Gap analysis of Vietnamese student counselors’ knowledge competencies

UnrestrictedVietnam has recently been aware of the need for support services for its students who experience a variety of academic and psychological problems due to challenges in life ranging from psychological pressure for achievement to domestic violence. In the United States, school psychologists are trained to work with students to help them succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. The Vietnamese school system, however, lacks personnel with sufficient training in psychoeducational services to adequately provide counseling, intervention, consultation, and assessment to help students with educational and psychological needs. Recently, international collaboration efforts have helped Vietnam to establish its first education program in student support services.; This research was conducted to assess the current knowledge level of Vietnamese student counselors in the areas of professional standards, student diversity, assessment, intervention, vocational guidance, societal systems, crisis intervention, research, and applied technology to develop a curriculum for school psychology in Vietnam. Vietnamese student counselors received most of their training in the area of research methods and the least in crisis intervention and prevention. Implications for future research and recommendations for improvement of student counselors’ knowledge competence were provided