Consolidation and development
Authors: Portwood Peter 
Published: January 2023

The 1950s were a period of consolidation after the upsets of the war years, and the continuing staff shortages up to the end of the 1940s. In 1952 the section of the Annual Report of the Chief School Medical Officer on child guidance in Sheffield was for the first time attributed to the Psychologist in Charge, Mr N. Whilde who had occupied the post since 1940. He notes that the referrals to the service had settled down to a pattern that changed little from one year to the next - boys were referred more than girls, a ratio of around 2:1; schools referred more than 50 per cent of cases and in terms of difficulties; Intellectual and behavioural difficulties accounted for around 80 per cent of referrals. The report also notes that for the first time in many years the service had a psychiatric social worker. The 1953 report notes that for the first time since 1945 the service was fully staffed. However, this was short-lived as two educational psychologists and a social worker resigned at the end of the year. For most of 1954 the service was one psychologist short and had no social workers. There was a vacancy for a senior psychologist, but with no suitable applicants, an assistant psychologist was appointed.

At a national level in 1950 the government had commissioned a committee to look at treatment and provision for maladjusted children. Under the chairmanship of Dr Underwood, the committee produced their report that was published in 1955 (Ministry of Education, 1955). The committee consisted of 17 members, mainly medical doctors working in school medical services, a few head teachers and just one psychologist. Dr Alexander, Sheffield’s Chief Education Officer (see Chapter 1) gave evidence to the committee on behalf of the Association of LEAs, and Mr N. Whilde gave evidence on the incidence of maladjustment in the area covered by the Sheffield clinic (Sheffield, West Riding, Rotherham and Doncaster). Sheffield was well represented.

Amongst its many recommendations, the Underwood Report recommended that all LEAs should have a child guidance clinic with an educational psychologist, psychiatrist and a social worker, and that each should have a school psychological service. It also wanted child guidance clinics to accept referrals of all individuals up to the age of 18, whether or not they were in full-time education. The report suggested that across England and Wales 280 educational psychologists would be needed to work in child guidance clinics, as well as those posts within school psychological services. They noted the need for an expansion of training in psychology at undergraduate level as well as in the postgraduate training of educational psychologists.

The staff shortages in the Sheffield child guidance clinic and school psychological service described above continued throughout the 1950s. An advertised post for a senior psychologist in 1954 failed to attract any suitable applicants, and instead a newly qualified psychologist, Peter Portwood, was appointed as assistant psychologist. Peter remained in the service until 1959 when he moved to Cornwall to become the senior psychologist there, and eventually Principal Educational Psychologist, taking up some important posts in the BPS Division of Education and Child Psychology. His account of the Sheffield Service was written in the 1990s and appears below. Peter died in 2005.