Child rights as a framework for advancing professional standards for practice, ethics, and professional development in school psychology

Abstract

The United Nations (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child was designed to promote and protect the survival, development, and well-being of children, thus extending human rights to individuals from birth to age 18. This article examines the consistency of the Articles of the Convention with the professional standards for school psychology, as articulated by the major organizations representing the profession in the USA––American Psychological Association, International School Psychology Association, and National Association of School Psychologists. Although the standards for ethics, practice, and training of these organizations are generally consistent with the UN Convention, the standards lack the specificity provided by the Convention’s 54 Articles. To facilitate the application of child rights’ principles in school psychology practice, we propose a model for integrating the professional standards with the Articles of the Convention. In addition, we describe a curriculum for training of school psychologists, developed through a partnership of several organizations, which is consistent with the model. In the curriculum, the school psychologist is regarded as the mesosystem in the child’s ecology, to characterize the psychologist’s central role in ensuring the promotion and protection of child rights within school, family, community, and society.