2015 Volume 19 Issue 1 Pages 77-93
The purpose of this study was to examine the scale of the system for the use of school psychologists as well as their relation to age, positions, and affiliations. We carried out semi-structured interviews with school executives and chiefs, making questionnaires with items that we considered to be related to the effective use of school psychologists. Then we performed the survey with the school executives and middle leaders as the focus group and examined the school psychologist system by creating “scale for the usage of school psychologists” and “scale of difficulty in acting/dealing with student problems.”
The research enabled us to identify the following three factors:(1) cooperation with school psychologists, (2) evaluation of school psychologists, (3) usage system of school psychologists. As a result of the survey there was a correlation only between “scale of difficulty in acting/dealing with student problems” and “usage system of school psychologists.” Compared to staff that did not feel the high level of difficulty in dealing with students, the number of staff that felt the school psychologist system is not maintained were suggested to be high.
With regard to (1), (2), and (3) the score of junior high schools was higher than primary (elementary) schools, high schools, and special schools. It can be inferred that the school psychologists are being meaningfully used in the junior high schools. Furthermore, comparisons among positions showed that school principals tended to evaluate the system of the use of school psychologists more highly than the other middle leaders.
