Teachers and Counselling Services in Victoria

Abstract

As I see it, the Counselling, Guidance and Clinical Services branch is ineffective, irrelevant and a vastly expensive enterprise.Haskell, The Age, 6.7.1982Haskell's public evaluation of the Victorian Education Department's Counselling, Guidance and Clinical Services branch (CGCS) was an unqualified indictment of the agency responsible for the social, emotional, and educational needs of students. He argued that CGCS's diagnostic services were largely irrelevant to the needs of students, parents, and teachers, and that professional officers had built barriers between themselves and the teaching force. As a matter of policy Haskell recommended reducing the state's establishment of psychologists to about 15, giving more autonomy to teachers, encouraging direct communication with parents and expanding the number of remedial teachers. Such attacks seldom pass unnoticed. One week later the Director General, Dr Curry, published a complete rebuttal of Haskell's analysis (Curry, 1982). He assured the public that CGCS staff were highly skilled and dedicated to meeting the needs of students, teachers and parents; that CGCS built bridges not barriers between itself and teachers and that if anything, CGCS required more not less staff.