ROLE OF SCHOOL COUNSELLER, HEAD MASTER AND STAFFS

                                                                                INTRODUCTION                                                         

          A school student is constantly in a state of interaction with his/her peers, the school staff members and his family and community. These personalities all have an important impact upon the life of the students. The school student needs this guidance in the formative years in all the aspects of his personality. He is developing physically, intellectually and emotionally into what our culture intends, a well adjusted member of society. Thus one of deep underlying reasons for adequate and well trained personnel in guidance is basically the dependence of the young rather than the adult.

School counsellors are key members of guidance and student services teams. Within the context of a collaborative, interdisciplinary team approach, school counsellors play a leadership role in the development and implementation of a comprehensive guidance and counselling program.

Myrick (2003) grouped counselor functions into six categories that focus mainly on the development of the student:

1. Individual counseling with at-risk or high priority students.

2. Small group counseling, preferably with four to five members that meet a minimum of once per week.

3. Large group classroom guidance.

4. Peer facilitator programs.

5. Consultation, with teachers, administration, school personnel, and parents.

6. Coordination of guidance services, including testing, career information,

Gibson and Mitchell (2003) defined counselor functions as guidance activities, and comprised a list of ten activities that serve as a guideline for the overall function of guidance counselors:

1. Individual assessment 2. Individual counseling  3. Group counseling and guidance

4. Career assistance 5. Placement and follow-up  6. Referral  7. Consultation  

8. Research 9. Evaluation and accountability  10. Prevention

The competencies form the foundation of a developmental guidance program.

The three areas of student development are:

a. Academic development

b. Career development

c. Personal/social development

School Counselor

          A counselor is a person selected by virtue of interest, training and ability to carry on the delegated responsibilities of counseling. Counselor is needed in helping students plan for future, solve their problem, develop healthy attitudes and in other words prepare them for life.

          In the process of counseling a counselor plays a significant role. The effectiveness of counseling programme depends on the efficiency of the counselor. The counselor job is relatively difficult. A counselor should have the training awareness, skill and devotion in his job.

Role of a Counselor

          The role of a counselor can be seen through the functions he performs in the guidance and counseling programme.

Frame guidance policies- The counselor has to frame guidance policies in the school and see to it that they are put into practice.

Guidance to needy students- It is the main duty of the counselor to give guidance to all students who are in need of it.

Collection and interpretation of data- He collects all information data about the students and interprets them in the right way. He conveys all the information data to the headmaster and parents of the students.

Achieving life ambitions of pupils- The counselor try to find the ambitions of students and help them in their achievement.

Giving training – The counselor trains other staff member for guidance work. He organizes short courses of training for this purpose.

Helps teachers- He helps the teacher in knowing their individual differences in interests, tastes and aptitudes.

Contact with employers- He keeps contact with employers, employing agencies and institutions, so that he may be able to help the students in getting proper employment.

Co-operation between staff and community- The counselor creates co-operation between the staff members of the school and community. He should be expert in behavioral science in order to perform the duty efficiently.

Helps students in becoming mature- He tries to make students mature by enabling them to solve their own problems and remove their own difficulties.

Conducting group guidance- The counselor conducts group guidance for pupils regarding problem of educational and vocational guidance.

Assisting teachers - To assist teachers with pupil problems which the teachers find difficult.

Placement - To assist youth employment services in the placement of pupils in various jobs.

Follow-up – To take up follow- up work with a view to assessing the outcome of guidance services in regard to students who have received guidance.

Familiarization – To assist in familiarizing new classroom teachers and other school personnel with guidance services available.

School records- To explain school records with which they are not familiar.

Knowledge of home -To obtain knowledge of the relevant aspects of a student’s home environment, economic status and personality.

Contact with parents- To confer with parents and arrange group meeting of parents when needs arise.

Emotional crisis - To be constantly alert to signs of emotional difficulties.

Specialists - To refer difficulties to available specialists.

Educational guidance - To provide counseling for a pupil related to educational problems or plans.

Career conferences - To arrange career conferences, when it is considered appropriate.

Vocational guidance - To assist students in making vocational choices commensurate with their ability and skill

Personal guidance- To arrange case conferences about an individual student who is experiencing some type of difficulty.

