Chinese and non-Chinese parents’ perceptions of school counselling in Hong Kong: a mixed-methods cross-cultural comparison

ABSTRACT

Little is known about parents’ perceptions of school counselling in Hong Kong. We adopted an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to investigate Chinese and non-Chinese parents’ perceptions. In phase one, 287 parents in Hong Kong were surveyed. Results suggested that Chinese parents had a poorer understanding of counsellors’ roles, more negative perceptions of counselling, and were less likely to perceive counselling as beneficial than did non-Chinese parents. In phase two, we interviewed 27 parents. Our findings suggested that cultural stigma and school-related factors accounted for the findings of the phase one study. Schools may consider proactive engagement with parents, and establishing communication which is sensitive to cultural norms to promote a better understanding of and willingness to participate in counselling.

KEYWORDS:

• School counselling
• school counsellors
• Chinese parents
• non-Chinese parents
• Hong Kong

Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good health and well-being

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Central Research Allocation Fund of The Education University of Hong Kong: [Grant Number 04A01].

Notes on contributors

M. G. Harrison

Dr M. G. Harrison is an Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Shue Yan University. His research interests are in school counselling, wellbeing, and social-emotional learning. He worked in secondary schools in Hong Kong and the UK for many years, holding several positions of senior leadership, and is also a registered counsellor.

Y. Wang

Y. Wang is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Education at University of Macau. Her research areas cover student well-being, need-supportive teaching, the application of machine learning in educational settings, and large-scale educational assessment.

S. S. Yeung

Dr S. S. Yeung is an Associate Professor at the Education University of Hong Kong. Her research revolves around language and literacy learning from cognitive and psychosocial perspectives. She is also interested in exploring the psychology of learning in higher education contexts.

R. B. King

Dr R. B. King is an Associate Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is interested in understanding the factors that underpin motivation, socio-emotional learning, and well-being in K-12 and higher education settings.