Guidance counsellor and student perceptions of counselling lessons in Finnish comprehensive school

The present study concerns counselling lessons in the final grade of Finnish comprehensive school. It focuses on the relevance of counselling lessons to the students on the basis of their personal assessments. Methodologically, the issues at stake centre around the simultaneous examination of the classroom setting from the point of view of different participants.The methods employed are the so called stimulated recall interview and the content analysis of qualitative interview data. The observations presented are based on interviews of guidance counsellors and of their students after the lessons, which dealt with work and students' future choices.According to the observations, the students' perceptions on the relevance of the lessons varied to a major degree. Most of them regarded them as easy and routine school work. Also the interpretations of the teacher and the students differed in many aspects. In particular, only a minority of the students shared the teachers' views about the aims of the lesson.In general, the implications of the study for career education are fairly obvious. If it is organized as an ordinary classroom activity, students are inclined not to consider it to be personally relevant to them.     

High school student satisfaction and perceptions of the school environment

The satisfaction of high school students was studied using an adaptation of reinforcement theory. An instrument entitled Students and Their Schools was developed to assess the perceived availability and value of 35 different academic and interpersonal dimensions of the high school environment and student satisfaction with these areas. This was distributed to 411 students in two city and three suburban public high schools. Availability of resources alone is more highly related to satisfaction than their value. Small but consistent differences were found between male and female students, with suburban females reporting lower levels of availability and satisfaction but higher value ratings than other students. City students have higher levels of satisfaction, but lower levels of value, than suburban students. Most of the differences concerned academic aspects of school and interactions with administrators and faculty. If students perceive a high availability of rewarding aspects of their school environment, they report higher levels of satisfaction with school. Thus, an adaptation of reinforcement theory can be used as an empirical measure of student satisfaction with school.     

Career counselling issues in Canadian counsellor education

The purpose of this project was to examine the preparation of counsellors, with particular concern for the development of competencies in career guidance. It used a structured interview to survey faculty members involved in counsellor education in faculties of education offering graduate programs. It found increased awareness of career development in terms of increase in the number of graduate courses offered. It also found emphasis upon the consullative role for counsellors, vocational theories of Super and Holland, and continued interest in the development of career counselling competencies.Submitted to the Ninth International Round Table for the Advancement of Counselling,Submitted to the Ninth International Round Table for the Advancement of Counselling,     

High school student perceptions and satisfaction with group advisory

One program suggested for personalizing a school's educational program is small group advisory. High school student perceptions of their year-long group advisory program were collected, and high and low student satisfaction groups compared. Satisfied students were more often female, rated their advisory groups as more cohesive, and viewed their teacher advisor as more caring, less directive, and permitting greater student verbal freedom. Also, satisfied students rated their advisory meetings as less often marked by student disruptiveness, more engaging, and less superficial. Notably, student satisfaction was not found to be related to a student's socioeconomic background, performance, or school adjustment, suggesting that group advisory could offer a unique contribution to school life. However, drawing together all student perceptions, reactions to the advisory program were mixed, since students were doubtful about its possible benefits, modestly satisfied, and divided in their desire to continue in the program. The eventual decision to abandon the advisory program at this school is placed within the context of school reform and school change.     

初中生物课学生学业发展性综合评价初探

评价改革是课程评价的目标之一.教学评价应立足于“以评促改”的新思路,建立与新课程理念相一致的发展性学生评价体系,通过评价激发和引导学生自主学习,提高学生的科学素养,促进学生全面发展.     

Student trust in teachers and student perceptions of safety: positive predictors of student identification with school

This study examined the effects of student trust in teacher and student perceptions of safety on identification with school. Data were collected from one large urban district in an eastern state. Participants included 5441 students in 3rd through 12th grades from 49 schools. Students responded to surveys that assessed student trust in teachers, safety and identification with school. Free and Reduced Lunch (a proxy for SES), school level and ethnicity were included as control variables. Two hypotheses guided the study. Hypothesis 1 stated that student trust, safety and identification with school would positively covary. Hypothesis 2 predicted that student trust in teachers and perceptions of safety were school properties that would individually and collectively explain differences among schools in student identification with school. Both hypotheses were confirmed. The results of the hierarchical linear model indicated that student trust in teachers and school safety accounted for 98% of the 22% of variance that exists among schools in student identification. SES, school level and ethnicity were not significant predictors of identification with school. Findings suggest that student trust in teachers and perceptions of safety may significantly contribute to student identification above the effects of SES, ethnicity and school level.     

Guidance and counselling in New Zealand

By conventional indices, the standards of living and education in New Zealand are among the highest in the world. Guidance and counselling services have been developing since the 1920s, and a sound research literature is now emerging. The main divisions of non-medical personnel are clinical psychologists, vocational counsellors, social workers, educational psychologists, guidance counsellors and visiting teachers. In schools, guidance networks have been developed to formalize functions and relationships for effective delivery of services. For social workers, training is provided mainly within government departments, but there are also university programmes for them and for all personnel except visiting teachers. Current needs include more programme evaluation and further development of professional supervision, but a sound indigenous basis in research, training, and service delivery has been laid.     

