CHILD GUIDANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22596, 8 December 1936, Page 12

CHILD GUIDANCE

A SERVICE SUGGESTED EDUCATIONIST'S SCHEME The establishment of a child guidance service under the direction of his department to assist schools and parents aiul various organisations to understand, solve or prevent the various problems of children was suggested. by Dr. A. B. Fitt, Professor of Education at Auckland University College, in a memorandum to the college council, at its meeting yesterday. There were many such services in Britain and other parts of the world, the memorandum stated. There was a child clinic, the nucleus of such a service, in three other university colleges in New Zealand, the best developed being at Canterbury College. The proposal presented an excellent opportunity for Auckland University College to make an important contribution to the community and to the schools of New Zealand. The work would not be concerned with the ordinary degree work, but would be essentially a public service, preferably a free one, Dr. Fitt continued. A full service would require the whole time of a specially-appointed officer. Parents, schools and social organisations could use it in many ways to help or solve the difficult problems of childhood, which were of a social or psychological nature. For financing the proposal it was alternatively suggested that a grant, might be obtained from the Education Department to cover the whole cost of up to £6OO, or that the department might bear the full cost of a lecturer's salary, the lecturer equally dividing his time between the Auckland Child Welfare Branch and the college guidance service. The memorandum was referred to the Professorial Board without discussion.