Self direction -To assist pupils to develop initiative and independence so that they may progress in self- direction.

Help to dropouts - To aid potential dropouts to make the school experience as profitable as possible.

Responsibilities of counselor

          A counselor is an expert from the field of education. It is more expected from counselor to run the guidance activities smoothly as compared to the other staff members. In Indian conditions the counselor can be full time counselor, teacher-counselor, and visiting counselor.

The following specific functions can be included in the responsibilities of a counselor as a guidance worker.

1. Diagnostic

2. Therapeutic

3. Evaluation

4. Research

Each type of specific field includes various specific services and skills. A counselor functions may vary systematically after planning the school guidance programme very carefully. For this the counselor surveys the needs of the pupils, collects physical and other sources and ensures co-operation from administration authorities.

 Duties ties of a Guidance Counselor

The guidance department curriculum includes a number of activities and services such as:

• New student registration

• Schedule development

• Course selection and course registration

• Monitoring student academic progress

• Facilitate Instructional Support Team meetings

• Attend parent/teacher conferences

• Consultations with teachers, administrators, parents and students

• Provide mediations for students to help resolve conflicts

• Curriculum development aligned with National and State Standards

• Individual counseling and small group counseling

• Academic counseling

• Personal counseling

• Communications between school and home

• Peer Counseling

• Orientation programs

• Parent information programs

School Counsellor Roles and Functions

Developmental Guidance: Counsellors develop, co-ordinate, and implement various developmental and preventive programs.

Individual Planning: Counsellors participate, collaborate, and consult as members of the interdisciplinary team to provide support for students' individual planning.

Responsive Services: Counsellors provide services to students in need through individual and small group guidance and counselling interventions, crisis intervention, parent out-reach, consultation, referral, and multi-systemic interventions.

Systems Support: Counsellors perform various activities intended to support the school's guidance function. Examples include conducting workshops for parents and staff, student placement, research, data collection, community outreach and program administration.

Counsellors are also in a key position to play a vital role in threat assessment teams, student support teams and safe school teams. They often also play an advocacy role for students with staff, families, and outside agencies.

The School Counselling Program :

          Comprehensive guidance and counselling programs and services support student learning in areas of personal/social, educational and career development.

          Comprehensive guidance and counselling programs and services are inclusive; they respond to the unique and special needs of all students from Kindergarten to Senior

Comprehensive guidance and counselling programs and services provide a range of guidance/counselling services from a developmental/preventive focus to a responsive/remedial focus

School Division Plans, Student Services Plans, and School Plans include guidance and counselling services and programs. Plans for a comprehensive guidance and counselling program include provisions for regular, systematic identification of needs and priorities, specification of expected outcomes, descriptions of activities, and identification of success indicators. Guidance programs and services should be evaluated on a regular basis.

          The provision of comprehensive guidance and counselling programs and services is the shared responsibility of all staff. A team approach should be employed, wherein all staff members have specified roles to play. School counsellors play a key role in planning and implementing programs and services.

ROLE OF HEADMASTERS

          The whole working of the school depends on the abilities, insight and administrative capacity of the headmaster. Since the guidance has been considered as a part of an education, the headmaster should also be loaded with the responsibility of guidance program. In this field too, the headmaster should be assigned as leaders. It is essential for the headmaster to take over the administration of the guidance service along with that of school. To share this burden, he can seek the help of one of his competent teachers, but he cannot delegate his own powers. In this way, we see that there are certain special responsibilities of the headmaster which are as follows.

1. Ethical role: The head is expected to develop a faith in the worth whileness in the guidance programme. This requires a time-bound drawing up of plan of guidance service, keeping in view the conditions and resources available in the school.

2. Administrative role: It is his main role. As an administrator, he is expected to perform the following functions:

Leadership; He has the responsibility for providing constructive leadership in developing better guidance service.

Appointments; He recommends to the authorities the employing of competent counselor.

Understanding;; He helps the members of the staff concentrate their attention on the problems, needs and characteristics of the students.

Facilities; He arranges for the facilities and the teaching schedule of the counselor and the non-teaching duties of the counselor so that adequate time, space and acceptance are provided to him.

