The twenty-first century counsellor: An emerging role in changing times

A significant number of personal, social, cultural, and economic forces are encountering each other in our global environment. In order to maintain professional responses which reflect changing times, counsellors and counsellor education programs must attend to international, sociopolitical trends in an interdisciplinary context. In this article, the authors identify trends and recommendations relevant to the future of counselling.     

The counsellor and changing Canadian sexual mores

To date, the counsellor in North America has been inadequately trained, and consequently ineffective in dealing with client problems involving human sexuality. The purpose of this paper is to help the counsellor increase his awareness and understanding of the sexual attitudes and behaviour of the clients with whom he interacts in the therapeutic setting. This task is undertaken by examining the empirical findings from some current Canadian sex research to determine some of the dominant changes in attitudes that have occurred within the past decade. The findings from this research have indicated that there has been a major change in the personal outlook of Canadian youth, as well as the viewpoint of the public at large, leading to a more general acceptance of a permissive sexual ethic. There are also signs that public attitudes toward prevalent social codes of sexual behaviour are being reappraised and redefined. The implications of these changes in Canadian sexual mores as a significant factor in the counselling process are discussed.     

The changing place of careers guidance in schools

National Institute for Careers Education and Counselling (jointly sponsored by the Careers Research and Advisory Centre and by Hatfield Polytechnic). Research interests include careers guidance and the relationship between education and work. Has acted as a consultant to international organisations including the European Commission, OECD and Unesco. Books include Career Development in Britain, Work Experience in Schools,and Education, Unemployment and the Future of Work.     

South Africa: The need for a radical restructuring of specialized education in the new South Africa

Sigamoney Naicker, a lecturer in Specialized Education in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Western Cape, provides an analysis of specialized education after one year of the first democratic government in South Africa.     

Integrating guidance,counselling, and counsellor education in Botswana: A consultation model

This paper reflects the work of the authors as consultants to the Ministry of Education and the University of Botswana on a project sponsored by the USAID. The mission of the consultants was to assist the educational leaders of the country of Botswana, Africa, in determining the next major step in developing country-wide guidance and counselling services in responding to significant boundary shifts, both economically and intellectually. The paper discusses background of Education and Guidance in Botswana along with recommendations to our respective agencies. We further review the procedure used to reach our conclusions, impediments to implementation, and recommendations for future consultancies.     

Nurturing and educating children prenatally exposed to alcohol: The role of the counsellor

Previous studies are summarized on the incidence and nature of alcohol-related defects, as such defects relate to health, motor and speech development, behaviour, intelligence and school achievement.In the present study, thirty-four children were located. Their caregivers and social workers provided background information on the children, who were assessed on the Wechsler Scales. Discussion centres on the need to provide long-term support services to these children, their caregivers and their schools. The role of counsellors in such support systems is central.Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta     

A comparison of the guidance received and desired by black and white pupils in South Africa

A survey was conducted of 692 black and white high school pupils in sixteen South African high schools. A questionnaire requested information regarding pupils' perceptions of the extent to which they actually received guidance services in twelve areas listed in official syllabi. Subjects were also asked to indicate which of these dimensions they wished to receive, and their preferences in this regard. Results indicated that black pupils received guidance significantly less than did whites, and that they had a commensurately stronger desire for such input. In their ordering of preferred areas in which Guidance should be provided, there were certain commonalities and a few differences in the responses of black and white pupils. It was concluded that the inadequacies in the guidance system, particularly for blacks, are associated with the nature of the apartheid society. Accordingly, changes in the guidance system are seen as dependent upon pervasive reform of that society.     

Vocational education and training for sustainability in South Africa: The role of public and private provision

Written in the twilight of the Mbeki Presidency, this paper considers the role that skills development has in the sustainability of the South African political–economic project. It explores some of the disarticulations of public policy and argues that these both undermine public sector delivery and open up opportunities for private provision to be, under certain circumstances, more responsive to the challenges of national development. We argue that there is a possibility that the state could work more smartly with both sets of providers. Crucially, however, this would necessitate working more smartly within itself. This was a major plank of the Mbeki strategy but it has failed conspicuously with regard to the Education–Labour relationship. Whether a new President can achieve a radical reworking of this relationship may be an important indicator of the viability of any new development project.     

The changing role of the Japanese professor

In analyses of the professorial role, an opposition is often established between the professional or external components and the university or internal components. From this perspective, professors at leading universities in the West are said to emphasize the professional components of their role. In contrast, in the past Japanese professors tended to emphasize the local university-centered components. In recent years, many professors have shifted their energies away from these university-centered components. Some have become professional in the Western sense, but others have become showmen and still others politicians. No single phrase suffices to summarize the trend away from university centeredness.The authors wish to thank Kazuyuki Kitamura and the other members of the Research Institute for Higher Education of Hiroshima University for so generously supplying their unpublished data on university governance for their inspection. Also they acknowledge the stimulation they have experienced in reading Shigeru Nakayama's important comparative analysis of university traditions.     

Careers guidance services in a changing Europe

Current initiatives designed to develop stronger international co-operation between guidance services within the European Community are outlined. The implications of extending the Community to cover other European countries are discussed. The issue is raised of whether a common European approach to guidance is likely to emerge, and whether it is likely to differ from American approaches. Adapted and updated version of a paper presented at the International Conference of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance held at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, on 9–13 September 1991.     

