Counselling and Guidance in Education - Essay Example

Counselling and Guidance in Education". While education equips human beings with skills necessary to lead an independent life, it is not completely successful unless it helps in providing a fulfilling life, which can be obtained only through great self-confidence, trust and an ability to relate to the existential practicality. Counselling is a process of improving the mental and psychological status of a person that will help in making the person more confident in order to cope with existing surroundings. As a form of psychotherapy, counseling is provided to people suffering with some kind of mental disability or psychological problem. However, recognizing the gap in contemporary education system, applying the concept of counselling to education in order to help students become mentally strong and independent individuals will help, not only in making them mentally strong but also in adding value to the education they receive. In this regard, educational psychotherapy would require specialized skills modeled on specific experiential concepts. This paper outlines the contemporary psychotherapeutic models and need for counselling in modern times. It further elaborates on the role educationalists/teachers can play in counseling students along with advantages and issues/challenges encountered in this setup. What is the relationship between counselling and education? In what ways might counselling be of value in schools? Are there any dangers in teachers acting as counsellors? Introduction: Children, from the age of 5, enter their first developmental transition stage of growth during which their physical, behavioural, social, and emotional personalities experience significant developmental challenges. Post this, adolescence is also a transitional stage of physical and mental human development that occurs between childhood and adulthood; it involves biological, social, and psychological changes (Moshman, 1999). Children’s social development is strongly characterized by peer experiences and friendships during this phase; it is the most active phase of their life and involves a myriad of activities such as learning, socializing, understanding, formation of an identity of self etc, thereby constantly in rigorous mental and physical activity. Buddhist psychology and cognitive theories postulate mind and body get stressed due to inappropriate thoughts, inaccurate beliefs, unrealistic expectations and insatiable desires (Semple & Lee, 2008), and children’s minds tend to juggle between all of these newly formed feelings and experiences. After much argument, Lazarus (1982) concluded that human cognition works by serially receiving, registering, encoding, storing for the short or long run, and retrieving meaningless bits of information processing (cited Ingram, Miranda & Segal, 1998 p.7). Based on the same lines, Aaron Beck, the founding father of Cognitive Therapy recognized that the main reason for depression is the tendency to think negatively and inappropriately about self, one’s world and the future (Dryden, 2002; Nuys, 2008). As children spend most of their time in schools, impact of such stressful conditions can be seen in their academic performance, behaviour at school, and in relationships with peers and family. Addressing this state of mind becomes extremely important in order to bring the child back to normal state and avoid further damage. Function of Education: John Grote had once stated, ‘Education is the placing of the growing human creature in such circumstances of direction and restraint, as shall make the most of him, or enable him to make the most of himself’ (cited Barnard, 1863, p.18). On similar lines, Leathes’s (2009) opinion on education is elaborative, encompassing the perspectives of home and school in aspects of physical, moral, spiritual and intellectual sides, and how parents and school teachers can complement each other in providing these teachings to the children. These four aspects can be distinctly theorized, but cannot be practiced separately; that is what education should entail. Hence, the role of school teachers in instilling these values by virtue of education is extremely important and is potentially highly influential. Intellectual education is supposed to awaken the student to guard against the risks of making mistakes, and to learn through combination, construction and comparison through lessons and curricula assigned; however, the system and/or methodology lays greater emphasis on building habits, memory, instincts, receptive observations and acquiring agility in scholastic accomplishments. This entire system, in turn, affects the physical, moral and spiritual learning of the student because intellect is being used to build memory and vice versa, with little or no exercise to acquiring physical, moral and spiritual learning. In this case education becomes incomplete. Leathes (2009) advises that teachers can help students by guiding how memory can be used to acquire the right type of intelligence; the ability of that intelligence which the student can use to help himself in different situations; thereby, helping the student acquire constructive memory that will further advance his learning to knowledge. Function of Counselling: In general, counselling is the activity undertaken by one person to help another person to explore and fully understand his/her self and to develop coping strategies