A school counselor is a counselor and educator who works in elementary, middle, and high schools to provide academic, career, college readiness, and personal/social competencies to all students through advocacy, leadership, systemic change, and teaming and collaborating with other stakeholders as part of a comprehensive developmental school counseling program. Older, dated terms for the profession were " guidance counselor " or " educational counselor " but " School Counselor " is preferred due to professional school counselors' advocating for every child's academic, career, and personal/social success in every elementary, middle, and high school (ASCA, 2005) . In the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific, the terms school counsellor, school guidance counsellor, and guidance teacher are also used with the traditional emphasis career development . Countries vary in how school counseling programs and services are provided based on economics (funding for schools and school counseling programs), social capital (independent versus public schools), and School Counselor certification and credentialing movements in Education departments, professional associations, and national and local legislation.. The major accreditation body for Counselor Education/School Counseling programs is the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Programs (CACREP), which provides international program accreditation in Counselor Education disciplines including school counseling .
Worldwide, there are large achievement, opportunity, funding, and attainment gaps for who has access to a quality elementary, middle, and high school education and can then pursue additional educational resources including college. In some countries, school counseling, frequently career education/development/counseling, is provided by educational specialists (for example, Botswana, China, Finland, Israel, Malta, Nigeria, Romania, Taiwan, Turkey, United States). In other cases, school counseling is provided by classroom teachers who either have such duties added to their typical teaching load or teach only a limited load that also includes school counseling activities (for example- India, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Zambia).. There are groups in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe that have provided international counseling conferences but most have not had an exclusive school counseling focus. The IAEVG focus is primarily on career development and has some international school counseling foci in publications and conferences .
School counseling history: Canada, China, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Nigeria, Philippines, Taiwan, USA
The history of school counseling varies on how countries and schools provide academic, career, college readiness, and personal/social skills and competencies to elementary, middle, and high school children and adolescents based on economic and social capital resources in a school counseling program (ASCA, 2005; www.iaevg.org; www.vanguardofcounsellors.org). .
In Canada, most provinces have adapted K-12 comprehensive school counseling programs similar to those initiated by and adapted in the ASCA National Model . Various school counsellors reported in 2004 at the Canadian Counseling Association (CCA) conference in Winnipeg on issues such as budget cuts, lack of clarity about school counsellor roles, high student to school counselor ratios, especially in elementary schools, and how using a comprehensive school cousneling model helped to clarify school counselor roles with teachers and administrators and strengthen the profession
In China, discussed the main influences on school counseling as being Chinese philosophers Confucius and Lao-Tsu, who provided early models of child and adult development that later influenced the work of Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers . China also developed mental testing over 3,000 years ago, which was used for civil service examinations initially and eventually adopted by the British in the mid-1800s and later in the USA. Currently only 15% of high school students are admitted to college in China, so the entrance exams are fiercely competitive and those who do enter university graduate at a rate of 99% . Much pressure is put on children and adolescents to study and be able to attend college and this pressure is a central school counseling focus in China. An additional stressor is that there are not enough places for students to attend college, and over 1/3 of college graduates cannot find jobs , so career and employment counseling and development are central in school counseling. There is a strong stigma related to personal or emotional problems and even though most universities and many schools now have counselors, there is a strong reluctance of many students to seek counseling for issues such as anxiety and depression. There is no national system of certifying school counselors. Most are trained in Western-developed cognitive methods including REBT, Rogerian, Family Systems, Behavior Modification, and Object Relations and also recommend Chinese methods such as qi-gong (deep breathing), acupuncture, and music therapy . shared that Chinese school counselors always work within a traditional Chinese world view of a community and family-based system that lessens the primacy of focus on the individual. In Hong Kong, Hui (2000) discussed work on moving toward comprehensive whole-school counseling programs and away from a remediation-style model .
In Finland, specific legislation has been passed in terms of the school counseling system. The Basic Education Act of 1998 states that every student must receive school counseling services. All Finnish school counselors must have a teaching certificate as well as master's degree in a specific subject and a specialized certificate in school counseling.
In Ireland, school counseling began in County Dublin in the 1960s and went countrywide in the 1970s. However, legislation in the early 1980s severely curtailed the movement due to budget constraints. The main organization for school counseling profession is the IGE or Institute of Guidance Counselors, which has a code of ethics .
In Israel, a 2005 study by Erhard & Harel of 600 elementary, middle, and high school counselors found that a third of school counselors were delivering primarily traditional individual counseling services, about a third were delivering preventive classroom counseling curriculum lessons, and a third were delivering both individual counseling services and school counseling curriculum lessons in a more balanced or comprehensive developmental school counseling program; school counselor roles varied due to three elements: the school counselor's personal preferences, school level, and the principal's expectations. Erhard & Harel stated that the profession in Israel, like many other countries, is transforming from various marginal and ancillary services to a comprensive school counseling approach integral in the total school's education program.
In Japan, school counseling is a very recent phenomenon with school counselors being introduced only in the mid-1990s and then often only part-time with a strong emphasis on assisting with behavioral issues
In Korea, school counselors must teach a subject besides counseling, and not all school counselors are appointed to counseling positions, even though Korean law has required school counselors in all middle and high schools
In Malta, school counseling services were begun in 1968 within the Department of Education based on recommendations from a UNESCO consultant and the titles: Education Officer, School Counsellor, and Guidance Teacher and through the 1990s they included school counselor positions in primary and trade schools in addition to secondary schools. Guidance teachers are mandated at a 1:300 teacher to student ratio.
In Nigeria, school counseling began in 1959 and it exists in some high schools but not all and little at the elementary school level. Where there are federally funded secondary schools, there are some professionally trained school counselors but in many cases there are only teachers who function as career masters/mistresses. School counselors often have teaching and other responsibilities that take time away from their school counseling tasks. The Counseling Association of Nigeria (CASSON) was formed in 1976 to promote the profession, but there is not yet a code of ethics. However, a certification/licensure board has been formed. Aluede, Adomeh, & Afen-Akpaida (2004) discussed the overreliance on textbooks from the USA and the need for school counselors in Nigeria to take a whole-school approach and lessen the focus on individual approaches and honor the traditional African world view that values the family and community's roles in decision-making as a paramount for effective decision-making in schools.
In the Philippines, the Congress of the Philippines passed the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004, with a very specific focus Professional Practice, Ethics, National Certification, and the creation of a Regulatory Body, and specialists in school counseling are subject to this law .
In Taiwan, school counseling traditionally was done by "guidance teachers." Recent advocacy on the part of the Chinese Guidance and Counseling Association pushed for licensure for school counselors in Taiwan's public schools. Prior to this time, the focus had been primarily on individual and group counseling with a focus on play therapy, career counseling and development , and stress related to national university examinations.
In the United States, the school coun
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