The personal development of students is an essential component of school guidance and counselling programmes, but no published research on guidance and counselling has investigated the effects of regular classroom teaching on students' self-efficacy for personal development. In this study, questionnaire items were constructed to measure classroom teaching, student self-efficacy for personal development and student use of deep learning strategies. Data were collected from 16,208 secondary school students in Hong Kong. Using structural equation modelling, regular classroom teaching was found to have a direct effect on personal development self-efficacy as well as an indirect effect through student use of deep learning strategies. Implications of these findings for implementing a whole-school approach to guidance and counselling are discussed.
[Copyright of British Journal of Guidance & Counselling is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2012.721126]

Schools in Hong Kong are concerned about the growing enrolments of students with special educational needs (SEN) and how these students could be included in school guidance. This study examines teachers' narratives of the inclusivity of school guidance. The study was qualitative, being a case study of a Hong Kong secondary school. School documents were collected for textual analysis and semi-structured interviews with 13 teachers were conducted, including nine guidance teachers and four other teachers who worked closely with these guidance teachers. Four dimensions for the inclusivity of school guidance were identified: the development of inclusive practices of guidance, the adoption of a proactive approach, the promotion of inclusive discipline, and the clear definition of the partnership between school guidance and professional organization offering specialised services for students with SEN. The study provides insights into contextual influences of Hong Kong education on school guidance and the development of an inclusive approach to guidance.
[Copyright of British Journal of Guidance & Counselling is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2011.646950]

The study is part of a larger project involving a phenomenological inquiry into the lived experiences of tongzhi students in Hong Kong public schools. The research question of this article focuses on the counselling experiences of nine Chinese lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning/queer (LGBQ) students aged 14–18 in Hong Kong Chinese secondary schools. We conducted qualitative data analyses via a software package for data coding and data reduction. Four themes emerged: Feeling fearful: judging my sexuality; Feeling disengaged: omitting my sexuality; Feeling alienated: pathologising my sexuality; Feeling supported: making an effort to understand my sexuality. The findings from the present study inform the development of school counselling within Chinese societies by generating recommendations about counsellors' professional codes of ethics, counsellor training and practice.
[Copyright of British Journal of Guidance & Counselling is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2012.718735]

This study investigated the effects of a small group process-based forgiveness intervention with Hong Kong Chinese children who judged themselves to have been hurt and chose not to forgive their offenders. An experimental versus control group, with pre-test/post-test design was used. The quantitative and qualitative findings revealed that the forgiveness participants out-performed their counterparts in forgiveness attitudes, psychological well-being and conceptual understanding of forgiveness. The forgiveness intervention had an impact on their decision and emotion to forgive. Empathy was considered a key strategy in forgiveness. Implications of these findings for future forgiveness intervention in school guidance were discussed.
[Copyright of British Journal of Guidance & Counselling is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069880902728572]

This study explores factors affecting the involvement of regular secondary school teachers in the whole-school approach to guidance and counselling by interviewing 12 secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. Emerging themes include teachers' ownership of their role in student guidance and counselling, the alignment of their disposition with education policies, school missions and culture, and their philosophy in education. Findings of what these teachers are actually doing in guidance and counselling are presented. Implications for policy-makers, administrators and leaders for comprehensive guidance and counselling programmes are drawn from constraints that limit interviewees' full potential in assisting students.
[Copyright of British Journal of Guidance & Counselling is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069881003674962]

This study involved interviews with 13 adolescents with high levels of suicidal ideation. It aimed to understand how these adolescents perceived their family, school and peer relationships, and how they perceived these systems as their support. Comparison between adolescents with severe and mild suicidal ideation showed that the family, school and peers could act as effective support systems in times of stress. A close interpersonal relationship was the key factor in unlocking these support systems. The school as a support system was highlighted. Implications for school guidance and counselling to strengthen the social support of adolescents and adolescents' resiliency were discussed.
[Copyright of British Journal of Guidance & Counselling is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069880701384452]

School guidance seeks to promote the whole person growth of students. It is regarded as an integral part of an educational programme. In Hong Kong secondary schools, a team of teachers are responsible for school guidance. This article examines how guidance teachers made sense of their caring work in general and specifically the counselling services they offered to students. With the use of a narrative analysis and personal experience methods, the study explores the experience of guidance teachers in counselling. Twelve in-service teachers who had enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme at the Hong Kong Institute of Education were interviewed. The influence of the Chinese philosophy of Confucianism, emerging as a theme from the data, was prominent, as its key principles were incorporated into the teachers' personal systems of counselling. The findings illuminate the influence of Chinese culture in Hong Kong schools. Implications for the promotion of culturally responsive approaches to counselling and culturally competent practices for helping are discussed.
[Copyright of British Journal of Guidance & Counselling is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069880802088929]

The perceptions which students and teachers in Hong Kong have of school guidance were investigated, with specific reference to the match and mismatch in their respective views. A survey of 2,045 secondary students and 267 teachers revealed that students and teachers held similar beliefs about school guidance, demonstrating convergence rather than divergence in perceptions. The results showed assent by both groups to proactive and developmental guidance, with some reservations about remedial guidance. Both groups affirmed the role of teachers in individual guidance and its helpfulness, and teacher participation in guidance as a means of school improvement of guidance. Divergence in views was mainly in the magnitude of agreement. Moscovici's theory of social representations is employed to explain the findings. Implications of the findings for the concept and development of guidance are discussed.
[Copyright of British Journal of Guidance & Counselling is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069889808253854]

This study examined the implementation of forgiveness as a guidance programme with Hong Kong Chinese adolescents in the classroom setting. The forgiveness programme was based on Enright's process model of forgiveness. The effectiveness of the programme was evaluated, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Findings showed that it is viable to promote forgiveness as a classroom guidance programme. Though no significant improvement in participants' self-esteem and hope was found, participants showed a better understanding of forgiveness, had a more positive attitude towards their offenders, and were more willing to apply forgiveness as a strategy. They also evaluated the forgiveness programme positively, specifically the use of an experiential approach. The implications of this study for student guidance and counselling were discussed.
[Copyright of British Journal of Guidance & Counselling is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069880412331303286]

This qualitative study involving 30 teachers, followed by a survey of 895 teachers, investigated Hong Kong teachers' perception of a whole-school approach to guidance and its practice. Findings revealed that teachers perceived a whole-school approach as fostering student development and as a system of management. Teacher dedication, communication, and team spirit were considered as facilitating factors for its implementation. Findings also revealed an overall mismatch between teachers' beliefs about a whole-school approach and their perceived school reality, and that a wholeschool approach was not seen as practised in the majority of schools. There was a close relationship between schools' guidance focus and their implementation of a whole-school approach. Schools implementing a whole-school approach were considered to have both a preventive and developmental guidance focus and practice. Implications for the implementation of guidance are discussed.
[Copyright of British Journal of Guidance & Counselling is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/030698880220106528]