that will aid in tackling specific situation in the present and future times. The professionally trained practitioner involved in facilitating the entire process of helping is referred to as the counselor and the recipient of this service constitutes the client. Counselors assist people with personal, family, educational, mental health and career problems through a systematic approach that is customized to the person’s personality, situation and behaviour. Counselling varies with the type of problem and specialty of the client. The British Association of Counselling (1991, cited Hornby, 2003) defines counselling as, ‘the skilled and principled use of a relationship to facilitate self-knowledge, emotional acceptance and growth, and the optimal development of personal resources. The overall aim is to provide an opportunity to work towards living more satisfyingly and resourcefully.’ Need for counselling: Besides the nature and system of education in contemporary times, historic perspectives of changing nature of families in Britain have resulted in different sociological changes, anthropological and psychological changes. These changes can be summarized as change from larger to smaller families, lesser children, marriage to cohabitation, increasing family instability with more frequent divorce and more single parent families. Although extended families were rare in Britain, contemporary nuclear families are quite different from the nuclear families pre World War I due to the differences in social morals and values and people’s preferences (Ringen, 1997). Population of the contemporary times, especially children, experience lesser stability in terms of family support, increased psychological stress and physical strain, and overambitious nature (Lines, 2002). In order to help children to become mentally strong and overcome the psychological distress, they should be made to independently identify and assess how to use their memory and intelligence. Axiline (1971) has explained this concept through use of play therapy with an emotionally disturbed four-year old boy termed as mentally retarded. Through this therapy she was able to bring the boy back to normal state, using an emotional-free approach in a boy who longed for emotional attachment. This therapy helped the boy to recognize himself without the assistance or involvement of others; this therapy was able to make the boy as normal as any other boy of his age. This is the impact of counselling that modern education system fails to have on children. Studying the trend of progressive changes in children’s psychological behaviour and status that were experienced with greater intensity post World War II, the psychological service oriented towards children was launched by the National Association for Mental Health (1963). Eventually, the National Association for Counsellors in Education was set up that introduced training in skills required for person-centered and non-directive counselling. Students are those human beings who believe that their learning is still incomplete, and have the obligation to learn; however, they do not know the exact meaning of learning, besides their curricula and some other activities. Luxmoore (2000) touches upon this point of ‘learning’ from a perspective that even the most mature and knowledgeable adult cannot answer or help the child learn. For example, unexpected events like accidents, breakups, loss of loved ones and the like. Students often approach elders questioning about such events for the reasons why they occurred, to which even the elders have no answers. This situation pushes the children in further turmoil mentally and emotionally. In such situations, counselors can help children understand the practicality of life and situations, which otherwise does not happen from parents’ side because of the overprotective feelings for their children. Children’s immature behaviour once again surfaces when they get into the bad company of drug abuse and risky behaviour, to which they usually hold fate, parents and others responsible; and refuse to assume the responsibility as their own. Counselling will help them deal with this existential dilemma. Luxmoore’s (2000) intention is to drive home the point that children come across many such situations and exhibit many unusual behaviours led by situations because of their incomplete knowledge of life and reality. There should be a way that is meant to help them meet this reality of life, and this can be achieved by counselors who are trained and experienced in understanding child psychology and behavioural patterns. Victimization through harassment, bullying, verbal and nonverbal abuse and indirect harassment has been evidenced in many schools (Owens, Slee & Shute, 2001). As a result of such victimization, teachers have noticed suicidal tendencies among students, especially among girls. Besides other school interventions to address these issues, peer counselling was seen as effective in making victims openly discuss their worries, feelings and fears. Cowie and Sharp (1996) assert that peer counselling is effective and can be voluntary owing to the compassion for their fellow mates. Counselling in educational institutions, and its implications: Initially, counselling in British education began with ‘guidance’ from medical, career or vocational and educational perspectives, all of them meant to help children choose the right path towards health, study