Between Mandate and Practice: A Scoping Review of Early Childhood Counselling Needs in Indonesia and Lessons from Eight Education Systems

Imagine a young child sitting in a classroom, struggling to manage a sudden burst of anger or a deep sadness that seems to come from nowhere. For decades, experts have looked at these moments through a medical lens, asking if the child is sick and what medicine might fix them. But a growing body of thought suggests that these struggles are often not just about the child's internal chemistry. Instead, they are shaped by the world immediately around them: the stress in their home, the relationships with their teachers, and the support systems available in their community. This shift in perspective moves the focus from treating a disorder after it has taken hold to building a supportive environment that helps children navigate their feelings before those feelings become permanent patterns. It is a question of how we care for the very young, not just in hospitals, but in the places where they spend their days.

In Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, the government has already written the rules for this kind of care. National regulations state that every school should have guidance and counseling services, aiming for one counselor for every one hundred and fifty students. On paper, the system looks ready to help. Yet, in the real world, most primary schools and preschools operate without a single dedicated counselor. The responsibility falls instead on classroom teachers, who are often expected to handle these complex emotional needs without specific training. A new study by researchers from Mataram University, led by MA Muazar Habibi and Jundu Muhammad Mufakkirul Islami, sets out to understand this gap between what the law says and what actually happens. They wanted to know what emotional needs young Indonesian children face, why those needs arise, and what Indonesia can learn from eight other education systems around the world that have established mental health support for young children.

The researchers did not conduct a new experiment with children. Instead, they performed a wide search, known as a scoping review, to gather and organize existing evidence. They looked at hundreds of studies published between 2015 and early 2026, covering Indonesia and eight other countries: Finland, Australia, Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea. They sifted through data from health clinics, schools, and government reports, eventually selecting thirty-eight sources that offered the clearest picture of the situation. Their goal was to map out the landscape of early childhood counseling, identifying patterns in what children need, what conditions create those needs, and how different countries organize their support systems.

The review revealed a striking reality: the needs of young children in Indonesia are visible, but they are largely uncounted. In various local studies, researchers found that a significant number of young children show signs of behavioral and emotional difficulties. In one community study in Yogyakarta, nearly eighteen percent of children between the ages of two and five had such problems. In a screening of kindergarten children in Banjarmasin, the number was even higher, with up to sixty percent showing probable mental or emotional difficulties. These numbers vary because different studies used different tools and looked at different groups, but they all point to the same conclusion. The problems are real and widespread, yet they are often recorded by health services that do not talk to the schools, leaving the education system unaware of the full scale of the challenge.

The study also found that these difficulties rarely exist in isolation. They are produced by the relationships surrounding the child. The research highlighted that parental depression is a powerful factor; when a parent struggles with depression, the likelihood of their young child having behavioral problems increases dramatically. This suggests that helping a child often requires helping the family. At school, the situation is similarly strained. While national rules say schools should have counseling services, most elementary schools lack them. Instead, classroom teachers are left to fill the void. Surveys show that while almost all teachers accept that counseling is part of their job, the majority feel they lack the knowledge and skills to do it well. They rely on their own instincts and personal experience rather than structured methods, leaving them ill-equipped to handle the complex emotional needs of the children they teach.

When the researchers compared Indonesia to the eight other education systems, a clear pattern emerged. The difference was not in what the policies said, but in how those policies were funded and staffed. In countries like Finland and Australia, counseling is not just a rule on paper; it is a system with dedicated professionals, clear training for teachers, and strong links between schools and family support services. Finland, for instance, uses multi-professional teams that include counselors, social workers, and health professionals to support families. Australia has built national platforms that train teachers and connect schools with mental health experts. In contrast, Indonesia has the mandate but lacks the machinery. The government has set a ratio for counselors, but there are not enough funded positions to fill that ratio, and there is no consistent pipeline of training to prepare teachers for this work.

The researchers argue that the solution is not to simply copy a foreign model, but to build a system that fits the local reality. They propose a new way of thinking called the Integrated Early Childhood Counseling Framework. This framework views the child's well-being as the result of six connected layers: the child themselves, their family, their teacher, the school services, the wider community, and national policy. It suggests that you cannot fix a child's emotional struggles by looking at the child alone. You must also look at the family's mental health, the teacher's training, the availability of community support like local health posts, and whether the government provides the money and coordination to make it all work.

The study concludes that Indonesia's challenge is not a lack of good ideas or laws, but a gap between those laws and the daily reality of schools. The needs of young children are clear, and the relationships that shape those needs are understood. What is missing is the infrastructure to turn the mandate into practice. By funding specific counselor positions, training teachers from the start of their careers, and organizing family support across different sectors, the country could close this gap. The path forward involves building a system where the care for a child's mind is as integrated and supported as the care for their body, ensuring that emotional difficulties are addressed before they become lasting obstacles in a child's life.