Background of the School Counseling Profession

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Background of the School Counseling Profession
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Exercises Applications

• Reflect on your experience with a school
  counselor. Based on this, describe the role of
  the school counselor.
• Compare this description to the ASCA description
  of a school counselor. Discuss differences and
  similarities.

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History of School Counseling

• The counseling profession entered the schoolhouse
  in the early 20th century

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History

• Jesse B. Davis - introduced vocational and moral
  guidance as a curriculum into an English course
• This was the first systematic guidance program in
  public schools

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History

• Frank Parsons - the Father of Guidance
• His work had significant impact on the vocational
  guidance movement
• 1909 - Wrote the book, Choosing a Vocation, which
  offered a method to match a persons personal
  characteristics with an occupation

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History

• The work of Jesse Davis, Eli Weaver, and Frank
  Parsons and a host of other pioneers created
  momentum for the development of a school
  counseling profession.
• During the 1920s-1940s, many events occurred that
  gave clarity and direction to this emerging
  profession.

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History

• World War I - gave more reason for testing
  individuals
• The term counselor rarely heard prior to the
  depression, was now a part of the vocabulary of
  all educators.
• Prior to this time, the term guidance was used

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History

• World War II - and its aftermath created a
  greater emphasis on psychological testing that
  directly influenced school guidance
• World War II - government requested assistance
  from counselors for screening, selecting military
  and industrial specialist

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History

• 1930s - the first theory of guidance was
  introduced. E. G. Williamsons Trait and Factor
  theory.
• This was known as directive or counselor-centered

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History

• 1946 - George Barden Act - legislation that
  provided funds to develop and support guidance
  and counseling activities in schools and other
  settings
• This was the first time school counselors and
  state and local supervisors received resources,
  leadership and financial support from the
  government

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History

• 1957 - Sputnik - first earth satellite that was
  launched by the Soviet Union
• Sputnik was the lift-off and orbit for
  counseling guidance in the US
• 1958 - Natl Defense Ed. Act

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History

• Part of the NDEA focused on
• 1. Providing funds to help states establish and
  maintain school counseling, testing, guidance
  activities
• 2. Authorized the establishment of counseling
  institutions and training programs in colleges
  and universities

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History

• 1953 - ASCA joined APGA
• 1962 - Wrenns book, The Counselor in a Changing
  World -solidified the goals of school cing
• 1964 - ASCA develops a role and function
  statement for counselors a

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History

• 1965 - Elem secondary Ed Act - provided funding
  to improve educational opportunities of
  low-income families
• 1960-70s - Collaboration with teachers
• 1974 - PL 14-142
• 1980-90s - maturation of legislative efforts,
  need for clear identify, roles

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History

• 1997 - National Standards for School Counseling
  Programs is published
• Late 1990s-00s - Transforming school counseling

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School Guidance

• (1900 - 1920) - Occupational Selection and
  Placement was emphasized
• (1930 -1960) - School Adjustment
• (1960- present) - Personal Development

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AlCAs Formative Years/History

• www.alca.sumternet.com
• 1957 - Guidance Dept _at_ St Dept
• NDEA Guidance Institutes
• 1967 - Joins APGA as AlPGA
• 1979 - 3rd state in nation to have licensure for
  professional counselors

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Defining Guidance Counseling

• What is guidance?
• What is counseling?

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Defining

• School counselors serve 3 populations students,
  parents and teachers.
• Counselors deliver these services within the
  framework of an organized program
• The design of the program is guided by the
  overall mission of the school, the desires and
  needs of the local community and the expanded
  goals of the state
• (Schmidt, 1999)

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Defining

• "School counseling is a relatively young
  profession having emerged out of the vocational
  guidance movement in the early 1900s. In the
  decades since then, the profession has searched
  for a clear identity and the role for counselors
  in schools. Over 50 years ago, counselors
  struggled with their direction and purpose in
  schools, and today this struggle continues.
  Because of

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Defining

• this uncertainty, school counselors are sometimes
  criticized for not fulfilling their obligations.
  Exactly what these obligations are is a basic
  question all school counselors must ascertain in
  developing appropriate goals and objectives for
  their programs. Without clear goals and
  objectives, a

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Defining

• counselor's obligations can easily be
  misinterpreted and misunderstood by both the
  professional and the people who seek counseling
  services."
• "Misunderstandings about the counselor's role are
  related in some measure to the confusion between
  the terms guidance and counseling and how these
  terms are used to describe what school counselors
  do."

