Page 41 - DEDU502_GUIDANCE_AND_COUNSELING_ENGLISH

Unit 4: Guidance Services: Concept and Importance

This service needs to be more emphasized at the secondary and higher, secondary levels. The various Notes
aspects informed to the students through this service are about the job or occupation positions,
duties performed, educational and professional requirements, conditions of work, rewards offered,
promotional avenues, etc. Such information are collected and disseminated by the guidance worker
in the form of career talks, conferences, etc.
4.2.4 Counseling Service
This service is considered to as be the most fundamental part of the guidance process. The purpose
of it is to assist the students in the process of all round development. It provides an opportunity to
the individual to discuss their plans and problems with a professional or counselor in a conducive
environment. The process ultimately makes a person capable of self-directed and self-sufficient.
This service can be practised only by a counselor. However, some assistance can also be provided
by the teacher in a school. This is because a teacher is one who spends maximum time working with
the students in the classroom and when comes across any student who displays deviant behaviours,,
he/she can always refer the case to a school counselor. Further, observations made and recorded by
the teacher about the certain students can help the counselor in the counseling process. The counseling
service includes individual counseling and group counseling.
It must be noted that counseling is not only restricted to normal students but to any student who is
either retarded or handicapped.

4.2.5 Placement Service
The placement service makes an effort to help those students, secure employment, who are either in
school or those after they leave school. The school provides certain facilities through which the
employment needs of the students are met either through special placement personnel or by
integration services of the other guidance personnel. It is an activity which requires the co-operation
of the principal, counselor, teacher, career master, state employment agencies, private agencies and
also the community. This service is more significant for the students at the secondary and higher
secondary level. The placement service here is concerned for those :
(i) Who withdraw from the formal education before they complete school (drop-outs).
(ii) Who prefer part time work while going to school or may be during the vacation or after school
hours or during weekends.
(iii) Who terminate formal education after higher secondary level.

The basic aim of placement is to facilitate the process of meeting the needs of both employer and the
prospective employee. The student must be placed only until the correct and appropriate information
regarding him/her has been obtained from the counselor or the incharge guidance personnel. The
information that is generally made available is his/her personal bio-data, achievement grades,
attendance, test-scores, health-data and other required data. The teacher may also assist by providing
details concerning the student’s interest, and other skills such as participation and communication.
Apart from placement, this service also orients the students to some of the job applying techniques.
The guidance worker could familiarize them with the methods of applying for a job, guidelines for
applying, identify the various sources of information and how to prepare for the interview. These
skills can be developed either through group or individual counseling.
A school that provides placement services, hence should be capable to draw upon all the possible
resources in order to assist its students in finding suitable and appropriate jobs. The extent to which
the placement service fulfils this purpose is a measure of its effectiveness. This could largely be met
by a systematic and proper functioning of the guidance committee.The school committee could also
publicize about the placement programme both to the students and community. Within the schools;
the information could be published in school magazine, notified in the libraries or announced in
student assemblies.

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