Page 207 - DEDU502_GUIDANCE_AND_COUNSELING_ENGLISH

Unit 19: Organizing Counseling Services at School Level

(5) follow-up and research activities, and Notes
(6) evaluation studies.

19.4.1 The Counselor Gives In-service Education
An effective programme of guidance services provides in-service education for teachers in the
development and interpretation of pupil records. Since the average teacher will have neither the
time nor the training to develop records which are complete and so organised that an analysis can
be made with reasonable expenditure of time and energy, the counselor must provide assistance in
the collection of data, in the methods of recording, and in the interpretation of the development
record.
The development of a sound test programme is another aspect of the elementary guidance services.
Counselors can provide inservice education for teachers and can act as consultants in the development
of the programme and in the interpretation of results.
19.4.2 The Counselor Counsels
The Counselor’s chief responsibility is to provide counseling for all children with usual interests or
needs. Teachers can be helped to recognise these needs so that the children may be referred to the
counselor. The per cent of time devoted to counseling for personal adjustment will be greater in the
elementary school than in the secondary school, and this is probably the greatest difference in
guidance at the two levels.
Children, whether self-referred or referred by parents or teachers, may need help in many areas of
personal development. The excessively shy child, the socially inept child, the child whose self-
concept interferes with learning, the child whose, behaviour interferes with work in the classroom,
the child with educational deficiencies, and any child whose progress in school seems unsatisfactory—
all find their way to the counselor’s office.
The counselor’s office should be an attractive, even if small, room, with toys, books, and manipulative
materials readily available to the child. Here a youngster who is overwhelmed by the experiences
he is handling or who has reached “an explosion point” may work off tensions with clay, finger
paints, darts, punching bags and return to class ready to try again.
Toys play an important role in helping children verbalize and communicate. Teacher and child,
sitting back to back, may hold ‘conversations’ over toy telephones even if the child is too shy to
communicate in a face-to-face interview.
19.4.3 The Counselor Makes Referrals

The counselor makes referrals of pupils to other school services and utilizes the resources available
in the community. He helps to provide continuity of the educational experience through articulation
services at the time a child leaves the elementary school to enter junior high school.
Adequate counselor services should contribute to the curriculum through carefully planned research
and follow-up activities which reveal the needs of children in the school and which provide evidence
of the success with which the school is meeting these needs.

19.5 Team Approach

A definite trend in guidance is toward a coordinated team approach under the leadership of the
principal. Principals, teachers, counselors, and other staff personnel working as a team should
evaluate the guidance needs within the school and assess the effectiveness of the service designed
to meet these needs. Many staff people including school social workers, school psychologists nurses,
doctors, speech correctionists, reading specialists, supervisors, and consultants, are available to
modern school. Their services can be most effectively used if the principal arrange systematic case
conference procedures.

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