We live in turbulent times. Much has been said and written about the sociological, political and technological changes of the eighties. I do not intend to detail those changes here, but to refer to the impact that those changes have for us in our communities, and in particular, our schools, and consequently, our Guidance services.

We have always lived with change and the success of the human species has been inpart due to our adaptability to our changing environment. In this century, and especially this decade, we are facing new and possibly greater stresses related to the rate of change and our feeling of powerlessness in influencing the direction that those changes are taking.

School psychological services in Victoria are provided by Student Services, which is not a school based service. The staff includes Guidance Officers, Psychology Officers, Social Workers, Welfare Officers, Interpreters and Speech Therapists. Services are provided to pre-schools, special facilities, government and registered schools. This paper focuses on the psychological services provided.

Haskell'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.