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School Counselor Role

• Interventions
• Individual and small group counseling
• Group guidance
• Consultation with parents, teachers, others
• Program coordination
• (Cobia Henderson)

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ASCA Ethical Standards

• Responsibilities
• To students
• To parents
• To colleagues and professional associates
• To the school and community
• To self
• To the profession
• (Cobia Henderson)

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Struggles and Confusion with Professional Identity

• Schmidts view (1993)
• Confusion between the terms guidance and
  counseling
• Myricks view (1992)
• No clear understanding of the programs and
  processes involved in guidance and counseling

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Defining Guidance

• Imprecise meaning and usage
• Has been flip-flopped with counseling for over 50
  years
• Traditionally an umbrella term
• Guidance, guidance program, guidance services,
  guidance lesson, guidance personnel, guidance
  counselor, guidance lessons, etc..

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Guidance

• An umbrella term that includes such a
  constellation of services aimed at personal and
  career development and school adjustment
• Guidance also describes the overall school
  program and implies personal assistance to
  students, teachers, parents and administrators

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Defining Counseling

• Counseling has been perceived as a process in
  which someone who has a problem receives personal
  assistance, usually through private discussion
• Term not used exclusively by school counselors or
  other professional counselors. Who else uses our
  term?
• What is counseling? What factors are involved?

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Counseling

• The term "counseling" is used by people in the
  counseling profession to describe a special type
  of helping process.
• There is a trust relationship in which the focus
  is on personal meaning of events and experiences.
  Counseling focuses on personal awareness,
  interests, attitudes, and

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Counseling

• goals. It has a philosophical and theoretical
  base which conceptualizes learning, human
  behavior, and interpersonal relationships.
• Counseling considered a professional endeavor by
  a professionally trained and certified person

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Counseling

• Counseling can be described as a job function and
  a helping process. It identifies the work or
  service of the counselor and the way in which the
  counselor helps the students.

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What Can Counseling Do?

• 1. Counseling can help prevent normal problems
  from becoming more serious. More serious ones
  could result in delinquency, school failure,
  emotional disturbance
• 2. Counseling can create a healthy environment to
  help children cope with the stresses and
  conflicts of their growth and development.

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What Can Counseling Do?

• 3. Counseling can also be a major remedial force
  for healing children in trouble. They can be
  helped through the counseling interventions
  offered at school.

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Historical Approaches to CG

• Myrick (1992) offered 4 approaches
• 1. Crisis Approach
• 2. Remedial Approach
• 3. Preventive Approach
• 4. Developmental Approach

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Status of the Profession

• ACA - www.counseling.org
• ASCA - www.schoolcounselor.org
• ALACA - www.alca.sumternet.com

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ACAs Formative Years History

• www.counseling.org
• 1952 - APGA established
• 1983 - Name changed to AACD
• 1992 - Name changed to ACA
• 60,000 members in ACA
• 13,000 in ASCA

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Status

• What is the role of the school counselor?
• What should the school counselor do? What should
  they not do?

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Status

• Myrick stated As a whole, we have a poor
  identity. Even today, we are many things to many
  people.
• they are miracle workers, record keeping and
  scheduling clerks, .their own guidance program.

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Status

• This inability to identify a clear purpose has
  placed some counselors in clerical,
  administrative, and instructional roles,
  diminishing their value in school.

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Status

• In contrast, by developing a clear understanding
  of their purpose, school counselors can
  establish a philosophical basis on which to build
  a credible program.

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Status

• In the past, school counselors have been willing
  to be viewed as support personnel. Accepting
  the support role instead of the essential
  role allows others to define the role, assign
  functions, dictate the mission, and design the
  program.

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EXERCISES

• 1. Professional identity is an important issue
  for school counselors. If you were hired by a
  school tomorrow as its new counselor, what five
  actions would you take to begin establishing a
  professional identity? Discuss and compare your
  actions with a group of your classmates.

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• Discuss factors and events that influenced your
  decision to enter or consider the counseling
  profession
• Select and write down any historic leaders name.
  In 15 minutes, describe how the leader would
  have benefited from counseling at some particular
  point of his/her career.

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Exercises

• Review the ASCA role statement (see Appendix A in
  Cobia Henderson) and identify any aspects that
  are different from the previous preceptions of a
  school counselors role. Reflecting on these
  differences, speculate about how you came to hold
  these beliefs. How might your awareness of these
  preconceptions influence your training
  experiences?

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Exercises