Original Articles

I have pleasure in bringing you eight articles which I hope will be helpful for your practice, your research and importantly provide interesting reading. The first original article by Sung Hong and colleagues analysed a large data set from 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health (US) to report greater involvement in sport and extracurricular activities was associated with lower bullying perpetration and victimisation in early and middle adolescence. Their findings suggest that schools which offer a variety of organised activities, with associated adult supervision, are protecting the safety and wellbeing of their students. The next four articles examine the role of school counsellors. Sadana and Kumar report on experiences of beginning school counsellors in collaborating with teachers and administrators, in India, and Harrison et al. report of the importance of the school counsellors’ relationship with school principals, in Philippines. Hafiz and Chong, and Waalkes et al. take a close look at students’ perceptions of school counselling and their counsellor, in Singapore and US, respectively. While these articles draw on the school counselling role in four different countries, I am sure you will agree that many of the practical implications are relevant to counsellors in schools globally. The final three original articles shed light on some important issues for students. Erdem and Kaya report on predictors of academic achievement, Lee et al. examine peer support and Marsh provides insights into the role of school connectedness (school bonding, school attachment, school engagement, school climate) in high school students.

I look forward to announcing some exciting developments for the journal in the coming months. Take care.

Practitioner Papers

I am pleased to introduce two interesting papers for this issue for Applied Practices.

Aysen Kose has provided us with an excellent introduction to the new area of Eco-Anxiety focussing on the role of school counsellors. The article certainly stimulated my interest in this developing issue for children, and the author also helpfully includes relevant resources to guide counsellors in their work supporting students with anxieties about climate change.

The paper “Can a five-minute meeting improve the well-being of students? The Indian School Experience” provides some initial data about the impact of connecting with students as a precursor to more extensive contact if required. Equally the brief connection can guide a decision that no follow-up is necessary at this time. I found the notion of the school counsellor deliberately making themselves visible and accessible using the five-minute model a useful reminder for school counsellors to ensure that students know about them and their potential services.