The Psychologist Goes to School

New Zealand Listener, Volume 24, Issue 622, 1 June 1951, Page 20

The Psychologist Goes to School

Extracts from "Psychology in the Service of Education," a talk recently broadcast for the NZBS by

Protessor

F. J.

Schonell

, Dean of

the Faculty of Education at the

University of Queensland. .

UCCESS in school is almost as much deperident on emotional attitudes as on ability. That is, how a child feels about his school, his teacher, his different subjetts, partly determines his succes§..in school, how he thinks, and how effectively he learns. Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to concentrateif’ you ‘have been upset or if ious, how difficult it is to at you: want to. say when you speak =béfore a "group for the first time, "how hard it’ is" ‘to think clearly or keep your mind on.your job if people are critical of you or your "work, and how well you apply yourself if people encourage you. How often does a child, who ‘has’ been absent for three or four weeks; ‘come tack to school fearful of "he e~has missed--mainly of the : he has missed or forgotten. esth situation is made worse for a returning child by a seemingly heartless little egotist who says, "Yes, while you were away we had three new kinds of sums." The child’s worst fears are realised and his confidence falls still further. The wise teacher reassures the child that, although work has been

| C-O ee oO OO missed, she will help him. Such understanding puts new heart into the child. * * a ~ ‘We are not all the same and cannot all achieve the same scholastic levels. It sis. far from true that "all men are born. equal"; at least, in learning power ‘that -is, im intelligence. We now know that in every representative school population there are almost. 12. per cent who cannot keep pace with the average pupil; no matter how hard they try, because of their lack of intelligence. Yet there are still some misguided teachers who cane or criticise these pupils for not reaching certain levels, though the same children may have done their best within the limits of their capacities. Thus a boy of 10 with a mental age of only. 8 is doing quite well if his reading, spelling, writing and so on are equivalent to those of an eight-year-old-

to blame him or chastise him for not feaching a ten-year-old level is unjust, and may cause him to lose confidence in what he can do, or‘to become antagonistic, surly or rebellious. That he cannot master certain arithmetic or spell some difficult words doesn’t matter tuppence as a preparation for life. But to antagonise him, to give him a sense of failure, to undermine his confidence in his powers and to neglect to develop his practical interests or his social adjustment does matter immensely. In addition to this 12 per cent of handicapped pupils there are three to four per cent of bright children who experience special . difficulties ‘in school work. For example, some months ago I examined a boy of 11 who could do intelligent tasks equivalent to those (continued on next page)

demanded of a 13-year-old, but whose reading and spelling was mot as good as that of the average seven-year-old. By using specially graded material and employing a_ tracing writing method of learning to read, he caught up nearly three years of reading ability in six months. And with it was a distinct change in attitude--he became confident, co-operative and happy. x x * One development which has helped the handicapped child immensely has been the establishment of Child Guidance Clinics. At the Child Guidance Clinic three sets of specialists pool their knowledge to help handicapped or maladjusted children. There is a psychiatrist, a doctor specially qualified in psychological problems, such as the reasons for certain kinds of peculiar behaviour, such as dislike of certain. people, an irrational fear of, say, ink or paint, an extreme unwillingness to be away from mother, or persistent lying. There is a psychologist, specially qualified in educational problems, in giving intelligence tests and in finding out why a pupil is failing in his work by giving tests and using errors as symptoms just as a doctor does: Then there is the psychiatric social worker specially qualified in finding out what effect the parents’ attitude or the home conditions has on the child’s difficulties. These specialists work as a team for the benefit of each pupil who finds it difficult to adjust himself to school life. Each year all over Britain many thousands of children, some dull, some delinquent, some neurotic and almost all of them backward, are helped towards better mental health. But there are far from enough Child Guidance Clinics, mainly due to an extreme shortage of these three sorts of specialists, psychiatrists, psychologists and psychiatric social workers, Recently at the University of Birmingham, in conjunction with the Medical School, we have opened a University Remedial Education Centre. This, the first of its kind in England, combines the function of a Child Guidance Clinic and a training centre for psychologists and teachers of handicapped pupils. %* * During the past decade we have found that over 60 per cent of juvenile delinquents-the peak age for whom is 13 years-are either unable to read or are very backward in reading and writing. This is significant, for children or young people who cannot read often look for compensation in other ways. Yet apart from very low mental defectives, there is not one child in 20,000 who cannot be taught to read. A systematic and scientific attack on backwardness and maladjustment means an attack on later unhappiness, delinquency and mental illness. A/l these children will one day become citizens and most will become parents and employees (and while it is a good thing to find new citizens for a country, it is a better thing to see that every potential citizen has a full chance of realising his powers and becoming a happy, adjusted, and useful individual, for on satisfied and effective citizens, the working of a full democracy depends).