vacant post of school psychologist when he reported that no qualified Bermudians had applied for seven jobs to be filled by non-Bermudians in September.

Education Permanent Secretary Dr. Marion Robinson said Education Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons was talking about teacher posts only.

Mr. Simons, responding to questions from Shadow Education Minister Miss Jennifer Smith in the House of Assembly last week, said no qualified Bermudian teachers or non-Bermudian teachers on employment contracts had applied to fill seven posts which have been offered to non-Bermudians to be recruited from abroad.

His comments brought complaints from three Bermudian psychometrists who have been in the school system for 13 years and applied for the post of school psychologist left vacant by Dr. Guy Fowle last year.

Psychometrists are trained to measure mental ability. But Miss Smith said while the three Bermudian applicants did not have a required doctorate in psychology, they worked under Dr. Fowle and carried out tasks which would normally be done by a psychologist.

She warned that having counsellors who cannot culturally identify with Bermudian students could cause serious repercussions. And she said if there was a need to hire anyone, he or she should be a clinical psychologist.

Dr. Robinson, however, stressed: "He (Mr. Simons) made no reference to the school psychologist post which is a civil servant post. He was referring to teachers.'' She also noted that the psychologist post called for someone with a doctorate in psychology and three years' post certification experience, preferably in a school setting.

The present school psychologist, Dr. Amy Swan, has a PhD in educational psychology, an education specialist certificate in school psychology and is a nationally-certified school psychologist, Dr. Robinson pointed out.

And Dr. Fowle, who is now in private practice, made it clear that he has a doctorate in paediatric psychology, gained experience in clinical child psychology and worked as a social worker in Family Services before taking the post in education.

Dr. Robinson said the new school psychologist, who is expected to fill Dr.

Fowle's post in the next few weeks, will have a doctorate degree in clinical psychology and will be qualified in the school arena.

She also pointed out that one of the three psychometrists had a Masters in counselling psychology which was not the depth of training required in school psychology.

"The other two we gave a sabbatical to upgrade their training,'' she added.

But she said the psychometrist's role was to focus on assessments of children and their needs, before drawing up plans on how teachers could work to meet the students' needs.

Senior Education Officer of Student Services Mrs. Joeann Smith, who supervises the three psychometrists and assisted Dr. Robinson with the school psychologist interview, further explained that psychometrists' major role was to receive referrals and complete psycho educational assessments.

"They do a complete psycho educational assessment on the level the child is functioning and look at their achievements and any social or family problems,'' she said. "Then they make recommendations.'' The school psychologist, on the other hand, was mainly responsible for direct student counselling, Dr. Robinson said.

"They are involved in any kind of testing for academic and social problems, evaluating the tests and setting out a plan of who shall be involved in providing services to the students.'' She said the school psychologist was also involved in checking the psychometrists' reports.

Dr. Robinson said that she had taken a personal responsibility in recognising the "importance of psychologists establishing a positive relationship with students''.

She said during the overseas recruitment process for the psychologist and teachers, she questioned applicants "very intensively about their working experience with students from different cultural backgrounds''.

"I'm very sensitive to how they respond or do not respond,'' she said.

"Certainly, we would like to have Bermudians. But so far we have not been fortunate to have a Bermudian, except for Dr. Fowle, with doctoral qualifications.'' The Hon. Gerald Simons.