Purpose:
• Promote the child’s best interests in all themes, projects, and actions of ISPA.
• Develop, foster the development of, and cooperate in, initiatives to fulfill the rights, needs, and potentials of children as appropriate to ISPA’s Mission.
• Promote a good quality of education for all children in all parts of the world.
• Promote a good quality and quantity of special services in education for all children, including school psychological services.
• Develop, manage and sustain liaison and cooperative relationships with international and regional agencies, NGOs, organizations and institutions (e.g., UNESCO, UNICEF, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Child Rights Connect, WHO, Education International, NEPES) and projects (e.g., Education for All, Child Rights Education for Professionals [CREDPRO].
• Facilitate child rights education, policies and practices for school psychology professionals.
• Promote and support the child rights advocate role for school psychologists
An example of this is the development of the The School Psychologist as an Advocate for Children’s Rights: Accompanying Manual and Supplementary Materials, by the Tulane University Child Rights Team (TURCT), in collaboration with the Child Rights Education for Professionals Program (CRED-PRO) of the International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD), In ternational School Psychology Association (ISPA), School Psychology Division (Division 16) of the American Psychological Association, and Cleveland State University School Psychology Program. Published online, 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, NY; as resource for International Handbook on Child Rights and School Psychology, Editors: Bonnie K. Nastasi, Stuart N. Hart, & Shereen Naser.Provide opportunities for and support ISPA affiliates and members in projects and programs serving the rights, well-being and development of children through school psychology.
• Provide programs for ISPA Conference
• Provide an annual ‘Status, Prospects, and Recommendations’ report to the ISPA Executive Committee and membership regarding high priority challenges and opportunities of relevance for school psychology in promoting the rights, well-being, development and health of children.
• Take full advantage of bringing the activities of the former Child Rights, UN Liaison, and Child Development and Services Committees under one umbrella to promote synergy and cooperation, e.g. combine expertise, shared purposes, and access to different external organizations to facilitate the implementation of policies/programs aimed at strengthening and applying the diverse roles and contributions of school psychology and school psychologists internationally to serve the well-being of children, their families, schools, communities and nations.