School psychologists'/counselors' role and functions : awareness of a need for them by principals, teachers, and parents of Sidon schools - Lebanon

Six areas of research questions were addressed: 1) awareness of a need; 2) type of categories (consultant, diagnostician, therapist, educational programmer, and researcher) of school counsellor's role and functions; 3) referral agent to handle problems; 4) place of existing school psychology services; 5) level of education preferred for the school counsellor; and 6) licensure of school counsellor. Data were obtained from Sidon city schools. A questionnaire containing items related to the key research questions was generated. The instrument, a 66-item questionnaire originally written in Arabic language, contained a combination of demographics, of Likert-type scale questions, and a checklist of type of problems for referral, and need of school psychologist. The investigator conducted follow-up interviews, one-on-one interviews and focus group interviews, with principals, teachers and parents at the selected schools. Totals, means and percentages were obtained. A series of t-tests was calculated to compare levels of perceived need among and within different groups. A high percentage (69%) of respondents perceived the need for school counsellor's role and functions. No significant difference was found for the categories of school counsellor as consultant, diagnostician, therapist, education programmer, and researcher between principals from both private and public schools. The investigator conducted follow-up interviews with principals, teachers, and parents and focus group interview with principals at selected schools. All consumer groups perceived the school psychologist as needed.