GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Guidance was originally
centered on problems related to
vocations for young people.
Adolescents who were not in school, had
nothing to do, indulged in
various activities resulted in delinquency. To
reduce delinquency, an effort
was made with guidance which aimed at
choice of job suited to the
abilities and needs of the adolescents. The
chief guidance responsibility
of society is towards children and youth.
Guidance functions whenever
choices are made and even when there is
no choice, it helps the
individual to understand and accept the
situation. It is not only
needed in crisis situations but throughout the
life for personality
development. Guidance which comes in just by the
way as life goes is informal
guidance; the guidance for achievement in
our day-to-day life is incidental guidance. The
specific form of guidance
with a purpose is the formal
guidance which helps the individual to find
a solution to problem.
2.2 MEANING OF GUIDANCE
Guidance is the assistance
made available by qualified and
trained persons to an
individual of any age to help him to manage his
own life activities, develop
his own points of view, make his own
decisions and carryon his own
burdens. In the educational context,
guidance means assisting
students to select courses of study
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appropriate to their needs
and interests, achieve academic excellence
to the best possible extent,
derive maximum benefit of the institutional
resources and facilities,
inculcate proper
study habits,
satisfactorily
participate in curricular and
extra curricular activities.
2.3 ORIGIN OF GUIDANCE
The term 'guidance' derives
its meaning from the world 'guide'
which refers to a person who
shows the way. A guide needs to possess
intimate knowledge regarding
places, ways, etc., to enlighten
individuals about a new
place. This guidance means 'to guide'. Even at
the earliest stages of the
developmental history of human civilisation,
adults must have extended
guidance to the young for growing in and
adjusting to various
developmental situations in life. Although man's
physical nature and equipment
have remained unchanged for
centuries, the structure of
society has become tremendously complex.
Urban life, mobility,
industrialisation, hi-tech advancements, increasing
media of communication, had introduced new social-personal
challenges which the young or
their family adults found difficult to cope
with; this state of affairs
led to the origin of guidance.
In the West as well as in India
performed by civic minded
philanthropic persons. Frank Parsons, a
volunteer worker in the Civic
Services House in Boston
recorded as the Father of
Vocational Guidance in USA
Mehta and Mr. Batliboi were
the civic leaders of the guidance
movement in the Parsi
Panchayat Bureau of
Bombay Bombay
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movement in India
2.4 DEFINITION OF GUIDANCE
Crow and Crow define, "Guidance is the assistance made
available by competent
counsellors to an individual of any age to help
him direct his own life,
develop his own point of view, make his own
decisions, carry his own
burdens". According to Hamrin and Erickson,
guidance is "that aspect
of educational programme which is concerned
especially with helping the pupil to become adjusted to his
present
situation and to plan his future in line with his
interests, abilities and
social.needs".
According to Jones,
"Guidance involves personal help given by
some one; it is designed to
assist a person to decide where he wants
to go, what he wants to do or
how he can best accomplish his purpose;
it assists him to solve
problems that arise in his life".
Guidance is a process which
helps every individual to help
himself, to recognise and use
his own inner potentials, to set goals, to
work out his own problems of
development. It is a continuous
process
needed from childhood to old
age, guidance is not separate from
education but is an essential
part of the total educational programme.
It is broader than counselling and includes
counselling as one of its
services. According to Butler
'adjustive' and
'distributive'. In adjustive phase, the emphasis is on the
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social, personal and
emotional problems of the individual; in the
distributive phase the focus
is on his educational, vocational and
occupational problems.
Arbuckle has described Butler
phaseas guidance and
adjustive phase as counselling.
To Hollis and Hollis,
guidance programme is based on eight
principles.
1. The dignity of the individual is
supreme.
2. Individuals differ.
3. The primary concern of
guidance is the individual in his social
setting.
4. The attitudes and personal
perceptions of the individual are the
bases on which he acts
5. Individual generally acts
to enhance his perceived self
6. The individual has the
innate ability to learn and can be helped to
make choice that will lead to
self direction consistent with social
improvement
7. The individual needs a
continuous guidance process from early
childhood through adulthood
8. Each individual may at
times need the information and personal
assistance best given by
competent professional person.
