The Queensland Guidance and Counselling Association (QGCA) started its existence as the Queensland Guidance Officers Association (QGOA). The name of the Association was changed in 1988, partly because of the changing role of the members and partly because of the Association's affiliation with the Australian Guidance and Counselling Association.

The QGOA was established at a meeting on 10 August 1982 (held at Milton State School, which then housed the Guidance and Special Education Branch In-Service Centre). Members of the original Executive Committee were: Dave Boyle (President), John Ledez (Vice-President), John Low (Secretary), Margaret Findlay (Assistant to the Secretary), Keith Watson (Treasurer), Bert Curran, Jennie Renton (now Matheson), and Lynne Watts.

The impetus for establishing the QGOA came from a suggestion from Bill Robertson, then a District Guidance Officer, that guidance officers form their own association, as the DGOs had done. (At this time - 1982 - the term guidance officer - also known as permanent guidance officer - was a classified position equivalent to the current term senior GO. Those one rung below, currently termed guidance officers, were then known as seconded teachers. The terminology changed in 1984.) The first record of this attempt to form an association is a letter signed by Dave Boyle, dated 27 January 1982, to fellow guidance officers seeking consensus about what the role of GOs should be (compared with that of seconded teachers). (At the time, there was no role statement; GOs had no supervisory responsibilities - the only constant differences were that GOs were on a different salary classification and didn't get school holidays.) Following the receipt of feedback sought in this letter, a working party met in April-May and decided to canvass the establishment of an association of both permanent and seconded officers employed by the Queensland Department of Education.

A prime motivation in establishing the QGOA was to organise a conference. There had not been a conference of guidance personnel since 1974. This conference was held at the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education (now the Toowoomba campus of the University of Southern Queensland) under Department of Education sponsorship, and such was the behaviour of some participants that senior officers were scandalised and determined that there would be no more conferences. Such was the "hangover" from the 1974 conference that the Executive members needed to do some hard lobbying to gain any Departmental support for the inaugural QGOA conference.

Another prime motivation for the establishment of the QGOA was to provide professional advocacy for guidance personnel in the State system. As early as 1972 there was talk of the need for a Queensland-wide professional association to respresent all GOs/school counsellors, modelled on the then American Personnel and Guidance Association (now the American Counselling Association). The Queensland Counselling Association was established in 1972 (foundation President: Dr W. Sam Beavers) and several senior officers of Guidance and Special Education Branch were members. However, there was a reluctance on the part of rank-and-file guidance personnel to join the QCA, although there was a higher proportion of private-school counsellors in it. Another perceived problem with the QCA representing guidance personnel was that its membership included people such as social workers who were not working in educational institutions and whose primary focus was not guidance.

The first QGCA conference was held in September 1983 at Noosa, which was opened by the then Minister for Education, the Hon. Lin Powell, MLA.

In accordance with the Constitution as it then existed, the first AGM of the QGOA was held during the Conference. Even at this stage, only 13 months after formation, the Association had 144 members (57 primary and 87 secondary seconded teachers/GOs), 55 of whom were at the AGM. The most time-consuming matter discussed was eligibility for membership. Even before the AGM there had been an approach by a DGO to a member of the Executive (recorded in the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 3 June 1983) regarding eligibility for membership of the QGOA, and several senior officers of Guidance Branch were keen to join. After much discussion at the AGM, it was resolved (by 50 votes to 3) that "Associate Membership shall be open to any officer of the Division of Special Education . . . who has been a teacher seconded to Guidance Duties and/or a Guidance Officer (V-8), such Associate Members shall not be eligible to be an officer of the Association or to vote".

Following the AGM there was a heated discussion between two senior officers and the President about eligibility for membership, during which it was implied that unless senior officers were eligible for full membership, financial assistance to the Association from the Branch might not continue. (At the time the President was Acting Co-ordinator of the Transition Education Resources Unit which was housed in the old South Brisbane Town Hall, as was the Branch's Information Officer, and QGOA materials were reproduced at TERU and distributed with regular mail-outs from the Information Officer.) This issue was re-visited at the next AGM.

Elections resulted in the following being re-elected to the positions they had been occupying: Dave Boyle, John Ledez, Margaret Findlay, Keith Watson, Jennie Renton, Lynne Watts. Kit Cameron and Tony Burton were elected Secretary and Executive Member respectively.

Annual subscriptions were raised from $10 to $15, with a rebate of $5 if paid by 31st March.

The AGM lasted 2 hours 10 minutes.

