The present study examined the association between adolescents’ extracurricular activities and bullying perpetration and victimisation. The sample was drawn from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health dataset. Analyses included descriptive statistics and logistic regression for the early adolescent and middle adolescent groups. Among early adolescents, sports were negatively associated with victimisation. Participation in clubs/organisations, organised activities or lessons, and community services were negatively associated, while employment was positively related to bullying perpetration. Among middle adolescents, all extracurricular activities were negatively related to victimisation. As for bullying perpetration, organised activities or lessons and community services were negatively associated with bullying. The study highlights the potential for sport and extracurricular involvement as ways to possibly deter bullying perpetration and victimisation. Future research should consider these associations longitudinally.

Previous studies have shown that collaboration between school counsellors and other stakeholders such as teachers and administrators leads to improved outcomes for students and a better school climate. The current qualitative study explored the experiences and perceptions of novice school counsellors in India regarding collaboration with teachers and administrators. The sample included 11 novice school counsellors working in five different cities who were recruited using purposive sampling. The thematic analysis of the data collected via semistructured interviews revealed six main themes: ‘Counsellors’ perceptions about collaboration’, ‘Collaboration with teachers’, ‘Collaboration with administrators’, ‘Challenges faced during collaboration’, ‘Strategies helpful in collaboration’ and ‘Impact of training’. Implications discussed include the need for school counsellors to advocate for their role, the need for training programs to prepare stakeholders for collaboration, and the need for policies to integrate the role of a school counsellor into schools.

School counselling has the potential to deliver significant support for the wellbeing of children. However, much of the research on school counsellors has been conducted in developed Western countries, with very limited research into factors influencing the effectiveness of counsellors in lower middle-income countries or in Asia. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate the perceptions of Filipino counsellors about their roles, and factors that supported or impeded their effectiveness. Seventeen school counsellors in the Philippines were interviewed, and the data were analysed thematically. Our findings suggest that Filipino school counsellors often carry out dual roles, experience a lack of role clarity, and are systemically disempowered in their schools. Relationships with school principals have a significant influence on counsellors’ roles and positioning in schools, and therefore on their effectiveness. The ability of principals to foster a school ethos supportive of counselling is essential in enabling counsellors to leverage the multifunctional nature of their work, become embedded and centrally positioned in the school community, and enhance their effectiveness. Doing so can enable counselling to be more culturally accessible to young people.

Underutilisation of school counselling services was prevalent prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as a framework, this qualitative study seeks to elicit salient beliefs towards help-seeking from a school counsellor in secondary school contexts. Through focus-group discussions and individual interviews, 29 students from 10 secondary schools were interviewed. Constructive content analysis was utilised to identify specific salient behavioural beliefs, salient normative norms and salient control belief. The salient beliefs identified include perceiving counselling as a form of professional help, nonjudgment, stigmatisation, and past counselling experience. This study identified and highlighted a systematic approach to understanding specific socio-cognitive factors that support and hinder school counselling utilisation in an Asian school context. Implications arising from the study were discussed in the light of the findings.

Trusting and supportive relationships with school counsellors can help first-generation college students access college despite barriers. In this narrative inquiry, 11 first-generation college students in the United States shared stories of their positive relationships with their former high school counsellors. After an iterative and consensus-based data analysis process, we summarised our participants’ grand narrative with five themes: family context, school counselling delivery, relationships with school counsellors, impact of relationships with school counsellors, and suggested improvements. Participants valued how school counsellors helped them advocate for themselves, build their confidence, and feel encouraged and accountable through individual meetings, career counselling, and college guidance. School counsellors can offer targeted and relational interventions to help first-generation college students access and persist through college.

The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) and wellbeing (WB) on students’ academic achievement, particularly in developing countries; thus, it becomes necessary to understand the nature of these concurrent relationships. This study aimed to explore the relationships between SES, WB and academic achievement, based on the data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018 within the Turkish context. In this cross-sectional study, we used hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis to explore how the independent variables predicted academic achievement in blocks based on data from 6890 students attending 186 schools. The study revealed that the model, including the independent variables, predicted students’ achievement in reading, mathematics and science; however, the prediction level of demographic factors and domains of WB were very low, while SES had the highest prediction level. The results offer insights into the predictors of academic achievement and educational inequalities in the context of a developing country.

This study aimed to verify the different effects of peer support on academic hatred depending on the levels of teachers’ academic pressure. Additionally, we examined the effects of academic hatred on academic burnout and engagement by applying the job demand-resources (JD-R) model. Data were collected from 43 classes at 8 high schools (N = 1015, 94.2% response rate, 57.3% women) in South Korea. The results of a multigroup analysis were as follows: (1) peer support served as an important resource in classrooms experiencing high teachers’ academic pressures; (2) peer support directly affected academic burnout and engagement, and reduced academic hatred; and (3) reduced academic hatred served as a mediator for lower burnout rate and increased engagement.

Adolescents with emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD) continue to struggle in the school environment. They may have difficulty connecting to their school environment as their engagement in challenging behaviour may have led to frequent school removal and high rates of school dropout, resulting in a breakdown of their school connectedness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate levels of school connectedness for adolescents with EBD attending self-contained classrooms and compare them to adolescents in general education. The School Connectedness Questionnaire (SCQ), measuring school bonding, school attachment, school engagement, and school climate, was administered to 50 students with EBD and to 50 general education students (n = 100). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted. The results indicated that of the four domains of school connectedness, students with EBD reported significantly higher levels of school climate. These youth also reported significant differences on four specific items representing three of the four construct domains. The results indicate that adolescents with EBD may experience school differently. Researchers should continue to examine specially designed programs for students with EBD that emphasise explicit behavioural and academic expectations and social and emotional skill development and its impact on school connectedness for adolescents with EBD.

Today’s children are born into a climate crisis and are increasingly exposed to its effects. Eco-anxiety is an emotional response to climate crises. Numerous recent studies have shown that the prevalence of eco-anxiety is increasing among children. School counsellors are uniquely positioned to lead educators, parents, and students on how eco-anxiety can be addressed within schools. However, this phenomenon has not yet received attention in the school counselling literature. This conceptual article aims to convey the importance of school counsellors’ knowledge and consciousness of the relationship between ecological crises and mental health and to discuss their roles in schools in this context.

In India, school psychology is an emerging field of study. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has mandated the appointment of school counsellors to boost mental health through counselling, life-skills education, and career guidance. In the present study, the school counsellor implemented a five-minute meeting to quickly interact with students to promote their wellbeing. Using universal sampling, data were collected from 78 students using a Google survey form at one of the leading private schools in Meerut city of Uttar Pradesh State, India. The findings of the study indicated an improvement in the personal-social and school-career domains of students’ wellbeing. Approximately 72% of students reported being happy, and 58% shared being friendly (personal-social domain). Nearly 68% of students reported doing well in the school (school-career domain). Moreover, 65% of students expressed willingness to meet with the counsellor. The initiative received an overwhelmingly positive response (82%), indicating that it has increased the value of support for these students. This initiative provided an opportunity for both the counsellor and students to get to know each other and allowed the counsellor to plan individual and group counselling sessions as needed. Prospective studies could employ robust methodology with a larger sample size to evaluate the effects of this initiative on mental health outcomes.