Schools alarm bell: long wait list for student psychology assessments

Thousands of Tasmanian students are stuck on waiting lists to see school psychologists, which has prompted stark warnings from experts. Here’s why.

Close-up of child listening to therapist during consultation Picture: iStock

More than 2000 students in the public education system are languishing on waiting lists to see school psychologists, prompting experts to issue a stark warning about potential adverse mental health outcomes and behavioural issues arising as a result of the backlog.

Figures released in budget estimates hearings last month revealed that 2217 students were on the official waiting list as at March 31 this year but the Australian Education Union (AEU) says the number is likely to be much higher because some kids drop off the list when their parents get tired of waiting and can afford to seek help from a private practitioner instead.

The average waiting time for students to receive an initial psychologist assessment and subsequent intervention during the period of April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024 was 448 days.

College of Educational and Developmental Psychologists Tasmanian branch chairman Darren Stops said the ratio of school psychologists to students in the state school system was inadequate and they were not paid enough.

Darren Stops of the College of Educational and Developmental Psychologists at his Bellerive practice. Picture: Linda Higginson

He said students suffering from mental health issues and other trauma were more likely to exhibit “difficult behaviours” at school.

“We also know that … not being able to engage in learning [is] really hard if you’ve got other things distressing you. And obviously the big thing we see is that lots of kids with anxiety … [are] not attending school and not being able to get to school because of mental health issues,” he said.

Formerly the national adviser to the Australian Psychological Society on psychologists in schools, Mr Stops said it was better for students to access psychological care at school because there were “less barriers” involved compared to a private practice.

“You don’t have to book appointments, you don’t have to go outside of school and take time off school. Parents don’t have to come and pick you up and take you to an appointment,” he said.

“And the service in a school is much more integrated and can work with helping teachers to support young people and their success at school.”

Mr Stops said the government needed to offer better pay and incentives to school psychologists if it wanted to bring down the waiting list.

Generic classroom photo.

Tasmanian Association of State School Organisations operations manager Jessica Bennett said she had heard of “a lot of pushback into the private sector” as a result of the long wait times within the school system.

“[Parents] shouldn’t have to have the means to pay for it or the knowledge and the will and the ability to find somebody to go through, jump through all the hoops that you need to jump through to get your child [seen to],” she said.

Ms Bennett said it was problematic when students in their crucial development years were waiting more than a year for intervention from a psychologist.

“We’re talking about those early childhood years, the pivotal years where we can set things up for kids to learn in the best way that they can learn and get their education,” she said.

AEU President David Genford. Picture: Chris Kidd

AEU Tasmanian president David Genford said it was “heartbreaking” that some kids ended up feeling like they were “stupid” or “failures” the longer they were left waiting for help.

“This school psychologist waitlist crisis is worsening the divide between the haves and the have-nots: kids from families who can afford to fork out a fortune to see a private psychologist will end up with better supports for their education than kids who rely on public schools to provide the education they deserve,” he said.

A Department for Education, Children and Young People spokeswoman said record numbers of professional support staff were being recruited to help improve student wellbeing, engagement, and learning.

“These efforts will be bolstered with almost $10 million to be invested over the next four years to further increase the number of professional support staff in our schools,” she said.

“Additional recruitment initiatives have increased remuneration and enhanced career pathways through the creation of promotable positions between base-grade and senior levels.”

The spokeswoman said there were also scholarships available for ten eligible university students to become school psychologists.

Originally published as Schools alarm bell: long wait list for student psychology assessments