and career in their future. None of these actually focused on the ‘individual,’ because the need for guiding an individual was not realized. The nee d for this guidance existed only related to the aspects of mental abnormalities like disruptive behaviour and abnormal mental conditions. Hornby (2003) suggests that the aim of counselling function in a school or educational institution should be different from that of teaching, although teachers play the role of counselors. Teaching skills cannot be used in counselling work, and vice versa. Counselling requires different sets of skills and approaches, based on theoretical concepts. These skills and approaches can be used to instill an attitude that radiates an openness and friendliness, besides addressing the psychological status of the student. Also, counselling in school setup happens more informally, from a counselling practice point of view, in brief sessions whenever required and are usually based on teachers’ observation or parents’ referral. As the children spend more active time at school and are in constant surveillance and interaction with teachers, they tend to learn more from teachers. Also, teachers have extensive experience in children’s developmental process and studying their behaviour. These reasons make teachers as the most ideal personalities in children’s lives that can influence their social, emotional and intellectual development (Hornby, 2003; Lines, 2002). Theoretical perspectives of counselling: Counselling is a specialized task and requires specific training, study and a practical experience to put it into practice. Counselors require an awareness of different dimensions of human behaviour in order to do the right job. Personal characteristics of a counselor have a significant impact on the counselling process. In addition to this, the counselor should have a sound knowledge of counselling theories, theories of personality and their interrelationship. This will help the counselor in choosing appropriate approach to counselling based on the situation or case (Corey, 2009). Some of the contemporary counselling models are based primarily on psychoanalytic approaches (Lines, 2002; Corey, 2009). For instance, psychoanalytical therapy based on theory personality development focuses on instilling desirable behaviour, by studying historical events of life. Adlerian therapy focuses on influencing people to assume responsibilities that add meaning to their lives. Existential therapy focuses on improving a person’s perception about his/her life based on the existing situations. Person-centered therapy is a non-directive approach to improving person’s mental ability to deal with problems. Gestalt therapy intends to improve body-mind integration. Behaviour-therapy aims to improve behavioural problems, and to inculcate better behaviour. Cognitive-behaviour therapy that focuses on helping people identify the influence of their thinking on behaviour. Reality therapy helps the person to assume responsibility by exploring different ways of doing things. Feminist therapy specifically aims at improving the psychological status of oppressed women, and helping them build a better self-concept and self-confidence. Postmodern approaches involve social constructionism, solution-focused brief therapy and narrative therapy, all aimed to help the person believe that one’s actions determine the outcomes. Family systems therapy focuses on improving the person through a close association with the family. Some of these models are formulated on same lines as that of the psycho-educational approach that is used more often for counselling children. This approach focuses on developing the required skills in the child to handle the pressing situation in a better manner. In this context, Hornby (2003; p.16) explains, ‘counselling is a process by which counselors share their skills with children by means of facilitating, modeling or directly teaching the skills needed.’ Another model specifically aimed for counselling children is the three-stage counselling model that focuses on exploration of concerns, designing intervention strategies to teach students life skills and empowering through supporting action programmes, sustaining the changes made and helping them realize their actual (improved) potential. In case of all theories and approaches, different dimensions that need to be considered in the counselling process include the student’s personality type, behaviour, habits, academic abilities including strengths and weaknesses; historical connections with the situation in discussion (the case); family dynamics like structure of the family, beliefs and customs, transgenerational patterns, relationship with family members, neighbors and other friends; and the student’s relationship with peers at school, history of untoward situations caused by the student to others and vice versa, behaviour in classroom and outside, relationship with teachers, and other specific observations that sets the student apart from other students (Bor, Ebner-Landy & Brace, 2002). When counselling process is based on established theoretical approaches, it provides the counselor with a systematic framework of working; it will educate the counselor on what tasks to be undertaken in what situations. Research outcomes: Barsuk’s (2005) study of many researches has identified some major factors that impact the entire counselling process depending upon the