CHILD GUIDANCE SERVICE

Northern Advocate, 8 December 1936, Page 6

CHILD GUIDANCE SERVICE

PROFESSOR FITT’S SCHEME

[Special to <£ Northern Advocate .”o AUCKLAND, This Day.

Proposals for the commencement of a child guidance service under the direction of the Professor of Education at the Auckland Uinversity, Professor A. B. Fitt, r for the purpose of assisting schools and parents and the various organisations to understand, solve or prevent the various problems of children, were outlined by the professor in a report submitted at a meeting yesterday of the Auckland University College Council. Professor Fitt advanced the view that such a service would assist to solve the problems of the various “misfits,” which came from trying to make people do what they could not do, instead of putting them in their right niche, and from such conditions as misunderstood temperaments and faulty upbringing.

Some of the Activities. Some of the activities which would be included in the work of the proposed service, he said, were as follows; (1) Co-operation with the schools in investigating the extent to which behaviour problems, as distinct from those of subnormal intelligence, are felt to be acute, such as incipient delinquency, truancy or unwillingness to attend school.

(2) Investigations in cases where there appeared to be marked discrepancy between ability and attainment. (3) Where schools welcome cooperation and assistance, to suggest possible methods of overcoming difficulty, and to attempt definite treatment in specific cases, where assistance is sought by the school, parents, child welfare officers or by somft other person. Study For Teachers. (4) To collect the material, case records, etc., concerning personality problems occurring in children in our local schools.

(5) To encourage and give opportunity for study and research in this field among university students and teachers in training.

(6) To co-ordinate the work of various groups, which are already contributing, or can contribute, to the study and treatment of problems of children—e.g., Medical treatment, psychological testing, the work of social agencies. (7) And to educate the community to appreciate the importance of mental health, and the significance of behaviour problems—especially in childven.

Question of Finance. Professor Fitt said there were many services, such as he proposed, in various, parts of the "world, and there was a child clinic—the nucleus of such service—in each of the other three universities in New Zealand. The proposal presented an excellent opportunity for the college to make a very important contribution to the community and to the schools of the Dominion. The work would be essentially a public service, preferably a free one. and might be financed either by a grant from the Education Department of between £SOO and £6OO to cover the whole cost, or by the department bearing the full course of a lecturer’s salary, the lecturer giving half-time in the Auckland Child Welfare branch and half-time in the College Guidance Service. There was at least one person in New Zealand qualified for such work, Miss Doris Potter, M.A., who had just returned from England, where she specialise) in the particular field mentioned. The report was referred to the Pr 3 ■ fessorial Board for a report.