65° - 01.11.1969, Page 24

who look on it with with contempt and dislike.
There are those who vaguely and probably nega-
tively associate it with notions of magic, religion
and philosophy. Others rightly or wrongly see in
it the dangers of newness and change, ideas moral-
ly destructive. Even now, though psychologists
are beginning to be respected as learned men,
they are far from being accepted as professionals
in a bona fide field.
In 1955 a bill was introduced in the Althing
attempting to install a kind of psychological
counseling service in the schools. It was proposed
that a single man in the Ministry of Education be
appointed as rotating consultant for all the
schools. The Society of Icelandic Psychologists,
founded in 1954, rejected this proposal and the
bill never came to a vote. In 1956, however,
psychological services were begun in the schools
of Kopavogur, and in 1960 a team began its
work in Reykjavik. There are now four school
psychologists and one social worker. Our work is
formally only the elementary schools. We have
worked quietly with teachers, children, parents,
retarded children and to some extent have been
consultants to educational authorities. So far,
however, we still have no legal status beyond a
few sentences passed by the School Board of
Reykjavik regarding school readiness and re-
medial work. We therefore suffer lack of identity
and laok of status. As all members of new profes-
sions we are used, but not accepted. As individual
employees we have no complaint, for we are paid
well enough by the community of Reykjavik and
have no fear of being cast out of our jobs. It is
as professionals that we complain, for until we
are truly recognized our work may suffer un-
duly, with the possible stigma of charlatanism.
How many psychologists are there in Iceland
today?
There are about 18 members of the Society of
Icelandic Psychologists. Three work at hospitals,
five act as school psychologists, two are professors
at the University and some are at the Teachers
Training College. Some are working or studying
abroad or otherwise inactive on the local scene.
In my experience as psychological consultant
in Kopavogur and Reykjavik since 1956, I have
found increasing demands for our services com-
ing from parents and the general public even
more than from the teachers and school authori-
ties. 30—50% of our clients in Reykjavik now
come to us without having been referred. This is
an important development. It might be said that
the teachers and school officials have been re-
luctant pioneers. Perhaps that is the cause of
what I call the general lag in education in Ice-
land.
Are the educational authorities then indifferent
or opposed to psychological work in the schools?
Believing as I do in the importance of psycho-
logy for education, I am impatient to see further
steps taken. The educational authorities in Reykj a-
vik have already financed and efficiently sup-
ported psychological services within the existing
Bureau of Education, but they have not yet legal-
ly introduced it into the schools or embodied it
to any extent in the practical everyday work of
the schools.
It is coincidental but typical that while I write
articles urging a regular system for psychological
counseling at all levels of school, the present
party opposing the government is preparing to
introduce a bill for the same ends, with the pro-
posal that such counseling be connected with
educational research. Since more people are de-
manding it, not the least the psychologists them-
selves, who have been working at it for the past
twenty years, it has become good political ma-
terial. I am of course glad to see this bill, though
its importance lies in the fact that this issue has
finally gained enough popular support to interest
the politicians. They of course must go slowly,
and we must he prepared to see all the parties and
the communal authorities engage in the game of
mixing the issues and using delaying tactics. They
will be resisting change, wanting to save money
and possibly having other motives as well. Many
know little about the field of psychology and I’m
afraid that too many regard it as new-fangled
and unnecessary.
One of the chief objections to the acceptance of
new ideas is the fear that they will entail a loss
of our national identity and our culture. There
is always this danger, and I am a thoroughgoing
patriot in that respect. It is important that the
attitudes of individual countries be respected.
We must not destroy the plurality of cultures or
we will end in a desert of anonymity and same-
ness, yet we must accept new ideas if they are
useful. We should not swallow new ideas in-
discriminately, but adapt them according to our
needs and to our national and cultural traditions.
We are in a changing time and we are not living
up to it. We need new definitions, new roles and
functions and more of a balance and division of
functions between the ministerial and communal
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