willingness of the client. For instance, most of the researches (Erskine, 1998; Goldfield, Greenberg & Marmor, 1990; Lambert & Cattani-Thompson, 1996) accounted ‘relationship’ as the single most consistent factor impacting client improvement in counselling process. This is because the counselor needs to continuously focus on the client’s behaviour and create a constant and creative interaction in order to bring the desired transformation. Secondly, client motivation and cooperation is also equally important in achieving the desired outcomes. Motivational congruence between the counselor and the client can be achieved through a thorough understanding of the client’s personal characteristics and behavioural patterns. Engaging the client in the process of designing therapeutic measures also impacts the motivational congruence in a positive manner. Barsuk’s (2005) qualitative studies related to involuntary counselling activities reported that these clients usually are school-going children, adolescents, and special education children; the research outcomes reported negative and undesirable outcomes, worsening the situation of the child even more. In such situations, students express feelings of coercion, reluctance, anger and distressing moods. This situation creates great deal of difficulty for counselors and demands immense effort from their end to build the required relationship with the client. In such situations, the counselor’s ability to engage the client by relating to his/her (counselor) personal experiences and situations that the client can also relate to, will help in attracting the client’s attention and commitment. Other researches have indicated usage of humour to have produced good results. Research and evidence related to best possible stress management in children and adolescents has indicated that case-specific social activities or exercises are more effective than pharmacotherapy (Hofmann, 2007). Relationship between education and counselling: Education and counselling interplay with each other to improve the child’s mental and psychological status, and also impacts the physical wellbeing. As a therapeutic approach, educational psychotherapy works by a fusion of educational and therapeutic insights and techniques, an approach first developed by Caspari (Salmon & Dover, 2007). Good education is a manifestation of perfection in man; this perfection includes life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas that help in creating strength of mind, increasing intellect and makes one confident. As discussed earlier, demanding this kind of education in the contemporary system is almost impossible. The gap, thus formed, can be bridged through effective counselling. Owing to the gap in education system and also the changing life styles, children are under tremendous psychological stress. If not these, children with mental disabilities also find it extremely difficult to cope with their surroundings. This is where counselling comes into picture. Counselling helps people to stand up, be strong, and take responsibilities for the creation of their own destiny. Counselling without education will not yield desired outcomes; for instance, children and/or adults being counseled may not be able to relate to some or all aspects of the counselling process including confidentiality, reason for counselling, counselling values and intentions etc (Henderson, 2008). Advantages of counselling: On a broader level, counselling helps in creating a sense of self-confidence, improved self-efficacy and belongingness in the person. For children and adolescents, this feeling of acceptance, being loved and valued play a significant role in improving their chances for personal growth and transformation towards becoming a better and confident human being. On the other hand, if inappropriately conducted, counselling can lead to opposite or negative outcomes. From educationalists’ perspective, specific advantages have been identified. For example, students’ rapport with teachers is greater when compared to their comfort with other psychological or guidance professionals, which makes teachers as ideal persons for counselling role. Educationalists playing the role of counselors can be a complementing practice for students as well as teachers. For instance, inclusion behaviour among children will help them in engaging with peers and better learning; however, in students who find this difficult the teacher can easily identify and help the student overcome this problem (Salmon & Dover, 2007). It also helps parents because the counselor can work closely with the child’s parents in resolving the child’s problem. If a child has a problem, it cannot go unnoticed by the child’s parents. Problems can be solved in a much more simpler manner and in less time with the assistance and involvement of the parent. Although these advantages exist for counselors outside the school, the advantage carried by school teachers is that they can relate better with the parents and the student, and in more aspects than an external counselor could. The counselor can include other members like other teachers or students closely associated with this student (Bor, Ebner-Landy & Brace, 2002). Bor, Ebner-Landy & Brace (2002) point that counselling process in a school setting can be very tedious because the counselor will have to be amidst many students dressed in uniforms and of similar age; this will require a great