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CHAPTER 1:
The Role of the School Counselor

What do school counselors do?

What should they be doing?

Why are they criticized so frequently?

These and similar questions have challenged school counselors for some time. The School-to-Work Opportunities (STWO) Act of 1994 emphasizes counselor involvement in improving the academic, career, and occupational opportunities of all students, thus offering educators an excellent opportunity to examine and strengthen the role of the school counselor. This chapter focuses on the problem of defining the role of the school counselor and provides a review of literature on (1) student counselees and their needs, (2) the school counselor's role, and (3) how counselors can better assist the nation's increasingly diverse student population.

The Problem

When schools fail to clearly define the counselor's role, school administrators, parents with special interests, teachers, or others may feel their agenda ought to be the guidance program's priority. The results often lead to confusion and criticism. Furthermore, the changing terminology concerning the guidance program exacerbates the situation. Traditionally, the guidance program was considered an ancillary student service isolated from the instructional program and designed primarily to encourage students to attend college. Much of the counselor's work was reactive and crisis-oriented.

Today, there is general agreement that the guidance program or guidance and counseling program (used synonymously in the literature) refers to a comprehensive, developmental program designed to benefit all students in their journey through school and in preparation for the future. The program is designed to address the developmental needs of students appropriate to their age group (i.e., elementary, middle, secondary, or postsecondary).

Chapter 1 is an adaptation of the Office of Special Populations' BRIEF circulated in August, 1994.

The National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee's (NOICC) National Career Development Guidelines (1989), which have been adapted by forty states across the nation, list the following processes of the career guidance and counseling program:

It should be noted that counseling is one process of the guidance program and refers to the interaction between a professional counselor and an individual or a small group. The school counselor's counseling skills are well-defined techniques learned through professional education programs. As certified and/or licensed professionals, most school counselors hold an advanced degree in guidance and counseling or a related field. Ethically, school counselors only counsel students concerning normal development situations and refer students with psychological disorders to professionals with appropriate clinical training. Other facets of the guidance program, such as classroom instruction or providing information, are key components of the guidance programs.

Adding to the school counselors' dilemma are perceptions that they place students in classes based on their personal biases. Professional school counselors examine their own biases and stereotypes and understand they are ethically bound to avoid restricting choices of students. They are cognizant that students must be made responsible for all their decisions--including course selection, program selection, career goals, and future plans. Obviously, students must be aware of and understand all their options if they are to make informed decisions.

The Counselees

In schools today, counselors are required to work with all students regardless of cultural or ethnic background, sex, age, affectional orientation, special needs, class, and so forth, making it imperative that counselors understand their students' needs. In a 1990 study, Nevo (1990) found student-counselees rated discussions with the counselor as more important than objective tests, interests inventories, or vocational information. Thus, it is critical that counselors understand and respond to the needs of the nation's increasingly diverse student population.

According to the NOICC's National Career Development Guidelines (1989), students need assistance in (1) increasing self-knowledge, (2) educational and occupational exploration, and (3) lifelong career planning. Maddy-Bernstein (1994) adapted these elements in her framework for identifying exemplary career guidance and counseling programs by expanding the first group to include "self-advocacy" and the third group to include career preparation and transition. Gysbers (1988) lists the following career developmental needs of students:

1. Students need improved and expanded opportunities to become aware of and develop their career (self) identity.

Many students are disadvantaged when it comes to opportunities for career development. They have inadequate sampling of work world models on which to base their emerging career identity. It is not that they don't have any, but those they have generally are inadequate. A lack of such opportunity, however, does not result in an occupational knowledge and value vacuum. Opinions are formed, judgments are made, and many times these result in premature educational and occupational foreclosure. An opportunity unknown is not an opportunity at all.

2. Students need improved and expanded opportunities to conceptualize their emerging career identity through continuous and sequential career exploration activities.

Students need a chance to explore and test out some of their notions about the work world. Possible career options require continuous testing to help them evaluate what such options may mean to them. Students need opportunities to ask themselves the questions, "What do these options mean to me as I'm developing in my career identity?"

