The College of Educational and Developmental Psychologists (CEDP) in Australia, like other colleges, has exceptionally skilled and well-qualified practitioners. But, are the differences between the colleges significant? Is some of the psychology practised by one College so different to that of another? It is not clear that there are any general differences. It is at the level of the individual practitioner who, irrespective of her college membership, will either be particularly skilled or not. It seems pertinent to ask what particular skills does our College have over others. What is it that makes the CEDP practitioners different from the focus of other colleges? Practitioners in educational and developmental psychology have been trained across a wide range of psychological domains and practise in diverse areas, such as gerontopsychology and child development. However, in some ways it is about marketing the skill base and aligning with recognised areas of psychology. In Australia there is a bizarre disparity across states and territories vis-à-vis who is qualified to work as school psychologists but who are not members of the CEDP, either through choice or their qualifications not quite aligning. Focusing on bringing this group more into the fray will, in the opinion of the Editor, provide a clearer focus as to one of the areas of practice that falls clearly into that domain. This is an opportunity to strengthen our focus while strengthening the College's ability to accentuate the wide areas of practice that College endorsement offers.
In the first article of this final issue in 2014, Martin and colleagues put forward findings that suggest that personal best goal setting is associated with motivational growth in secondary school students. While the research was restricted to the particular domain of science education, it complements very well Martin's extensive research in this area (e.g., Martinez, Martin, Liem, & Colmar, Reference Martinez, Martin, Liem and Colmar2012). Dillenburger and colleagues present a topical article that considers the benefits of multidisciplinary team work in autism interventions and whether there is, indeed, evidence to support this approach. While Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) has some critics, the authors put forward a reasoned, academic discussion as to why this approach, which includes a multi-disciplinary approach, can have far-reaching benefits in positive autism interventions. In the third article, Hopkinson, Watt, and Roodenberg discuss the benefits of creating an Australian validation of the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children. Their work provides evidence of the validity and applicability of this inventory for use with an appropriate Australian population. In an article by Brubacher and colleagues, they discuss consideration of the types of questioning that teachers should use when trying to elicit specific information for children. This informative article puts forward various suggestions for educating teachers and improving their abilities when attempting to question children especially about wrongdoing. Continuing the theme of educational psychology, Wright discusses the current concerns with the ‘therapeutic turn’ in education. This article brings together a contemporary critique of how mental health and wellbeing are currently presented, as well as considering the historical aspects relevant to this domain.