2.5 COUNSELLING
Guidance, which is a
relatively more comprehensive process
includes counselling as its
most specialised function. Counselling
service forms the central
part of the overall assistance given to the
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individual through guidance
programme. Counselling is a process of
enabling the individual to
know himself and his present and possible
future situations in order
that he may make substantial contributions
to the society and to solve
his own problems through a face to face
relationship with the
counsellor.
"Counselling is a learning oriented process
carried out in a social
environment in which the
professionally competent counsellor attempts
to assist the counsellee
using appropriate procedures to become a
happy and productive member
of the society by formulating realistic
and purposeful goals for
total personal growth.
2.6 EVOLUTION OF GUIDANCE AND
COUNSELLING
MOVEMENT IN INDIA
Good teachers have always
been interested in providing
understanding assistance to
students to help them overcome problems
of learning and adjustment so
as to ensure optimum achievement and
profitable placement. In the
ancient Gurukula system of education,
there were harmonious
relations between the teacher (Guru) and the
taught (Shisya). But these
were possible because of the small number
of students, simple courses
of study, the limited job opportunities and
the world of work which was
almost stable. But now with the
tremendous increase in the
number of students, various types of
courses of study vast
curriculum and competitions in job opportunities,
the students face more number
of problems. Thus there :is
need for
help in the form of guidance
and counselling.
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In India ,
Patna University
which paid attention to the
problems of college students and
counselling service was
provided by the Department of Psychological
Research in 1945. In 1955, St. Xavier College , Bombay
religious counselling and in
1960, the emphasis was given to the
personal and social problems.
M.S. University
in Baroda
the first full time
counselling for college students in 1958 and at the
invitation of the UGC and
with the approval of the UGC, the student
counselling centre was setup
in 1959. In 1961, Allahabad University
organised a counselling
centre for its students with the assistance of
the United States Educational Foundation in India Wilson
College, Bombay
In 1965, Annamalai University
started a counselling centre
for its students with the help of a fullbright
professor. But in 1979, the
Draft National Policy on Education of
the Ministry of Education,
Government of India
anything on Guidance and
Counselling service in schools or colleges. In
the recent years there are
certain private agencies and personnels
providing counselling for the
vocationally and personally challenged
people.
Guidance and Counselling
services consolidated their position in
Commission and the Kothari
Education Commission, when they were
implemented under a centrally
sponsored scheme in the states. Due to
this central financial aid
during the 1960s and 1970s guidance service
40'
wasthen perhaps at their
Zenith in the Country. During this period a
numberof state bureaus of
guidance was established and the existing
ones were strengthened under
the guidance and supervision of the
Central Bureau of educational
and vocational guidance (CBVEG).
During this period new
guidance activities and programmes were
launched.Researches were
conducted in
1. Organisation and administration of
guidance, which included work
on its history, need, aims
and objectives.
2. Concepts, view points and
methods suggested and formulated from
time to time for improving
the methods and techniques used in the
practice of guidance.
3. Vocational guidance
covering the results of surveys planned from
time to time.
Gradually attention was paid
to research in other aspects such
as counselling and
information to follow up also in the late 1970s and
1980sand evaluation of
guidance services or guidance interventions as
well as some unexplored topics were also
considered for research in
With the neglect of guidance
services during the late eighties
andearly nineties due to
various reasons, interest in guidance research
alsodwindled.
It is a matter of serious
concern that research in the theory and
practiceof guidance and
counselling has been scarce and insignificant
in India
The effect of guidance and
counselling should be studied on
specialgroups of children
such as slow learners, under achievers, the
mentally retarded, spastics
and the handicapped, on the one hand and
gifted, creative and talented
children on the other.
Research in guidance needs to
employ different designs such as
experimental, action
research, field assessment, etc.,
besides ex-post
facto designs. Longitudinal
studies should be conducted to test
developmental models like that of career
development.
Some sound research has been
conducted in the field, but it has
not been utilised by policy
planners and educational administrators and
the findings and
recommendations of whatever meaningful for framing
the educational policies in
the country. The time is ripe now to give
serious thought to the entire
issue of revamping the guidance and
counselling services at the
national, state and school level, agencies
and school level
functionaries.