3. Students need improved and expanded opportunities to generalize their emerging career identities through effective placement and follow-through adjustment activities.

They need help in translating their emerging career identities into reality. Students need the opportunity to continuously and systematically explore and test out from an internal frame of reference their personal attributes in relation to the wide range of educational and career opportunities that may be available to them. It should be clearly understood that the primary goal is not to have students choose careers to fit jobs, but rather to enlarge students' capacities and vision to make decisions about themselves and their career development in the context of the society in which they live, go to school, and work. (p. 117)

Furthermore, the STWO Act of 1994 explicitly states the strong need for career education and career development programs for all students. For this to take place, they will need information sharing, communication, career education, labor market information, job placement, work experience programs, counseling and assessment, and public relations (Ettinger, Lambert, & Rudolf, 1994).

The Counselor's Role

School counselors have traditionally been expected to fulfill diverse--and often conflicting--roles. They have been called to act in the capacity of confidant, disciplinarian, consultant, scheduler, politician, administrator, and psychological helper. The ambiguity regarding counselors' roles and expectations has created confusion among teachers, support staff, parents, and students. Ettinger et al. (1994) note that "in some schools, counselors are told to focus much of their time on record keeping, administrative responsibilities, or crisis interventions with students. There is little time for comprehensive career exploration and planning for life after graduation" (p. 25). In addition, facilities and resources for planning and implementing career guidance and counseling programs are sadly lacking. The student-counselor ratios (e.g., 1:350) in most schools limit the services that school counselors can deliver. The following list of tasks is limited, yet, typical (Gysbers & Henderson, 1994): With the whole gamut of unrelated assignments of counselors, it is not surprising that various guidance needs of many students are not met. Few studies have explored what school counselors actually do or should do at the elementary level (Carroll, 1993; Morse & Russell, 1988) and at the secondary level (Tennyson, Miller, Skovholt, & Williams, 1989), but counselor educators and researchers are in agreement--auxiliary or administrative support functions must be eliminated from counselors' day-to-day activities if they are to be effective in fulfilling their roles.

Responding to Diversity

Understandably, school reforms, workplace demands, and the changing economy and workforce demographics dictate new expectations for school counselors in the 1990s. Many believe school counselors can be a key force in preparing the nation's diverse student population for the future. With the passage of the STWO Act of 1994, school counselors are being entrusted to take the lead in assisting our nation's young people to smoothly transition from school to work.

As they comply with the STWO Act's mandates, they must also meet the challenges of accommodating the needs of an increasingly diverse student population, including girls and women as well as the college-bound and the noncollege-bound. They are called upon to provide leadership and facilitate schools' efforts to assist the career developmental needs of all their students. To enable them to meet the expectations of the student-counselees they serve and to have an impact in educational reform, it is important they not be burdened with any non-career guidance duties (Hoyt, 1990).

There are several well-defined models available to educators who seek to revamp their guidance programs (Feller et al., 1992; Walz & Ellis, 1992). Walz and Ellis (1992) discuss three model career guidance and counseling programs--Gysbers' Comprehensive Guidance Program Model, Myricks' Teacher Advisor Program Model, and Purkey's Invitational Learning for Counseling and Development--proven to be effective in providing assistance to students with diverse needs. Each program has a solid conceptual foundation and has been field validated through extensive and successful use in school programs across the nation. Walz and Ellis also point out how the combined use of these programs can bring about a special guidance synergism.

Much is expected from school counselors. The impact of counselors in the lives of students as reflected in the words of one of the counselees in Nevo's study (1990)--The counselor helped me to deal with my personal problems, and even though these were not directly related to my vocational choice, they were still relevant to my choosing a career--can be powerful.

References

Carroll, B. W. (1993, February). Perceived roles and preparation experiences of elementary counselors: Suggestions for change. Elementary School Guidance & Counseling, 27, 216-226.

Daley, T. T. (1988). Building school counseling programs: Future directions for secondary school counseling. In G. R. Walz (Ed.), Building strong school counseling programs: 1987 conference papers (pp. 189-203). Alexandria, VA: American Association for Counseling and Development.

