The present study investigates the relationship between school students' part-time employment and their academic engagement and psychological well-being. High school students completed a questionnaire assessing the quantity and quality of their employment, cognitive and behavioural aspects of their academic engagement, and levels of stress they were experiencing. Employed students reported significantly greater stress in terms of less ability to cope with day-to-day events than did students who were not employed. Employed students also reported comparatively lower levels of attentiveness and cognitive engagement at school than students who were not employed. Gender effects also emerged: boys appeared to benefit more from employment than girls both in terms of lower levels of depression and higher self-concept when work conditions were positive. Implications for both individual counselling and whole-school welfare are discussed.

The development of effective coping resources, including positive thinking and an increased sense of self-efficacy, is related to enhancing resilience and healthy development in young people. A universal school-based prevention program that adapted techniques cognitive therapists use for depressed children, and directly based on the work of Seligman (1995), was implemented over a six-week period to whole-class groups by classroom teachers within their regular school curricula. Learning was facilitated through the use of stories, cartoons, hypothetical examples, practice and role-plays. Fifty-eight Year 5 and 6 students from four schools in regional and rural Victoria completed pre- and post-program questionnaires on self-efficacy, coping and attributional style. Following program participation, children reported significant improvements in optimistic thinking and self-efficacy, as well as a reduction in the use of the non-productive coping strategies of worry, wishful thinking, not coping, and reliance on friends. These promising results provide evidence for the feasibility of implementing a low-cost, non-intrusive program that addresses the emotional well-being of all young people in school settings. The longer-term success and viability of any universal preventive programs may ultimately depend upon the extent to which such programs can be integrated into the mainstream curriculum practices of schools.

The guidance role in Queensland is undergoing change so it is important to update our knowledge of how the changes have affected the guidance role. An 18-item questionnaire was used to obtain details of characteristics and daily work of 155 guidance officers. The results show demographic information, guidance officer:student ratios, professional membership, qualifications and daily work. These results are discussed and implications for guidance officers' work and training explored.

The study was a qualitative analysis of secondary students' perceptions towards their school disciplinary absence, the wider context in which it occurred, and its impact on their behaviors and re-entry to school. Findings showed that suspensions had mixed effects on the students. Many of the students including those wanting to improve their behavior, reported no change or worsening behaviors on return to school. Those who reported improved behaviors and greater self-control had, in most cases, received support or participated in alternative programs during and after their suspension. Students identified factors that impacted on the success or otherwise of their returning to school and improving their behaviors. Suspension experiences varied considerably indicating their individual meaning for students and the need for individual approaches to address their needs. A teacher reference group reflected many students' perceptions. Implications for the use of suspensions and reducing the number of school disciplinary absences were discussed.

The present study explores the link between perceived control (locus of causation and perceived competence), self-reported coping style (productive and nonproductive coping), and depressed mood amongst a sample of high school students. Internal locus beliefs positively predicted productive coping and negatively predicted non-productive coping. Perceived competence positively predicted productive coping and negatively predicted depressed mood. Non-productive coping positively predicted depressed mood. Findings are discussed with a focus on the implications for counselling professionals in promoting adolescent resilience to depression..

Career development is a lifelong process influenced by a range of factors including gender. The process of career development is accounted for in several ways including models which describe stages through which individuals pass. Career education programs in schools attend to the career development of young people in secondary schools more often than in primary schools. The present study examined the occupational aspirations of Year 6 children in terms of developmental stages and the influence of gender. Data were collected before and after the children participated in a short term career education program. Comparisons were made of the pre-and post-test data.

This paper overviews school psychology at the close of the 20th century, exploring the profession's location within public sector bureaucracies. The paper draws liberally from various literatures: the dynamics of globalisation and its impact on nation-states, perspectives on public sector organisational change, developments in school psychology, international perspectives from practicing school psychologists, and, a case example which illustrates the dynamic and problematic relationship between organisational reform and professional practice. The paper concludes with several themes around which practitioners are encouraged to reflect upon the profession, and their own practices, with the view to considering how best to develop pro-active responses in their own organisational and workplace circumstances.

This paper arose from a call for submissions by a working party of the British Psychological Society charged with the task of drawing up guidelines for the multidisciplinary management of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. We begin by considering the notion of ADHD as an ‘evolving concept.’ Multimodal interventions are generally recommended, and this necessitates multidisciplinary practice; however, such collaboration may be difficult because of differing beliefs about ADHD amongst the parties concerned. Some recent Australian documents on ADHD management are discussed, drawing out some issues relevant for multidisciplinary collaboration. These include the primacy of the medical model and the notion of functionality as contrasted with a dysfunctional view of problematic behaviours.

This study, conducted over a 20 week period, focused on a group of primary school teachers as they implemented a variety of intervention actions, within their class programs, directed towards supporting the reduction of high levels of communication apprehension (CA) among students. Six teachers and nine students, located across three primary schools, six class groups, and four year levels, participated in the study.

An action research paradigm incorporating a series of case studies was used to describe each teacher's journey as he/she responded to the diverse needs of individual students with high CA levels. The principal data collection methods used in this study included the Personal Report of Communication Fear (PRCF) scale, semistructured interviews, and dialogue journaling. The PRCF scale was used as a screening tool to identify students experiencing high levels of CA.

Semistructured interviews, conducted by the researcher at the beginning and conclusion of the action research process, provided valuable information relevant to each student. Dialogue journaling was the medium by which teachers engaged in written discourse with the researcher, discussing the growth, development, and progress of individual students. Entries in dialogue journals comprised a significant component of each teacher's case study.

Six case studies document the teacher's action research journey. These case studies recount the teacher's perceptions of their endeavours to minimise the problems that arise with primary school students experiencing high CA levels. In particular, they highlight the fact that teachers are faced with diverse problems and plan to resolve these in different ways.

This paper investigates the use of Narrative Therapy in a high school. The focus is on demonstrating the use of Narrative Therapy in working with students who demonstrate at-risk behaviours especially with a view to building resiliency. It is proposed that to fully understand the value of Narrative Therapy, theory supporting this approach should be discussed. Underlying this approach is the recognition that a better understanding of theory will extend the practice of Narrative Therapy. To that end this paper approaches the use of Narrative Therapy on two levels, (a) a description of the theory that supports the practice of Narrative Therapy. This description focuses on the language and practices associated with Narrative Therapy. Specifically, issues around stories are discussed at length, and (b) a case study is presented attempting to bind theory to practice. It takes the reader on a journey by a student who was at-risk to her developing resilient behaviour. Initially, several key words and phrases are introduced as direct representations of the theory of Narrative Therapy. As the case study unfolds additional descriptions of theory impacting on practice are presented. The final outcome is a comprehensive description of a counselling approach that has relevancy in dealing with the complex issues of mental health resiliency in schools.