deal of attention by the counselor to recognize and observe the child’s behaviour, remain focused and ready to approach every situation with openness and freshness. However, if the counselor happens to be the student’s teacher, a great deal of ease can be brought into this process. Issues/challenges for educationalists: Practical experiences of some teachers in educational psychotherapy have resulted in their own feelings affecting the counselling work without even realizing the source of this experience (Salmon & Dover, 2007). Dealing with violence can be a challenging task for teachers playing the role of counselors. In this context, the counselor may not be able to handle the emotional state of the child and may require another professional’s help. In such cases, the counselor will be compelled to break confidentiality protocol of the counselling. Appointing individual counselors in schools is a costly affair, and will have to be borne by the school. The counselling activity demands cost-effective treatment and evidence-based practice to adopt the right approach. However, functioning on tight budgets may cause cut backs in the process and/or face other issues like following up for funds etc (Lines, 2002). Cultural factors need to be well understood by educational psychotherapists, and should include factors such as ethnicity, racism, physically disadvantaged, dress code, religious attire, biased disciplinary codes, socioeconomic differences etc (Lines, 2002). Hornby (2003) points out that the pressure of academic curricula and achieving academic institutions’ goals on school teachers outweighs their potential to contribute to students’ personal and social education and development. Lack of counselling expertise among the general teaching populations in schools is also a hindrance to providing counselling in educational setups. Counselling activity involves different strategies to be used appropriately, like directing, advising, informing, teaching and supporting. Lack of expert knowledge leads to inappropriate use of these strategies, and hence produce undesired or no outcomes. Lack of expertise also leads to teachers assuming roles as helpers rather than facilitators (Lane, 1996). Counselling process requires counselors to create an atmosphere of friendliness and remove the feelings of fear and authority towards the counselor. If the counselor happens to be the student’s teacher or an authority figure in the school, the student might carry same feeling after interaction with the teacher in counselling session. The student’s maturity and understanding at this level may make him/her to take an advantage of the situation and behave in further disruptive manner, which could also spread to other students that he/she interacts more often. Recommendations and Conclusions: Based on the discussion, it can be inferred that education and counselling can have complementing impact on each other if performed appropriately. Particularly, the teachers in counselling roles should be well trained in psychotherapeutic approaches, well educated in child psychology and personality types, and have a good command over communication. Although, counselling in educational setups is an expensive affair, school authorities need to consider the immense positive impact it can have on children and the school. Very often, teachers acting as counselors tend to revert to their teaching-style and behaviour which can be avoided through professional training and experience. Teachers must be sensitive to cultural issues when dealing with children belonging to specific groups of culture. Educational setups must be well equipped to facilitate counselling activities. All counselors must have a thorough knowledge of ethical, legal and social obligations associated with the counselling process. In conclusion, counselling activity is a psychotherapeutic function requiring good knowledge and expertise in terms of psychotherapeutic approaches, models, settings; human behavioural patterns, personality styles and mental conditions; and, awareness of codes of confidentiality, ethics and laws abiding counselling activity. Trained educational psychotherapists can play a significant role in counselling students through their interpersonal relationships, awareness of the student’s history, and establishing connection with the student’s parents and other acquaintances. The counselors must realize and be aware of all requirements for different types of therapies to be conducted. Not all types of therapies can be conducted in a school setting due to constraints like time, space, relationships, and the types of issues. Educationalists and counselling professionals can work together to accomplish tasks that they cannot achieve individually; involvement of family with be of great advantage. Overall, counselling process is a complex activity involving great effort, varied skills, immense knowledge and great experience in order to be effective. References and bibliography Axline, V. M. (1971) Dibs: In Search of self. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Barnard, H. (1863). The American journal of education, Volume 11. Boston: F.C. Brownell. Barsuk, H. (2005). Special Education Students Perceptions Of Counselling: A Qualitative Analysis. U.S.A: Universal-Publishers. Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counselling and Psychotherapy. 8th ed. 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