Transition towards a Psychological Service

By the late 1960s the balance between child guidance and educational psychology was beginning to change. The Child Guidance Clinic had changed to Child Guidance Centre, and although much of the work was still clinic based, the time spent by psychologists visiting schools had changed little from the 1950s -- on average one day a week. However, pressures were increasing for a more school focused service. The Summerfield Report on the role of Educational Psychology was published in 1968. The profile of educational psychology was developing, and with the retirement in 1970 of Noel Whilde, the Principal Psychologist and head of the Child Guidance Service since 1940, the stage was set for major changes. Judy Bennison, who joined the service in 1967, and Kathleen Cox who joined in 1969 bridged the period of rapid change when David Loxley arrived as the new Principal Educational Psychologist in 1970. He had been appointed by the Chief Education Officer, Michael Harrison, to develop a broadly based Psychological Service, applying psychology not just to schools, but to the whole education department. This was a time of major upheavals in Sheffield schools as Sheffield became one of the first LEAs in the country to complete the move to a comprehensive secondary sector. First, Judy Bennison recalls her time in Newbould Lane, and the pervasive influence of Jungian psychology with its emphasis on the spiritual rather than the material, with a disinterest in the immediate environment in terms of comfort and aesthetics. The goal of Jungian analysis was to reconcile personal experiences with the collective unconscious to attain wisdom.