A comparison of Thai and American counselling students perceptions of counselling

The expectancies that people of different cultures bring to counselling affect the outcomes of counselling. It was the purpose of this study to examine the ways that counselling students in two different countries, Thailand and the United States, perceived Counselling. The evaluative and potency scales of the Semantic Differential were used to compare the attitudes of these students related to Counselling, Counsellors, and Group Counselling. No significant difference were found in the ratings of the two groups of students on the evaluative scale for Counselling, Counsellors, or Group Counselling, but the American students rated the potency scales for these three variables significantly higher than the Thai students. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Gender and high school chemistry: student perceptions on achievement in a selective setting

This paper reports on research undertaken in a middle-class Australian school. The focus of the research was on the relationship between gender and students’ engagement with high school chemistry. Achievement data from many OECD countries suggest that middle-class girls are achieving equally as well as, if not better than, boys in many subjects. This has led to claims that the ‘girls and science’ agenda is no longer necessary, and indeed may have been detrimental to boys’ achievements in science subjects. The data collected from students at this site indicate that at this school this agenda is far from a completed one. These data indicate that whilst girls’ achievement levels are comparable with those of the boys, for many students chemistry is still perceived as a masculine subject. Hence, the girls in the chemistry classrooms at this school construct themselves, and are constructed, as outsiders in the subject.     

The effects of counsellor's experience and tendency to elicit disclosure on perceptions of individual counselling in school settings

To investigate counsellors' perceptions about the counselling of individuals, we collected data from 123 Israeli school counsellors with varying degrees of job experience and tendency to elicit intimate disclosure from others (measured subjectively). In general, in line with previous findings in the American educational system, counsellors reported that pupils approached them mainly in regard to scholastic issues and that time constraints are the main obstacle to performing the task of individual counselling. Moreover, the counsellor's ability to open up other people was positively correlated with a tendency to be approached by pupils and with the appraisal of greater pupil needs for individual counselling. Experienced counsellors were more inclined, than less experienced ones, to perceive a greater need by pupils for individual counselling, especially in junior high school students; to consider pupil unwilling ness to approach them as a major impediment; to not view individual counselling as a central aspect of their job; and to recommend innovative means of increasing contact with pupils, such as self-presentations in the classroom. The study suggests that time constraints and changing organisational trends are leading counsellors to reassess their roles and images.The research was funded by the Z. Aranne Foundation and conducted under the auspices of the NCJW Research Institute for Innovation in Education at the School of Education, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.The article is based on a paper presented at the American Counselling Association World Conference, Pittsburgh, 20–23 April 1996.     

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.     

Training in counselling of school teachers

The present study is an attempt at training a group of school teachers in counselling. The aims were to monitor and evaluate the training process so that effective ways of training can be evolved. The implications of the study and applicability of the methodology for similar other programmes elsewhere are discussed.     

American college students' perceptions of counsellor approachability: Professional implications

The Repertory Grid technique was used to explore differences in the way in which freshers and postgraduate counselling students perceived the roles of “counsellor” and “friend”. Postgraduates viewed counsellors as more approachable than other students, while freshers viewed other students as more approachable than counsellors. The constructs identified by the students were content-analyzed to define “approachability” for each group. The perceptions held by students were used to address implications for the provision of outreach services, role-induction programmes, and the status of the counsellor as the professional.     

American college students' perceptions of counsellor approachability: Professional implications

The Repertory Grid technique was used to explore differences in the way in which freshers and postgraduate counselling students perceived the roles of counsellor and friend. Postgraduates viewed counsellors as more approachable than other students, while freshers viewed other students as more approachable than counsellors. The constructs identified by the students were content-analyzed to define approachability for each group. The perceptions held by students were used to address implications for the provision of outreach services, role-induction programmes, and the status of the counsellor as the professional.Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, New Mexico State UniversityFor information contact Peggy Kaczmarek, Ph.D., New Mexico State University, Box 3CEP, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, United States.     

Teachers and students' divergent perceptions of student engagement: recognition of school or workplace goals

In extant research, the concept of student engagement refers to individual behavioural patterns and traits. Recent research indicates that engagement not only should be related to the individual but also should be anchored in the social context. This ethnographic field study of students and teachers in a Danish vocational education and training school responds to the need for more knowledge on this theme by exploring the social dynamics of engagement perceptions. Results show that teachers and students held diverging perceptions of student engagement that rested on educational goals as well as goals related to the perceived future work settings. The misrecognition of the students' perception of engagement had direct negative consequences for student performance and school attachment. The implications of the findings are discussed in detail.     

