The School Psychologist
- Author:
Livie-Noble. Duckworth. 8s. 6d.
The appearance of a book called The School Psychologist is of great interest to everyone engaged in educational or psychological work. There is a growing appreciation of psychological work in schools on the part of those to whom a service is available, yet until now no one has written at length about the psychologist’s work.
The book is however, exceedingly disappointing. There is in it a mixture of elementary text book knowledge and a personal account of Mr. Livie-Noble’s own work, which is by no means typical and which cannot, and many psychologists will think should not, become a pattern for the future.
Mr. Livie-Noble himself points out that the work of Psychologists in Public Schools (his own field) should not be compared too closely with that of the Psychologist to a Local Education Authority. He envisages a consultant who is also a Psychotherapist. He would invest in one person the whole variety of work involved in educational and vocational guidance as well as requiring him to be a Psychotherapist. He outlines a training course which unless it is to be superficially covered is beyond the reach of most-people and yet, at the same time, is an inadequate preparation for therapeutic work.
The book attempts far too much. It suggests a somewhat forced gathering together of any information relevant to psychological disturbance in childhood, adolescence and after, and includes sections on normal development of personality. This is, of necessity (in some 250 pages), all presented without much cohesion and with little application, but a personal viewpoint colours the whole. One cannot help feeling that the book would have been more useful if it had kept within the scope of its title and contained a clear statement and discussion of the Psychologist’s role in educational guidance in the widest meaning of that term. G.R.
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