School Counselling in a Chinese Context discusses research in school counselling in the Chinese context of Hong Kong schools and various educational settings, and provides a contextualized understanding of counselling issues. This book highlights key contextual conditions for counselling in Hong Kong – a Chinese society. The sub themes addressed in the book include school practices and teacher perspectives on guidance, counselling, behaviour support and school discipline; whole-school guidance program for identity construction; school counselling for ethnic minority students; contextual influence of the use of play therapy; school counselling for students with minority sexual orientation; Chinese cultural influence on counselling, etc. The book also develops new theoretical orientations to understanding various issues of counselling as arisen in the Chinese society of Hong Kong and helps school practitioners to develop culturally responsive approaches to school counselling for personal growth, spiritual and emotional education. The themes addressed in the book include: School practices and teacher perspectives on guidance, counselling, behavior support and school discipline .School counselling for ethnic minority students .Contextual and cultural influence of the use of play therapy .School counselling for students with minority sexual orientation .Chinese culture influence on parental participation in counselling School Counselling in a Chinese Context will be of interest to postgraduates and researchers in the field of Counselling, school psychology, child development and Chinese studies.
[Copyright © 2016 Taylor and Francis.]

Hong Kong secondary schools are concerned about the prevalence of student misbehavior. This paper reports the finding of a study investigating the characteristics of a resilient school and how resiliency was developed. Case studies of four secondary schools were conducted using interviews and textual analysis. Teacher and student discourses on discipline and resiliency were explored from the perspective of social constructivism. The narrative approach will also be employed (Clandinin & Connelly, 1995). The similarities and differences between school features were identified. Qualitative data from interviews and school texts, i.e., data concerning the school ethos, school rules, policy on behavior management, and the handbook for the school guidance team and school discipline team, were collected. Themes generated from the data were analysed, with the use of Grounded Theory Approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The findings have shown that the narratives of school participants revealed the features of school resiliency, which could be built up with the dynamics of school, home, police force and social workers. Implications for the development of guidance and discipline policies and that of resiliency programme will be given. There will also be policy implications for the enrichment of teacher training programs.

This chapter aims to enhance teacher’s knowledge of the codes of ethics in counselling, to heighten their awareness of ethical issues and their competence in handling them, and to highlight the need for recognizing professional counselling work. The chapter begins with an exposition of the necessity for teachers to study counselling ethics, followed by a discussion of the importance and limits of the ethical codes, covering also significant ethical issues relevant to school counselling. In the discussions a case study format is adopted. By referring to several typical school counselling cases, the complicated and contradictory nature of ethical issues is illustrated. On the basis of the ethical codes laid down by Western and local professional counselling organizations, methods appropriate to the Hong Kong school culture and social environment are proposed.

This chapter aims at giving teachers a comprehensive view of the origin of guidance, the development of school guidance in Hong Kong and the impact of social changes on the implementation of school guidance. In this chapter, two major policies concerning school guidance in Hong Kong will be introduced: (1) Whole-school Approach to Guidance, and (2) Comprehensive Student Guidance Service. The rationale, objectives, principles and strategies of the implementation of these policies will be explained with a view to reflecting on how to work with the present approach of school guidance service, help students develop the abilities required in everyday life and meet the challenges they encounter in their personal growth and development.

School counselling in Hong Kong eagerly look for effective ways to support students in needs. In this study, psychosocial condition was mainly conceptualized as well-being, aimed at improving the psychosocial effects by cultivating a state of mindful awareness, as school counselling intends to achieve. The study aims to 1) examine the participants’ constructs of mindfulness; 2) evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the programme, and 3) to evaluate its possible impacts for improving the psychosocial condition of student in the context of school guidance. Finally, the implication for the development of cultural approaches to counselling will be discussed, in against the situation that the counselling theories and practices currently adopted by Hong Kong schools are mainly “borrowed” from western societies.