Page 227 - DEDU502_GUIDANCE_AND_COUNSELING_ENGLISH

Unit 20: Organizing Counseling Services at College Level

The inexperienced, the occupationally maladjusted, the physically handicapped, and older workers Notes
present special counseling problems. Fortunately, many industrial organisations are co-operating
with established counseling services to assist-in the placement of those who are efficient enough to
handle a particular assignment. Among these, the older worker is becoming a serious problem
because of the increasing number of men and women who are living beyond what once was
considered to be an employable age.
The necessary conditions and proper atmosphere were present for the rapid growth of the counseling
movement. The most important factors that influenced its course were : (1) the U.S. Federal
government support to the guidance movement in a big way by providing precious funds and also
by enacting the necessary legislative measures to provide for guidance in the educational institutions,
(2) the psychometric movement which helped guidance personnel to be able to objectively assess
pupils’ strengths and limitations and (3) the growing awareness among educators and public-spirited
men of the need to assist school pupils to make proper educational and vocational choices. The
principles basic to guidance are provided by the work of Miller, Gribbons, Beck, Wrenn and Kehas.
The general principles of value for the practice of counseling in colleges are :
1. Counseling is concerned primarily and systematically with the personal development of the
pupils.
2. The approach and the technique to be adopted depend on the individual’s behaviour.
3. Counseling is oriented towards cooperation between the pupil and the counsellor and is not a
compulsive predetermined process.
4. The counsellor firmly recognizes individual worth and dignity and one’s right to choose and
to make decisions.
5. Counseling, in its essence, is an educational process. It is, to be more appropriate, an essential
dimension of education.
6. Counseling in school should never be treated as an emergency reaction pattern but as
continuous, sequential and programmatic.

20.8 Role of Teachers in Counseling

In the college settings in India teachers are the primary guidance personnel. They render non-
professional assistance to pupils which may be of some help. In the advanced countries, most school
systems have accredited counseling programmes provided by the personnel on the staff of the
schools. Most college have college psychologists to assist teachers in their work with pupils. The
purpose of providing counseling services, in the words of Rogers (1962), “is to enhance the personal
development and psychological growth toward a socialized maturity of its clients”.
Arbuckle (1963) states there are following functions of school counselors in elementary and secondary
schools :
1. The counsellor helps emotionally disturbed children to arrive at happier and satisfying solutions
to their problems.
2. The counsellor helps children with their academic difficulties.
3. The counsellor is concerned with preventive and remedial measures. At the elementary school
level there is particular stress on the preventive and developmental aspects so that there may
be less need for remedial work later on.
4. The counsellor cooperatively works with teachers to help them gain a greater understanding
of the pupils in their classes.
5. The counsellor helps parents obtain a better understanding and appreciation of their children.
6. The counsellor uses appropriate test devices for diagnosis and counseling purposes.

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