The Trip to South Africa

南非是一个位于非洲大陆最南端的国家,素有“彩虹之国”的美誉。2010年的世界杯足球赛将在这里举行哦。你对这个国家的了解有多少呢？我给大家设计了4条旅游路线。赶快选择你最喜欢的路线,并带上你要完成的任务,开始你的南非之旅吧！     

Career guidance needs assessment of black secondary school students in the transvaal province of the republic of South Africa

This study investigates the career guidance needs of 600 Black secondary school students. It also examines how Black secondary school principals perceive the guidance programs in their schools. The results indicate sixteen categories of career guidance needs which should receive priority in planning guidance services for this population. The students consistently felt their needs were not being met. Not less than 60% expressed a need for additional help with finding jobs and careers, understanding the guidance program, developing self-understanding, career awareness, exploration and planning, interpersonal relationships, value clarification, selection of courses and acquisition of decision-making skills in sharp contrast to the help they feel they have received. Career guidance in Black South African schools has not received proper attention for a long time. It has only been in recent years that this phenomenon has attracted the attention of educationists (Cloete and le Roux 1978). Students have always experienced difficulties when making decisions about their careers. Tenuous choices seemed to be a result of the students' lack of sufficient knowledge regarding themselves (i.e. their abilities, attitudes, interests and values) as well as vocational careers, school preparatory subjects and courses leading to those careers, educational and vocational opportunities available to them and financial assistance (Prediger et al., 1973). Self-understanding is the single basic goal of school guidance programs. Through self-understanding, students can begin to know, appreciate and utilize their aptitudes, interests, values and limitations. It improves analytical and critical thinking, growth and development. Students who understand themselves are characterized by their ability to make more rational educational and vocational plans. McDaniel and Shaftel (1956) maintained that every individual should be helped to study and understand himself as a unique person and to respond to the pressures and stimuli of the time and place in which he lives; Holland (1973) suggested that one needs appropriate and accurate information about oneself as well as the occupational field in order to make a realistic choice of vocation. Self-understanding and acceptance is a pre-requisite for the process of choosing an occupation. Super (1957) observed that along this road to self-knowledge every young person needs assistance and that success in understanding oneself is a sine qua non for the development of independence and decisionmaking skills. Interests are important in that they can help students begin thinking seriously about educational planning, vocational exploration and eventually about career development. Ginzberg (1966) believed that many young people do not know enough about the world of work to be able to translate their interests and capacities readily into occupational choices. Hoppock (1967) holds the view that one develops interest in an occupation because one has been exposed to it before. The same is still true today. Many young people are unaware that the choices of subjects they make and the activities they participate in at school can influence vocational choices which will affect their future lives. Super (1957) further contends that probably no other decision a young person makes is as crucial for happiness in life as his or her choice of work, including the educational preparation for it. Carlyle says that ‘it is the first of all problems for man to find out what kind of work he is to do in this universe’. Illuminating the importance of work in one's existence, Karl Marx said ‘man becomes man through his work’. Boy and Pine (1971) speak of work as ‘a therapeutic and personally integrating experience’. A careful look at the secondary educational system of South Africa reveals emphasis on an academic curriculum that is designed for college-bound students though not all Black students go to college. For most, secondary school is the terminal point in their formal education. This being so, the secondary school curriculum ought to provide them with sufficient self-knowledge concerning their aptitudes, interests, aspirations and skills to become successful and productive members of society. Napier (1972) contends that a society which fails to nurture the capabilities and talents of its youth fails in its obligation to them and to itself. As Tyler (1970) has observed, high school students are generally concerned about becoming independent adults, getting jobs, marrying, gaining status with their peers and helping to solve the ills of the world. Generally speaking, this is also true for South African youth. To assist them with these concerns, career guidance is essential for Black South African secondary school students today. With the help of adequate career guidance, every student should leave the school system equipped with the ability to think critically and make realistic personal decisions and plans for their future. However, this need students have for career guidance in their schools is sometimes overlooked. It is also conceivable that the degree to which individual students need guidance should vary. Differences in need seem to depend largely on differences in physical maturity, socioeconomic and cultural forces, and personality characteristics. Available evidence suggests that although there may be a common set of students' needs their priority for certain students varies and shifts in accordance with age, sex, experience and geographic location (Prediger et al., 1973; Crites, 1974, Carney and Barak 1976). According to Herr and Cramer (1979) guidance has been defined ‘as that part of pupil personnel services — and therefore of elementary and secondary education — aimed at maximal development of individual potentialities through devoting school-wide assistance to youth in the personal problems, choices and decisions each must face as he moves towards maturity’. There seems to be a consensus among guidance authorities that the following major services constitute the guidance program: the inventory service, the information service, the counselling service, the placement service and the follow-up and evaluation services. These services are an intergral part of the total school curriculum and they facilitate the instructional program as it attempts to help each student attain the maximum level of his or her potential. Research studies (Super, 1949 and 1968; Holland, 1973; Boy and Pine, 1971; Hoppock, 1967, Napier, 1972) indicate that out of an effective guidance program grows the capacity and freedom of the participants to contend more assertively for their beliefs and plan and execute strategies for making vocational decisions more efficiently and effectively. It is, therefore, imperative that each student be helped to reach the highest level of his or her potential as a human being. The present study sought to investigate the career guidance needs of Black South African secondary school students and the degree to which these needs are being met by the present guidance services in the schools. In addition, the views of the principals of the selected schools regarding the present status of guidance services were sought.     

The formation of the academic counsellor

Conclusion A detailed and exact evaluation of this program of Teacher Formation and of theactivities of academic counsellors is presently underway. We expect to have theresults by the middle of 1982. Nevertheless, partial evaluations of differentteaching and counselling activities show that there has been a change in the conceptionof what education is, development of aptitudes and attitudes and a profoundimprovement in the teaching quality.