Ettinger, J., Lambert, R., & Rudolf, A. (1994, March). Career counseling for change: Helping student transition from school to work. Madison: Career Development and Training Institute, Center on Education and Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Feller, R., Daly, J., Gloeckner, G., Cobb, R., Stefan, J., Love, C., Lamm, J., & Grant, B. (1992). Counselor role and educational change: Planning, integration, and basic skills: Review of literature. Fort Collins: Colorado State University.

Gysbers, N. C. (1988). Career guidance: A professional heritage and future challenge. In G. R. Walz (Ed.), Building strong school counseling programs: 1987 conference papers (pp. 99-121). Alexandria, VA: American Association for Counseling and Development.

Gysbers, N. C., & Henderson, P. (1994). Developing and managing your school guidance program (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Association for Counseling and Development.

Hoyt, K. (1990). A proposal for making transition from schooling to employment: An important component of educational reform. Future Choices: Toward a National Youth Policy, 2(2), 73-86.

Maddy-Bernstein, C. (1994, May). Exemplary career guidance and counseling programs for the nation's diverse student population: A preliminary framework (BRIEF). Berkeley: NCRVE, University of California at Berkeley, Office of Special Populations.

Morse, C. L., & Russell, T. (1988, October). How elementary counselors see their role: An empirical study. Elementary School Guidance and Counseling, 23, 54-62.

National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee (NOICC). (1989). National career development guidelines. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

Nevo, O. (1990, June). Career counseling from the counselee perspective: Analysis of feedback questionnaires. The Career Development Quarterly, 38(4), 314-324.

Tennyson, W. W., Miller, G. D., Skovholt, T. M., & Williams, R. C. (1989, March). How they view their role: A survey of counselors in different secondary schools. Journal of Counseling and Development, 67, 399-403.

Walz, G. R., & Ellis, T. I. (1992). Counseling and guidance in the schools: Three exemplary guidance approaches. Washington, DC: National Education Association.




CHAPTER 2:
Exemplary Career Guidance and Counseling Programs for the Nation's Diverse Student Population:
A Framework

America's school population has become increasingly diverse. Clearly, a substantial social and educational effort is required to alleviate the problems associated with our growing diversity (e.g., high dropout rates, crime, high unemployment rates, teen parents, substance abuse, and increased poverty). While guidance and counseling is only one component of the educational effort required to better assist students with diverse needs, it is a very important one. Because of this, a major activity of the National Center for Research in Vocational Education's Office of Student Services (OSS) (formerly Office of Special Populations) is to identify exemplary career guidance and counseling programs serving diverse student populations and disseminate information about them to the field.

This chapter describes a framework for identifying exemplary career guidance and counseling programs that was tested at selected pilot sites during 1994. For 1995, a major activity of OSS is to conduct a national search of career guidance programs that assist all students--secondary and postsecondary--to successfully transition from school to work or to further education. Under the STWO Act of 1994, the term "all students" means both male and female students from a broad range of backgrounds and circumstances, including disadvantaged students, students with diverse racial, ethnic, or cultural backgrounds, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, students with disabilities, students with limited-English proficiency, migrant children, school dropouts, and academically talented students.

Background

Since 1990, OSS has conducted an annual search for exemplary vocational education programs serving students who are members of special populations. The framework used to identify those programs resulted from a year long research project undertaken by NCRVE researchers (Phelps & Wermuth, 1992). The research, which was specifically designed to provide OSS with a structure for identifying effective vocational programs serving students with special needs, included a review of previous studies on effective programs and practices, project reports from selected state boards of education, legislation, and a national survey of special needs educators. To date, that annual search has recognized 25 excellent programs that target one or more of the populations defined in the 1990 Perkins Act. Identified programs are located at secondary schools, vocational/technical centers, community colleges, and community agencies. OSS draws on its successes in identifying exemplary vocational programs serving students with special needs in recognizing exemplary career guidance and counseling programs.

Chapter 2 is an adaptation of the Office of Special Populations' BRIEF circulated in May, 1994.