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Implementation of research
based guidance and·
counselling
servicesmay facilitate the all round
development of the child and may
preparehim to be a fully functioning
individual, an efficient worker and
a usefulcitizen of the
society.
2.7 EDUCATION AND COUNSELLING
Schools are temples of
learning and education is preparation for
life. Aim of education is
allround development and harmonious
adjustment of an individual
in various aspects of his life. If this is to be
achieved, then education is
not limited to imparting knowledge as the
duty of a teacher and
accumulating knowledge as the duty of a
student. The unique
potentialities of each individual along with
environmental opportunities
will have to be taken into, account
in
making the individual capable
of contributing maximum to the societv.
Thus for self-realisation of
the individual, guidance and counselling
service is needed.
Counselling is a form of education extended to an
individual in a scientific
manner.
2.8 AIMS OF COUNSELLING
1. To bring about the desired changes in
the individual for self
realisation.
2. To provide assistance to
solve problems through an intimate
personal relationship.
3. To achieve positive mental
health.
4. To help students to make
proper and satisfactory adjustments for
improved academic pursuits
and useful life.
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2.9 NEED FOR COUNSELLING
In the 10+2+ pattern of
education introduced in the year 1978,
after completing 10 years of
general education at the secondary level,
the student has many choices
for selection. Either he can enter into
world of work or select a
vocational course or opt for higher level of
academic courses of study
through higher secondary. At this
adolescent period, the
student must know about his capacities,
potentials, job opportunities
after higher studies, about the expenses
towards higher education,
availability of scholarships and the places of
admission, etc. He needs
professional guidance for right selection of
coursesof study and personal
guidance for his adjustment problems.
Even though the present
younger generation has many educated
adults for assistance, some
may be reluctant to approach and in some
families the parents may be
uneducated. If the parents and elders at
home are busy with their
work, earning their bread and comforts, the
adolescents are left alone
without any help and in some cases without
love and affection for which
they long for. They face heterosexual
problems, which they cannot
discuss with parents. Apart from these
problems, the adolescents do
not know the method of studying,
method of preparing for the
examinations, leisure time management,
adjusting with siblings at
home, adjusting with peer group members
and parents. Many students stay in hostels for
acquiring higher
education. In some cases even
at the primary and secondary level they
are put in residential
schools.
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All these types of students
require guidance. Guidance is needed
not only for the problem
adolescent but also for the gifted student.
Guidance is needed to check
the dropouts from school, to minimise the
incidence of indiscipline. As
most of the higher secondary .schcols
are
co-education schools, the
heterosexual adjustment and friendship need
guidance. For the adolescents
who lack a sense of direction, purpose
and a sense of fulfilment,
guidance needs to be made a regular and
continuous activity. In
educational institutions for optimum individual,
social and national
development guidance and counselling must form
part of education.
A survey was conducted by the
All India Educational and
Vocational Guidance
Association (1960-61) for gauging
college
students' needs. Three thousand
students from seventeen Indian
universities responded. The
survey revealed students' felt
needs.
Eleven problems were marked
by more than 50% of the respondents.
They were,
1. I cannot do as well in my studies as
other people expect me to do.
2. I do not know enough about
the qualifications needed for
different
kinds of work or careers.
3. I worry too much about
what my future will be after I have finished
my studies.
4. Even though I force myself, my attention will not remain on my
assignments long enough to
finish them.
5. I do not know how to make
friends among the opposite sex.
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6. I do not have sufficient
information about matters on sex.
7. I do not know enough about
my aptitudes and abilities for different
kinds of work or careers.
8. It is difficult for me to
get the books I need for study.
9. I cannot read fast enough
to complete my studies in time.
10.I do not know proper
methods of study.
11.I have more difficulty in
forgetting my mistakes than I believe I
should have.
The survey result reveals
that even the college students lack
knowledge about the
occupational world, unable to make clear
decisions, lack of knowledge
of methods of study, confused in making
heterosexual relationships.
Guidance thus assumes more responsibility
for every student in every
direction. The different directions where
guidanceis needed are:
Education
Health
Vocation
Every vocation requires
certain educational and professional
qualifications and
preparation. So for the students to succeed in any
field, from selection to
progress, guidance is needed.
