School counselling is a well-established means of supporting the mental health of children. Counsellors are most effective when they collaborate with parents, so it is important that parents have a good understanding of and access to school counselling services. Despite this, little is known about parents’ perceptions of counselling in Hong Kong schools. We interviewed 27 parents in Hong Kong to investigate how they perceived the counselling services provided by their children’s local and international schools, and analysed the data thematically. International school parents recognised the potential of school counselling as a means of support for their children and wanted to work more closely with counsellors to a greater extent than local school parents. Parents were confused about the roles of counsellors and experienced stigma and concerns about confidentiality which inhibited them from engaging with counselling services. Our findings suggest that school principals should work with counsellors to establish and communicate roles more clearly. Greater recognition of counsellors’ professionalism, and clearer role differentiation between counsellors and other mental health and educational professionals may improve parental engagement with and support for school counselling. Copyright © 2023 NAPCE.

The international school sector in Hong Kong makes a substantial contribution to educational provision in the city, employing many expatriate teachers. Wellbeing has taken on increasing prominence in international school discourses, but little research has investigated how the wellbeing of international school teachers is influenced by school-level factors. For the purposes of this study, thirteen expatriate teachers from ten different international schools in Hong Kong were interviewed and the data were analysed thematically. The teachers’ wellbeing was found to be influenced by relationships with students, colleagues and senior leaders, and a pervasive climate of accountability. Teachers felt a sense of social isolation associated with cultural differences, and often did not feel supported by their schools. Teachers’ wellbeing, it is proposed, may be improved by the articulation of a shared vision which focuses on classroom-level interactions, an affiliative climate, and an institutional environment which addresses social isolation and protects teachers against an excessive climate of performativity and accountability. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

Developing and maintaining good family relationships is associated with higher levels of wellbeing in children. This may be particularly the case in Hong Kong, where the state of children's mental health is poor, community services are limited, and help-seeking is stigmatized. School counselors, however, are well placed to facilitate parenting programs. Five Hong Kong Chinese parents who had completed a parenting course based on humanistic counseling principles in a school setting were interviewed. The data were analyzed using an interpretive phenomenological approach. Participants developed a repertoire of new skills and experienced a change in perception of their parental role, which they associated with improved child-parent relationships. A small, cohesive, and culturally validating group enabled them to develop and sustain new behaviors consistent with this new conceptualization of parenting. Offering parenting programs in a school setting with Asian parents may be an effective way for school counselors to work with parents. Copyright © 2022 Korean Counseling Association.