Page 103 - DEDU502_GUIDANCE_AND_COUNSELING_ENGLISH

Unit 8: Personal and Group Guidance: Concept, Aims and Methods

(2) To provide information useful in the solution of adjustment problem. Notes
(3) To provide opportunities for experiences that promote self-understanding.
(4) To lay the foundation of individual counseling.

8.6 Method of Group Guidance

At different levels of education different kinds of group activities are organized. A stagewise
discussion is presented as follows :
At the elementary stage orientation programmes can be organized before admission of students and
after admission. Before admission of students the programmer should, as described by Bennett
consist in explaining to the parents what the school stands for, what kinds of activitise of organizes,
and so on. It is, in fact, orientation of parents which aims at seeking the goodwill and cooperation
of the parents, jointly planning of ways in which children are helped to adjust to the new school
environment. It aims at discussing ways and means of happy transfer of children from home to the
school. Post-admission orientation is meant for students in which efforts are made to acquaint the
pupils with new surroundings, to make them feel at one and to help them in making social adjustment.
The orientation of parents and the pupils is done through group conferences. The teacher in the
classroom also performs the function of a group guidance worker. The teacher in the classroom also
performs the function of a group guidance worker. He has to adopt as reommonded by Barry and
Wolf (1957), development viewpoint.
At the secondary stage much of the group guidance work has to be done as part of classroom
activities by the teachers. If the teachers are properly oriented they can contribute much through
classroom activities to develop realistic self-concepts, to recognise and deal with students strengths
and weaknesses effectively and intelligently, to recognising and understanding emotional responses
and learning how to deal with them and face some of the problems and processes of social
development and to learn how to get along better with peers, adult and younger people,They may
also be assisted in learn good study habits and skills and to discover and gain some perspectives of
the educational and vocational possibilities. Various aspects of the curriculum afford rich possibilities
of instruction in occupational opportunities and vocational planning and adjustment. If the schools
has the “house system” or “home room”, the teacher can assist the pupils through house activities
in realizing ‘their potentialities, planning for jobs, giving experience in citizenship and becoming
more skilled in dealing with their teachers, peers and friends.
Besides teachers the counselor can supplement the work of the teacher by organizing special group
activities such as class talks, career conferences, field trips, etc. He can teach occupational information
courses, particularly at the delta and the school leaving stages. Occupational information is necessary
not only when the students make vocational.

Group guidance activities may be of either longitudinal nautre or of cross-sectional nature. In case
of longitude activities the process extends over a long period with a view to develop a comprehensive
awareness of various aspects of the world of work concerne with long range vocational and
educational planning. Cross-sectional group guidance work is concerned with a group at a particular
time focusing mainly on evaluative and diagnostic programmes. It becomes more important when
the realistic understanding of the world of work is called for, when individuals are about to enter
their life work. The longitudinal group guidance aims at developmental while cross-sectional group
guidance focuses on bringing about adjustment.
Cross-sectional group guidance activities, generaly, take the form of group counseling or multiple
counseling, their objective being to bring about a change in the attitudes of the individuals and to
help them in making better and stable adjustments. The aims and objectives of group counseling are
similar to those of individual counseling. It is terapeutic in nature. In group counseling individuals
develop understanding and learn adjustment by way of their interaction with each other and with

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 97