Taking charge of the future. From states of anxiety and dependence to becoming actualised professionals

Abstract

Between the mid 1940's and the mid 1980's psychology, guidance and counselling services were established and rapidly expanded within Australian state departments of education. This occurred in a socio-political context where the values of social justice and concern for the disadvantaged were regarded as important by communities looking to governments to reflect these values through appropriate policies and programs. Since then a distinct change has occurred. Economic Rationalism and the move to greater school autonomy has led to the abandonment of central structures and centralised training that supported professional psychological services in schools. Schools increasingly will be expected to “buy in” contracted services as perceived needs arise. The resulting deprof essionalisation, whilst shared at this time by psychologists in other agencies, is particularly threatening in the case of school psychology. By destroying continuity of service and the possibilities of building of long-term relationships, it will reduce opportunities to initiate those school-wide initiatives that can maximise the impact of case work. The authors are of the view that, given the prevailing ideology, governments will persist in ridding themselves of responsibility and the expense of providing psychological and counselling services to school communities. At the same time information from principals suggests that schools' will find it difficult to afford these services from their limited global budgets, despite urgent and growing need for more, not less school-based support for teachers, students and parents. As a profession we must look to old and new models of service delivery and devise practical ways of providing cost-effective, equitable and high quality services to schools. This paper attempts to bring forward the issue as one for urgent debate and planning by our professional associations. Rather than let the profession wither away or end up providing services for the wealthy only, we must take action ourselves to see that it not only survives, but thrives. ( In this paper, the terms guidance officer, school counsellor and school psychologist are used as if they are interchangeable. The reason is that education departments around Australia use different names for those of their student support workers who have qualifications in education, psychology and counselling.)

Inside the Vortex: School Psychology and the Dynamics of Public Sector Transformation

“…Our existence as a profession will to a great extent depend on our ability to contribute positively to a needed discussion about the main social questions in our society as they are seen today, (p.8) Similarly, in a review of a number of innovative school psychology services programs from different states across the U.S., Franklin (1995) concluded that school psychology services are increasingly being asked to re-examine their roles, functions and skills, and need to resist the temptation to remain locked into models of delivery that are 'comfortable.' This view is shared by Drent and Murphy (1997) in their paper on recent developments in Australian school psychology. Oakland (1996) who has been researching patterns of school psychology internationally for the last two decades offers three meta-strategies for ensuring a viable future for school psychology into the 21st century : firstly, the need to find ways of aligning ourselves with all of education not just with special education, secondly, the need to actively promote the health of 'community', and thirdly, the ability to be able to use well the basic building blocks of child development.…”

“…This approach has value for helping professionals employed within public sector organisations. While we are typically employed to undertake certain functions, it is essential for our professional and personal health that we find ways to pursue themes or strands of experience that provide both work satisfaction and professional growth ( Drent and Murphy, 1997) . In his best seller, Covey (1992) distinguishes between areas of concerns and the areas of influence in our lives.…”