To die for, Dublin City VEC's psychological service for its schools

Compared with most schools in this country, VEC schools in Dublin city have a psychological service to die for. It could well provide a blue-print for a national psychological service. The CDVEC service boasts four full-time psychologists who work in the VEC's 22 schools.

"Each psychologist has between four to six schools," explains Noreen Breen, chief psychologist with the CDVEC psychological service. Schools are visited by their psychologists weekly or fortnightly. Depending on the size and needs of the school, the psychologist spends up to half a day in the school."

Usually the psychologist will meet a special needs team which includes the principal or vice-principal, the guidance counsellor, the home/school liaison teacher, the special needs teacher and the form teacher of the particular student under discussion.

"The purpose is to bring to the attention of the group students with special needs," says Breen. "The group develops a plan - which is reviewed regularly - of what needs to be put in place to address the student's problems. This approach is both time- and cost-effective."

In the group, the psychologist works as a facilitator. "A lot of people believe that a psychologist can come in and solve all problems, but this is not the case," Breen notes. "We don't come in with a solution - we simply have an angle on things. We help people look at matters differently and from different view points and facilitate their working through issues and arriving at conclusions."

There's a danger that a school psychological service will end up responding almost exclusively to crisis situations. It's vital, Breen stresses, to achieve a balance between individual case work and systemic work. "If schools can be helped to improve their systems of delivery," she observes, "fewer students will present with problems."

"A lot of our work is teacher support - through either individual consultation or in-service. We work with schools to address major issues. Take discipline, for example - you can't look at the issue in isolation. You have to examine other factors . . . how well are the lessons suited to the students needs? Are students coming out of school with a sense of success or failure? Do students feel cared for and have a sense of belonging?"

As well as working with special needs teams, consulting individually with principals and guidance counsellors, CDVEC psychologists counsel individual students, meet parents, conduct psychological assessments and hold case conferences with outside agencies.

Many schools in the CDVEC system are unable to imagine life without the psychological service. "It's a great luxury," confirms Josephine O'Donnell, principal of Marino College, Dublin, "to have someone whom you can trust totally and to be assured always of getting balanced advice - you could say I get counselling myself. You do need a structure in place though. It wouldn't work if the psychologist was coming in but not empowering the teachers."

Noel O'Brien, a remedial teacher at Kylemore College, Dublin, says: "I'm a firm believer in the professionalism and expertise that is available among the teaching profession. The educational psychologist adds another dimension to this and works with us on the basis that we trust each other's experience."