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Avocation
The filling up of vacant hours of the students
is one of the
important tasks of education. They should
be helped in leisure time
management. Directions are
needed in choosing hobbies, co-curricular
activities, games and
cultural programmes so that the out of classroom
hours is also a means of
development.
Social
As the students in schools
come from heterogenous, linguistic
and socio-economic
backgrounds, the students should be guided in
social behaviour like making
friends, becoming leaders in their own
groups and for proper social
adjustment.
Moral
Telling lies, indulging in antisocial acts, having
fascinated by
heterosexual relationships,
and trying to dodge the adults in family and
also indisciplined behaviour
in school can be avoided by guidance.
Health
Students must be aware of
good food habits and ways of
improving their physique.
Dieting to become thin, obesity and the
consequences must be known to
the students; specially to. adolescent
girls who are going to be the
mothers of next generation. Even the
disabled students need
guidance care.
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Personal
Adolescents have problems
related to themselves, their parents,
family, peer group members
and teachers. These may be jealousy
among siblings, domination of
elders, maltreatment of children, lack of
a sense of being wanted and
belongingness. These unhappy situations
disturb the mental
equilibrium of adolescents which results in poor
academic achievement.
Education
Underachievement, failures in
examinations, unsatisfactory
involvement in academic work,
drop out from schools are some of the
educational problems for the
adolescents. Even the choice of subjects
and courses offered under
higher education, scholarships available are
not known to all the students
completely. So guidance and counselling
is needed to solve these
types of problems.
Marital
The suitable age for marital
life for girls has been fixed as
twenty one, but all the
parents are not aware of the physical and
mental maturity of their
daughters. In Indian villages even before
finishing standard ten, the
girls are married. So to have a proper
understanding of family life,
adjustment in the family with elders and
to have a clear knowledge of
reproductive systems, guidance is
needed.
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Apart from the above mentioned
fields of guidance, in the
present system of education,
guidance and counselling is needed to
motivate the youth for
self-employment, to help the adolescents
establish proper identity.
Guidance is also needed to check the
wastage of student time and
money and also huge state expenditure
on education.
To pursue higher education,
youth migrate from rural areas to
urban areas and from our
country to foreign countries. Unless this
migration is checked by
guidance and counselling, the rural talent and
our national talent will
become unproductive. Guidance is also needed
to prevent social damage by
the destructive activities of youth.
2.10 SCOPEOF COUNSELLING
1. Assisting the students to make right
choice in academic and nonacademic
purists.
2. Making him realize his
potentialities to make maximum contribution
to the welfare of the
society.
3. Assisting him to make
proper and satisfactory adjustment for
improved academic
achievement.
Guidance and counseling is
not restricted to problem solving
situations only, it is for
helping the student to achieve all-round growth
throughout ones life.
Guidance and counseling to students should be
based on the reliable data
about them. Parents, guardians, teachers
and peers of the student can
provide a wealth of data. Besides these,
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anxiety scale, self - concept
test can also be administered to obtain the
needed data.
Identification of problems
affecting academic performance of
students and their
personality development is the first and the
foremost step in the process
of counseling. One of the most useful
methods for identifying a
problem is observation. So teachers who are
keen observers of their students will easily anticipate a
problem than
others.
2.11 PROBLEM SOLVING
Different steps in problem
solving are
1. Problem identification
2. Gathering the data
available
3. Hypothesizing the probable
causes of the problem
4. Identifying the data
needed and collecting the data
5. Arriving at the actual
causes.
6. Implementing the strategy
for solving
7. Follow up action initiation
The counsellor teacher can
identify the problems by observation.
Data can be collected from
teachers, peers and from the student
concerned. The counselor can make possible guesses
about the
possible causes of the
problems. By interview and personality tests,
the actual causes can be
listed, and then the counsellor should take
efforts to eliminate the
effects of the factors that cause the problem
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and should work for a
permanent solution for the problem so that it
does not recur.
2.12 COUNSELLING TECHNIQUES
Counsellor uses a variety of
techniques to suggest appropriate
solutions to the problem of
the counsellee. Directive counselling is
counsellor-centered approach
where counsellor plays a leading role.
Non-directive counselling is
counsellee-centered approach where he is
guided to use his own inner
resources to solve the problem.
