship and laughs. iv ABSTRACT The provision of school based psychological services in Victorian primary and secondary schools dates back to well before the Second World War. Since then, however, the activities that make up the role of school psychologists have changed substantially. School psychologists’ roles have become more varied than the original psychometric focus and reflect a more systemic approach to the conceptualization of student problems. Within Australia, school psychologists can be found servicing single or multiple schools in the government, independent and Catholic school sectors, fulfilling a range of functions and dealing with a diversity of student issues. However, Australian academic research into the professional practice issues associated with the provision of school-based psychological services is rare. Therefore, this thesis sought to investigate a range of professional issues associated with the provision of school-based psychological services for Victorian school psychologists working in single and multiple schools in the government and non-government primary and secondary school sectors. In addition to surveying Victorian school psychologists, principals and teachers were also surveyed in order to ascertain their attitudes towards school-based psychological services. The sample consisted of 81 school psychologists, 21 principals and 86 teachers. The results revealed that school psychologists participate in a variety of activities, including a number of activities that reflect a systemic model of service delivery. They also deal with a broad range of student issues, some of which are quite serious in nature. However, the study also revealed a number of professional issues that were in need of improvement. Some of these included a lack of participation in regular supervision for school psychologists, school psychologists’ dissatisfaction with some industrial and professional conditions associated with their role and differences in attitudes between psychologists, principals and teachers regarding the activities and responsibilities of school psychologists. Results from the study provide plausible evidence for the need to support school psychologists in the valuable work that they do within schools through improved industrial conditions, appropriate professional development, and regular supervision. Furthermore the results also reveal a need to educate and participate in dialogue with the educational community in order to increase understanding of school psychologists’ roles and professional responsibilities. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW 1 Definition of school psychology 2 United States school psychologists and school counsellors 4 CHAPTER TWO: SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY IN AUSTRALIA: THEN AND NOW 6 Overview of Chapter Two 6 History of school psychology in the Victorian Department of Education 6 Pre-second world war era (1890-1939) 7 Post-second world war era (1945-present) 7 The system today 17 Prevalence of psychologists working in Victorian schools 18 The Catholic and independent school sector 19 Qualifications of school psychologists 20 Should school psychologists also be teachers? 21 CHAPTER THREE: THE ROLE OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS 24 Overview of Chapter Three 24 Issues facing young people 24 vi The need for school psychologists 27 The types of student issues dealt with by school psychologists 30 Role diversity 33 School psychologists’ preferred role activities 38 CHAPTER FOUR: CURRENT ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH THE PRACTICE OF SCHOOL-BASED PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES 40 Overview of Chapter Four 40 School community perceptions of school psychologists 40 Professional issues associated with the role as perceived by school psychologists 45 Confidentiality 46 Other ethical dilemmas 54 Dilemmas involving administrative pressure to act unethically 55 Dilemmas involving assessment and report writing 56 Need for supervision 57 Job satisfaction 61 Burnout 65 Conclusion to Chapter Four 69 CHAPTER FIVE: THEORETICAL MODEL OF SERVICE DELIVERY 71 Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework 73 A systemic model of service delivery for school psychologists 75 Limitations of a systemic model of service delivery 79 Conclusion to Chapter Five 84 vii CHAPTER SIX: AIMS OF CURRENT STUDY 86 Overall purpose 86 Specific aims and research questions 86 School psychologist research questions 87 Role activities 87 Student issues 87 Supervision 87 Professional development 87 Job satisfaction 88 Ethical dilemmas 88 Systemic model of service delivery 88 Burnout 88 School psychologist, principal, and teacher research questions 89 Responsibilities of school psychologists 89 Teachers’ understanding of school psychologists’ role 89 Teachers’ expressed need for school psychological services 90 Principals’ attitudes towards school psychologists’ participation in a systemic model of service delivery 90 Summary of aims and hypotheses 90 CHAPTER SEVEN: METHOD 93 Participants 93 Principal demographics 94 Teacher demographics 94 Materials 94 Questionnaire development 94 School Psychologist Survey 95 viii Psychologist demographics 95 Supervision 96 Professional development 96 Role of school psychologist 96 School Psychologist Responsibilities Measure 97 Student issues 98 Job satisfaction 99 Ethical dilemmas 99 Model of service delivery 100 Importance of model of service delivery 101 Burnout 101 Principal Survey 102 Teacher Survey 102 Procedure 103 Recruitment 104 School psychologist data collection 104 Principal data collection 107 Teacher data collection 107 Analyses 107 CHAPTER EIGHT: RESULTS 108 Preliminary analyses 108 Reliability analyses for scales used in the present study 108 Validity analyses 109 Normality analyses for measures used in the present study 110 Reducing the risk of committing a Type 1 or Type 2 error 113 ix Descriptive analyses and hypotheses testing 113 School psychologists’ role 113 Are there any differences in activities for psychologists working in government and non-government schools? 115 Are there any differences in activities for psychologists working in single and multi-service schools? 116 Student issues 117 Psychologists’, principals’ and teachers’ perspectives on the responsibilities of school psychologists 123 Role boundaries 124 Dual relationship