A Comparative analysis of school psychology practice in Mongolia and China: Alignment with the NASP 2020 professional standards

Abstract

School psychological services play a critical role in promoting educational equity and supporting student mental health. Although Mongolia introduced 22 legal mandates for school psychologists in 2021, their alignment with international benchmarks—particularly the NASP 2020 Practice Model—has not yet been systematically evaluated. This study applies a functional mapping methodology to comparatively analyze school psychology frameworks in Mongolia and China. National mandates were systematically mapped against the 10 domains and 92 practice indicators of the NASP 2020 model to assess structural alignment and identify professional gaps. The results indicate that Mongolia’s mandates exhibit approximately 90% alignment at the macro-domain level; however, notable micro-level imbalances persist. Significant professional voids were identified in Legal–Ethical Practice (Domain 10) and Data-Based Decision-Making (Domain 1), while relative strengths were observed in family–school–community collaboration (Domains 7 and 8). To address these disparities, a phased “22+8+10” operational mapping strategy is proposed, outlining an expansion toward 40 core professional functions by 2030. This operational mapping provides a feasible pathway for Mongolia to achieve parity with international standards while strengthening context-specific practices.