Factor-fiction, 40 years ago there wasn't the need for the support and counselling as people had a much closer family support network. Educating Yorkshire has done the profession a lot of good I think, in that it has shown how much of a school's resources are spent on pastoral care. There has been very little actual teaching shown. I wonder how these young people, especially the drama queens, will cope after school when an employer won't want to act as an unofficial social worker?
One thing it didn't approach, other than in relation to the pupils, is that schools also get involved inthe parents' problems too, especially at the primary level where, usually, Mums take their marital, neighbour, financial problems to the school. Many hours are spent sorting their problems out too.