Students are challenged daily to make decisions in
an environment fraught with tension and uncertainty. Faced with social,
economic, and cultural issues to a degree not experienced by previous
generations, students must have proactive choices to nurture the potential they
each have to become successful learners. The Guidance and Counseling Program,
as an educational program, creates options for students to develop and
emphasize strategies which enhance this potential. Guidance and counseling are
two sides of the same coin. The goal in both cases is to give an opportunity
for an individual to see a variety of available options and thereafter, assist
the person in making a wise choice. Guidance is the process that is put in
place at a time a choice is to be made. Counseling on the other hand
i)
helps with considering all sides of a potential
choice even before the choice is made;
ii)
takes place when a choice has been made and
there is a need to modify, reinforce or abandon such a choice
Benefits of a Comprehensive Guidance and
Counseling Program
·
Prepares students to be productive, contributing
citizens with a strong work ethic.
·
Provides continuity for smooth and
effective levels of transition from kindergarten through post-secondary.
·
Facilitates a school/home/community
network.
·
Enhances and encourages a model for
life-long learning with emphasis on appropriate decision making and
communication skills in a diverse and technological society.
·
Encourages students to learn positive
human relationships as a means of managing conflicts.
Vocationally, counseling and
guidance services aim that the student perceives himself realistically; knows
his weak and strong points; feels the need to develop his weak points and makes
use of opportunities for developing his weak points; searches for job
opportunities suitable for himself; possesses the skills that working life
requires such as communication, taking responsibility , decision making and
problem solving and makes professional plans . Furthermore, they help the students
who are obliged to start working upon finishing elementary or secondary education
to be oriented and placed in a job appropriate for his interests and abilities
Guidance is a broad term that is
applied to a school’s programme of activities and services that are aimed at
assisting students to make and carry out adequate plans and to achieve
satisfactory adjustment in life. Guidance can be defined as a process,
developmental in nature, by which an individual is assisted to understand, accept
and utilise his/her abilities, aptitudes and interests and attitudinal patterns
in relation to his/her aspirations. Guidance as an educational construct
involves those experiences, which assist each learner to understand
him/herself, accept him/herself and live effectively in his/her society. This
is in addition to the learner having learning experiences about the world of
work and people therein.Guidance can also be looked at as a programme of
services to people based upon the need of each individual, an understanding of
his/her immediate environment, the influence of environmental factors on the
individual and the unique features of each school. Guidance is designed to help
each person adjust to his/her environment, develop the ability to set realistic
goals for him/herself, and improve his/her total educational programme. As a
process, guidance is not a simple event but it involves a series of actions or
steps progressively moving towards a goal. As a service, we can isolate three
major services, that of educational, vocational, and personal and social
guidance.
1.
Educational Guidance
Educational
guidance is so far as it can be distinguished from any other from of guidance,
is concerned with the provision of assistance to pupils in their choices in and
adjustment to the schools’ curriculum and school life in general. Educational guidance
is therefore essential in counseling service. Guiding young people to pursue
the right type of education in which, for example the right balance is met for
accommodating the human resource needs of a nation.
2.
Vocational Guidance
Vocational
guidance is a process of helping individuals to choose an occupation, prepare
for, enter into and progress in it. Vocational happiness requires that a person’s
interests, aptitudes and personality be suitable for his/her work. It plays its
part by providing individuals with a comprehension of the world of work and essential
human needs, thus familiarizing individuals with such terms as `dignity of
labor’ and `work value’
3.
Personal and Social Guidance
Personal and
social guidance is the process of helping an individual on how to behave with
consideration to other people. Primarily, personal and social guidance helps
the individual to understand oneself, how to get along with others, manners and
etiquette, leisure time activities, social skills, family and family relationships
and understanding masculine and feminine roles.
GUIDANCE SERVICES
They are
systematic and organized procedure and facilities toward assisting
individual. It is as a group of service
given to individuals to assist them in securing knowledge and skills needed in
making plans and devices, and in interpreting life. It includes tools and
facilities in discharging its services to individuals. It is s an organized set of specialized
services established as integral part of school environment designed to promote
the development of the students and assist them toward a realization of sound
and wholesome adjustment and maximum accomplishments commensurate with their
potentials
In addition to the classification above,guidance services can also be
classified as Orientation service, public inventory service, placement service,
follow up service and counseling service.
CHARCTERISTICS OF GUIDANCE SERVICES
1. It is an integral part of school system.
2. It is organized; it has structure, system
and personnel.
3. It is more of a preventive than curative.
4. It promotes educational objectives.
5. It adheres to the principle that the
individual/students is the center of all efforts.