Assessment of counselling needs: A comparative study of the perceptions of primary school teachers in Lesotho and Malaysia

In this paper the results of a study conducted to determine the perception of counselling needs by primary school teachers in Malaysia and Lesotho are reported. To this end, teachers were asked about the special needs of students they teach, how they cope with these students, what assistance they would like to have in teaching, and the best approach for dealing with student concerns. Teachers in Lesotho are dealing with larger numbers of special needs students and thus are having more difficulties than Malaysian teachers. Malaysian teachers appeared to be more interested in improving their teaching effectiveness. There was some variation in the perceptions of how to best deal with student concerns.     

Patterns of student counselling in South African Universities

This study presents an overview of counselling and research practices at South African universities. Most of the universities have well-established counselling centres which students consult for a wide range of problems. Most of the counselling centres keep a record of their endeavours in annual reports but very little counselling research is published. The most important research topics for South African counsellors were identifying high-risk students, study techniques, developing vocational information and the academic success rate of students.     

Educators' perceptions and attitudes toward school counseling and student personnel services: A cultural perspective

This study was designed to survey and compare attitudes and perceptions toward school counseling and student personnel programs as held by educators in the Caribbean. The subjects in the study comprised 275 teachers and administrators employed in public and private junior and senior high schools in Nassau, Bahamas. The statistical tests used to analyze the data were the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance and the Friedman two-way analysis for repeated measures. The findings indicate that administrators at all levels expressed significantly more favorable attitudes and perceptions toward counseling and student personnel programs in the schools than teachers. Teachers in the study expressed the following: (a) serious concern regarding the competency of practicing counselors in their schools; (b) a need for clarification of their role and function in the guidance process and a clarification of the counselor's role; and (c) minimum acceptable standards should be established for school counseling positions.

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Zusammenfassung Ziel dieses Berichts war es, die Haltungen und Wahrnehmungen von Erziehungswissenschaftlern in der Karibik gegenüber schulischer Beratung und Personalprogrammen für Schüler zu untersuchen und zu analysieren. Für den Bericht wurden 275 an öffentlichen und privaten Junior und Senior High School tätige Lehrern und Administratoren befragt. Um die Daten für die statistische Analyse zu gewinnen, wurden die Kruskal-Wallis Ein-Weg Varianzanalyse und die Friedman Zwei-Weg Analyse für wiederholte Maßnahmen angewandt. Die Befunde ergaben, daß Administratoren sämtlicher Stufen erheblich günstigere Haltungen und Wahrnehmungen gegenüber Beratungs- und Personalprogrammen für Schüler an den Schulen einnahmen als die Lehrer. In dem Bericht äußerten die Lehrer folgendes: (a) erhebliches Bedenken bezüglich der Kompetenz praktizierender Berater an ihren Schulen; (b) die Notwendigkeit sowohl ihre Rolle und Funktion in dem Beratungsprozeß als auch die Rolle des Beraters zu klären; (c) ein Minimum an annehmbaren Standards für Schulberatungspositionen sei festzustellen.

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Résumé Cette étude a été conçue pour examiner et comparer les jugements et les opinions enregistrés sur les conseils d'école et les programmes du personnel étudiant tels qu'ils sont organisés par les spécialistes de l'éducation aux Bahamas. Les sujets de cette étude ont fait appel à 275 enseignants et administrateurs employés dans les écoles d'enseignement secondaire et supérieur de Nassau aux Bahamas. L'analyse unidirectionnelle de variance de Kruskal et Wallis ainsi que l'analyse bidirectionnelle de Friedman pour mesures répétées ont été utilisées en tant que tests statistiques pour traiter les données. Les résultats montrent que les administrateurs ont exprimé à tous les niveaux des jugements et des opinions bien plus favorables que celles des enseignants au sujet des conseils et des programmes du personnel étudiant des écoles. Les enseignants interviewés dans le cadre de cette étude ont exprimé les points suivants: (a) un grand intérêt pour ce qui est de la compétence des conseillers en exercice dans leur école; (b) la nécessité de préciser leur rôle et leur fonction dans le processus d'orientation ainsi que le rôle du conseiller; et (c) des normes minimums acceptables doivent être fixées pour les postes des conseils d'école.

     

Radical student participation: lessons from an urban government primary school in Tigray,Ethiopia

Recent policies in Ethiopia put students at the heart of school improvement through structures for peer leadership and school-level consultation, evaluation and decision-making. This article draws on an ethnographic study of a government school in Tigray, Ethiopia, to explore how the participation and influence of students is achieved and mediated by structures and processes in school. Three key contexts of student participation are explored: positions of peer leadership (monitor, ‘one-to-five’ network leader); public evaluation sessions (gim gima); and the Parent Student Teacher Association (PSTA). Recommendations are made for sharing and strengthening democratic practices and for future research.