Specific tasks; He assigns specific tasks to the members of the faculty regarding guidance programme.

Shared responsibility; He has the responsibility of helping the members of the staff, to understand the importance of the ‘shared responsibility’ for pupil growth.

In-service training; He arranges in-service training facilities to the teachers and cousellors to acquire greater skill and security.

Organizing guidance; He has the responsibility of helping the staff organize the guidance programme.

Information; He keeps the parents informed about the guidance activities available in the school.

3. Committee role: principal is the captain of the team of guidance workers which comprises of the counselor, the teacher, the specialists and career masters etc.

Responsibilities:

1. The headmaster can help at least teachers of his own school regarding the guidance programme and in understanding various problems.

2. The supervision of guidance processs is the first step towards the success of guidance process.

3. The headmaster should spare sufficient time for the guidance work. Only then this programme will gain success. Once a week guidance programme is not sufficient. This may reduce confidence of the pupils towards guidance programme.

4. The headmaster has fincncial powers. Hence, it is his responsibility to make fincncial provisions for guidance programme.

5. It is also the duty of the headmaster to arrange proper building for the counseling service.

6. The headmaster should help the pupils by evaluating the effects or results of the guidance programme with the help of his fellow teachers.

7.. It is the responsibility of the headmaster to make all types of facilities available for the guidance programme, such as, sufficient furniture, guidance office, sufficient funds to purchase all types of materials.

8. It is the moral duty of the head master that he should explain the guidance services to the school and the society.

ROLE OF TEACHER

          “The teacher counselor is the first pivot of guidance” says V.B.Taneja. EsStoops say that “Every teacher is a guidance worker and every guidance worker is a teacher. The two titles are not mutually exclusive, but rather are two aspects of the same educational process”.

          The teachers are directly and indirectly involved in all the class-room activities and guidance programmes. According to Bojkin, “the principal are of student personnel work is teacher student relationship, not occasional interviews and specialized counselors”. In a school, that has a small guidance unit; one or more teachers would act as counselors. He unifies the guidance services.

Responsibilities of Teacher-counsellor’s

Teacher-counselor’s responsibilities could be divided in to four area, viz.

   Understanding the child.

   Developing the personality of the child.

   Providing occupational information, and

   Providing health and social guidance.

 

Teachers’ general functions in guidance programme

1.  Study the pupils and their problems by day-to-day observation.

2.  Assess the capacities and achievements of the pupils.

3. Maintenance of anecdotal records and cumulative records.

4. Sending information to the principal and parents.

5. Providing special programme for gifted and backward children.

6. Providing case histories of problem children.

7. Helping the pupils to solve their problems.

8. Helping the pupils to secure occupational and educational information of all sorts.

9. Helping the pupils score better personal and social adjustment by detecting frustrations, conflicts and complexes of students and helping them to overcome these problems.

10. Helping the pupils in making educational and vocational plans according to their abilities, capacities and aptitudes.

12. To help the students in building healthy relationships.

13. To help the students in making effective use of library and taking notes.

14. To help the students in maintaining discipline.

15. To help the students in concentrating on studies and using effective methods of learning and memorization.

16. To collect facts about the students.

17. He is responsible for the development of the students, also for the development of a wide range of interests, punctuality etc.

18. The average teacher cannot ordinary give guidance successfully regarding choice of occupation or further education after school because he has little knowledge about the occupations or college courses but as said above, he can help the workers who seek guidance.

Teachers’ qualities for being effective counselor

1. He should not be rigid in his method of approach. He should approach the problem from various angles and should be willing to change the method if he finds appropriate to do so.

2. He should have patience. He should listen patiently to what the students says. Patient hearing will create confidence in the student.

3. He should give due credit and recommendation for the work done by the pupils.

4. He should show equanimity when mistakes are made by the students. He should not show surprise at any behavior.

5. He should have adequate up-to-date knowledge of educational and vocational areas.

Teachers’ job involves four main duties.

Þ   Teachers must prepare their classes.

Þ   They must guide or assist the learning of the students.

Þ   They must check the students progress’

Þ   Teachers must set a good example for their students.