ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the subtle and often unspoken barriers that may have prevented school psychologists from abandoning traditional and predominantly individual-assessment focused ways of working. Following a brief review of the definition of consultation as it may apply to the work of the school psychologist, the chapter considers some of the reasons why school psychologists have difficulties in adopting consultative approaches and offer some promising ways forward. The chapter mainly focuses on the work of school psychologists in the UK and the US, and considers implications for the development of school psychology services in other countries. The barriers have their origins in our history, the social context in which school psychologists work, in the messages emanating from professional associations, and in the confidence and competence that school psychologists feel that they possess in order to undertake what is arguably a more demanding approach to the work.
