A Global Perspective on School Consultation Services: A Long and Winding Road

Historians of psychology acknowledge that psychology as a scientific discipline originated almost at the same time in America and several European countries in the late 1800s (Cole, Am Psychol 61:904–917. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.61.8.904 , 2006). Although later, the theory and practice of school consultation have had an international footprint from its inception (Lambert et al., Consultee-centered consultation: improving the quality of professional service in schools and community organizations. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004; Hatzichristou and Rosenfield, The international handbook of consultation in educational settings. Routledge, 2017). Over the years, scholars and practitioners across the world have studied, taught, and practiced a variety of models of consultation. In several countries, including the United States, Sweden, Israel, the United Kingdom, and Greece, consultation has been practiced in schools. In this chapter, we intend to present: (a) the underlying rationale for why consultation services are foundational to the practice of school psychologists around the globe; (b) how school psychologists in different countries have developed consultation service models, examining what works and does not work through looking at common issues, common barriers, and common facilitators; and (c) addressing a set of guidelines for a transnational approach to training for school personnel, including school psychologist and teachers, based on best practices.