Definitions

It is generally accepted that career development is a lifelong process which incorporates general education, occupational training, and work, as well as one's social and leisure life. Career education is the process designed to assist individuals in their career development. Career guidance is one component of a career education program. According to the National Career Development Guidelines (NOICC, 1989), a career guidance program has the following characteristics:

The Guidance and Counseling Framework

The framework for identifying exemplary guidance programs serving diverse populations consists basically of three clusters of components: (1) the delivery of career guidance programs; (2) the collaboration and articulation efforts; and (3) the leadership and support given the career guidance and counseling program by the institution (e.g., high school principal, community college administration, policies that support the program, evaluation, and follow-up policy and practice).

Most of the first set of components--Career Guidance and Counseling Program Plan--are adapted from the National Career Development Guidelines (NOICC, 1989). According to a Department of Labor publication (Allum, 1993), there is widespread agreement that career guidance, properly implemented, addresses three broad competency areas involved in the career development process. [The author notes these competency areas abound in the literature and are reflected in the National Career Development Guidelines.] Ideally, career guidance programs will enhance:

  1. Self-knowledge and self-awareness: Conscious examination of personal values, interests, and goals [including the assessment program];
  2. Educational and occupational exploration: Presentation and integration of information and experience; and
  3. Decision-making and career planning: Understanding the interrelations between the self and the world and developing skills to make realistic choices and rational decisions.
While addressing the needs of diverse student populations should be inherent in all the elements of exemplary guidance programs, this first set of components is included to determine how economic status, gender, culture, race, and ability differences are met. In addition, support services (e.g., peer counseling program, volunteers) enrich guidance programs.

References

Allum, K. F. (1993). Finding one's way: Career guidance for disadvantaged youth. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.

Brolin, D. E. (1989). Life centered education: A competency based approach. Reston, VA: The Council for Exceptional Children.

Brolin, D. E., & Gysbers, N. C. (1989). Career education for students with disabilities. Journal of Counseling and Development, 68(2), 155-159.

Burac, Z. T. (1992, December). Exemplary programs serving special populations, Volume 1. (MDS-303). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California at Berkeley, Technical Assistance for Special Populations Program.

Herr, E. (1995). Counseling employment bound youth, Greensboro, NC: ERIC/CASS.

Hohenshill, T. H., & Szymanski, E. M. (Eds.). (1989). Counseling persons with disabilities: 10-year update [Special feature]. Journal of Counseling and Development, 68(2).

McDaniels, C., & Gysbers, N. C. (1992). Counseling for career development: Theories, resources, and practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee. (1989). National career development guidelines. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

Phelps, L. A., & Wermuth, T. R. (1992, November). Effective vocational education for students with special needs: A framework (MDS-112). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California at Berkeley.

Super, D. E. (1990). A life-span, life-space approach to career development. In D. B. Brown, L. Brooks, and Associates, Career choice and development: Applying contemporary theories to practice (2nd ed.) (pp. 197-261). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.




Figure 1
Components of Exemplary Career Guidance
and Counseling Programs

A.Career Guidance and Counseling Program Plan
  1. Assisting Students/Clients:
    1. In Increasing Self-Knowledge and Self-Advocacy
    2. In Educational and Occupational Exploration
    3. In Lifelong Career Planning, Preparation, and Transition (Adapted from the National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee's (NOICC) National Career Development Guidelines, 1989)
  2. Addressing the Needs of Diverse Student Populations
  3. Program Support Services
B. Collaboration, Articulation, and Communication
  1. Family/Parental Involvement and Support
  2. Faculty/Staff Involvement in Career Guidance and Counseling Program
  3. Intra- and Interagency Collaboration
  4. Collaboration with Business
C. Institutional Support, Leadership, and Program Evaluation
  1. Institutional Support (Administration/Governing Body)
  2. Facilities
  3. Financial Support
  4. Guidance Personnel Qualifications
  5. Professional Development
  6. Program Evaluation
  7. Follow-up of Program Completers and Noncompleters
To be eligible, career guidance and counseling programs

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