6. It promotes student development.
FUNCTIONS OF THE GUIDANCE SERVICES
1.
To improve self-understanding
2.
To increase student understanding of self in
relation to others.
3.
To emphasize relationships between academic
pursuits and personal development.
4.
To promote better understanding of the teacher
to achieve such as an important role in relating to life, the students should
have understanding.
5.
To contribute to feeling of
security.
6.
To supplement teachers’ effort in assisting
children with problems. Steps which teachers can take: a. Maintain an attitude
of sympathy. b. Make an effort to understand these children and convey a
feeling of genuine understanding.
7.
Provide counseling in appropriate
cases. d. Make referrals to the counselor. e. Maintain contact with home, as
appropriate. f. Provide for the needs of an individual students within
instructional setting. g. Provide personal attention incident to classroom and
other activities.
8.
To provide for the accomplishment and attainment
of long range goals.
9.
To accumulate and interpret important
information.
· Counseling service
A
counseling service is designed to facilitate self-understanding and self development
through dyadic or small-group relationships. The major focus of such
relationship tends to be upon personal development and decision making that is
based on self-understanding and knowledge of the environment
They are usually
located in schools, universities, community service agencies, and pastoral
organizations, while psychotherapeutic services are usually found in clinics,
hospitals, and private practice. The recipients of counseling are `normal’
individuals rather than those who exhibit abnormal or extreme modes of
adjustment. Psychotherapy exists for individuals with psychological disorders. Counseling
helps the essentially normal individual remove frustrations and obstacles that
interfere with development, while psychotherapy attempts to deal with disabling
or disintegrating conflicts. Counseling focuses upon helping the individual to
cope with development tasks such as self-definition, independence, and the
like. Attention is given to clarifying the individual’s assets, skills,
strengths, and personal resources in terms of role development. Counseling
approaches, are based more upon emphasizing present conscious material
(material available within the individual’s awareness) while psychotherapeutic
approaches tend to emphasize historic and symbolic materials, relying heavily
upon reactivation and consideration of unconscious processes.
Functions of Counseling Service
1.
Study
the real life environment.
2.
Define the problem situation.
3.
Establish
the parameter of the program.
4.
Design a counseling model.
5.
Pilot test model.
6.
Introduce the system.
7.
Operate the system.
8.
Evaluate the system.
9.
Eliminate the system.
Basic Facts of Counseling
1.
The
process involves a two-way relationship and responsibility.
2.
Counseling service should be extended to all
students in the schools and the former pupils who have graduated or who have
left schools.
3.
Some staff members should be trained to work
with different groups of students on various phases of the guidance program
including the counseling service.
4.
The need of the counselee gives rise to the
development of the counseling situation which aimed at the satisfaction of
those needs.
The
three stages:
a.
Exploratory
stage
b.
Interpretative stage
c.
Adjustment
stage
·
Follow-up
service
An integral part of guidance
services is the follow-up. It is concerned with what happens to students while
in school or after they have left schools. It helps to receive
information about the student’s adaptation and development who has received
orientation and placement service together with psychological counseling
service. Another important benefit of follow-up services is that they provide
information on the efficacy of the counseling and guidance service that has
been given to the student. Moreover, it is extremely important that research
concerning the features, needs, expectations and problems of the students,
teachers, directors and parents is carried out and research and evaluation
service regarding the evaluation of these results is provided. It helps to enhance the development of students by
helping them select and utilize opportunities within the school and outside. Follow-up Service is
perceived both as the least important and as the least rendered.
Purpose of Follow-up Service
1. To ascertain the
progress and status of students within the various classrooms, courses and
curricular areas.
2. To gain data which may identify weakness in
the various phases of the school progress.
3. To learn how former graduates are processing.
4. To evaluate the effectiveness of the school’s
placement activity.
5. To learn why pupils leave before graduation.
6. To discover grade levels at which most
dropouts occur.
7. To obtain opinions concerning needed
modification of the curriculum in the light of the experiences of former
pupils.
Tools Used in the Follow-up Service
1.
Conducting
surveys.
2.
Use of telephone.
3.
The
use of follow up letters.
·
Placement Service
Placement is a service within the guidance program which is
designed to assist students in the selection of suitable courses or curricula,
extra-class activities and part-time or full-time employment or appropriate
career choices and skills. This service takes care of assisting students in
their career decision-making from knowing their abilities and potential,
providing them information regarding the university course offerings and
requirements, information on job trends, job referrals and employment.
Types of Placement Service
1.
Educational placement
2.
Occupational placement
3.
Job placement