The inaugural Conference was such a success that at the next two Executive Meetings it was resolved to hold another one the following year in Mackay (25-28 June). This location was chosen partly because "it is approximately midway between Cairns and Brisbane" and partly because, at the meeting of 28 Oct 83, a letter was tabled from Tony McDonald (who had been at the inaugural Conference) concerning the possibility of a conference in Mackay, where Tony worked.

Also at this Executive Meeting was tabled a suggestion by Keith Watson that the Association produce a newsletter which should "include a professional segment to which members could contribute and which would serve as a forum for viewpoints, professional experiences etc". The meeting so resolved, but it was to be another year before the first newsletter appeared in November 1984.

Another matter discussed at this meeting was "the need for better communication with . . . Senior Officers" (no doubt arising from the contretemps about senior officers' eligibility for full membership - see above). A view was expressed that "one of the major aims of the QGOA should be to unite, not divide the Guidance fraternity". A step towards this unity was an invitation from Bill Robertson for a representative of the QGOA to attend a meeting of "the committee currently investigating the role of the District Guidance Officer" and the acceptance of this invitation.

Planning for the 1984 Conference was the dominant topic at Executive meetings for the eight months beforehand. Prior to the meeting of 3 February 1984, Tony Burton had driven to Mackay for planning meetings with QGOA local members Tony McDonald and Kerry Royes, and with the Mackay consultant of the Queensland Government Tourist Bureau (for which he was reimbursed $131.80). Also at that meeting it was resolved that Executive members be exempt from paying Conference registration.

However, other matters of importance were discussed. Membership eligibility was almost a constant, brought into focus at the first meeting of the year by the resignation from Executive of Vice-President John Ledez, who, having been promoted to District Guidance Officer at Gatton, was no longer eligible for membership of the QGOA. The Executive elected Jennie Matheson (nee Renton) as Vice-President, and resolved that Peter Wooderson (recently transerred from Rockhampton to Brisbane South) be approached to fill the Executive vacancy. Increasing collaboration with the District Guidance Officers' Association (DGOA) and the possibility of amalgamation of the QGOA and the DGOA (discussed at the second Executive meeting of the year on 20 March, just before a meeting with DGOA Executive members Warren Cowan, Roger Marks and Col McCowan), led to a note in the Minutes that "Executive gave tentative support to widening the membership base, subject to ratification by QGOA members at the next AGM".

At the AGM held in conjunction with the Mackay conference in June 1984, the following changes to the Constitution were passed:

Clause 3.1 Membership shall be open to persons who
(a) have completed a course of training which the Executive recognizes as suitable training for Guidance duties; and
(b) are carrying or have carried out duties of the same or similar nature to those recogized by the Executive as normal Guidance practice; or
(c) have other training or practical experience which the Executive recognizes as suitable for membership of the Association.

These changes allowed membership eligibilty to senior officers of Guidance Branch and guidance officers employed by other systems.

Other non-Conference matters of importance included the possible provision of tertiary courses for practising guidance personnel; the need for professional insurance and indemnity "to provide protection against charges of misleading or faulty information" (Minutes of Executive meeting 3 April 1984), despite the existence of a Departmental letter of 1983 which "offered assurance of Crown protection if an officer carried out his duties diligently and conscientiously" (Minutes, 30 April 1984); the possibility of formation of an Australian Association, arising out of discussions between Peter Wooderson (QGOA Executive) and Bill Page (South Australia), who had attended the Noosa conference; and the desirability of the Association becoming incorporated.

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS

Contributions/corrections are encouraged. We are particularly keen to publish photographs (only one of which - taken at the inaugural Conference - is in the possession of the historian). Rod's addresses are: 89 Weller Road, WELLERS HILL, Q. 4121, or email rdhkr@hotmail.com

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Rod Hardaker's association with guidance started in 1961 when, as a first-year Teacher Fellowship holder, he was interviewed on his academic progress (as was the then custom) by W.J. (Bill) Brown. For part of the next three university long vacations he was employed by the Department of Education as a marker, and later administrator, of guidance tests in Block A of the then Central Technical College (now the Gardens Point Campus of QUT). After 10 years as a maths and science teacher (including a secondment of nearly three years to the Australian Science Education Project in Melbourne), he trained as a secondary GO in 1976. His career as a seconded teacher/guidance officer included eight years at Yeronga SHS and six at Runcorn SHS. He retired from Education Queensland in July 2003. He was elected to the Executive of the QGCA in March 2002, and after the 2003 AGM was given the "portfolio" of QGCA Historian.