DIRECTIVE COUNSELLING
(PRESCRIPTIVE COUNSELLING)
Counselling is possible only
when the individual is able to
accumulate adequate data to
form the basis for an analytic diagnosis
of the problem. The
counsellor's role is to assist his student in getting
such data to suggest suitable
solutions.
The counsellor plays a
prominent and leading role. The possible
solutions are suggested by
the counsellor himself. The counsellor gives
direct advice,· suggestions, explanations to the
counsellee. The
counsellor through repeated
explanation convinces the counsellee
regarding the suitability of the
suggested solution. The initiative is
taken by the counsellor. The
responsibility of the counsellor is to
analyse the problem, find out
the causes, make decisions, and suggest
appropriate solutions to the
counsellee for his implementation.
E.G. Williamson is the chief
exponent of this viewpoint and it involves
six essential steps:
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1. Analysis - Collecting data about the student from
variety of
sources.
2. Synthesis - Organising the data to know
about the liabilities,
adjustments and
maladjustments of the student.
3. Diagnosis - Formulating conclusions regarding the causes of
problems.
4. Prognosis - Predicting the future
development of the problems.
5. Counselling - Counsellor's step with the
student to bring about
adjustment.
6. Follow-up - Effectiveness of counselling
when problems recur.
Counselling Process
The counsellor through his
warm and friendly behavior, must
create a cordial atmosphere
for the counselling session, through a
process involving the
personal talk in the form of discussion, the
counsellor must attempt to
understand the various aspects of the
problem. The counsellor gives
his advice as to how to hope with the
problems. He suggests number
of solutions and asks the counsellee to
choose the appropriate one.
The session is terminated when the
counsel\eeis convinced about
his future plan of action.
The final step in counselling
is followup. The effectiveness of the
prescription given by the
counsellor to the student must be seen in
practice. The counsellor
keeps a watch over the students behaviour.
Thecounsellor sees that the
problem does not recur.
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Limitations
The counsellee may agree to
the suggestions and solutions,
guided by the counsellor but
may face difficulty in implementing and
practising the same. This may be because the
counsellor while
suggesting solutions, may not
have considered all the issues and the
influences on the counsellee. The
counsellee may also develop a
tendency to become totally dependent on
others for finding solutions
to any problem.
NON-DIRECTIVE COUNSELLING
Car R. Rogers is the chief exponent of this
viewpoint. It is a
client-centered approach for
solving personal problems of individuals.
Thevarious phases of activity involves
1. Opening the session,
2. Establishing rapport
3. Exploration of the problems
4. Discovering alternative
solutions
5. Termination of the session
6. Follow up
Counselling Process
The data and time for
counseling is decided with the consent of
the counsellee. The counsellor may start
the session with a few
preliminary introductory remarks about the
counsellee such as his out
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of school activities,
interests, hobbies etc. This is intended to set the
counselling going in a smooth
manner and provide a setting for
counsellor.
Counsellee Interactions
The second phase is the
establishment of rapport by the
counsellor with the
counsellee. The counsellor's responsibility to create
an atmosphere that helps the
counsellee to free himself from the
mental blocks that elude a
satisfactory solution to his problems. The
counsellor helps him to
express his feelings freely. When the
counselee has a clear
understanding of all aspects of the problem and
its actual causes, the
counsellor assists him in working out solutions in
the form of readjustment
plans. The counsellor does not provide any
readymade solutions, but he
sees that the solution is
arrived at by the
counsellee himself. When the
counsellor is satisfied with the outcome
of the discussion, he
encourages the counsellee to use the
readjustment effectively and
terminates the counselling session.
Limitation
It is time consuming. Many sessions may be required to
convince the student to
utilise his inner resources for solving his
problems.
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ECLECTIC COUNSELLING
Using directive and
non-directive counselling together is eclectic
counselling. F.C.Thomas is the exponent of this view. The counsellor
may start with directive
approach but when the situation demands, he
may incorporate non-directive
technique.
Counselling Process
The data about the individual
is collected by interview and other
various sources. Then
educational, occupational and other needed
informations are given to the counsellee.
By establishing rapport, the
counsellee achieves emotional
release and finally makes decisions and
solves his problems. This may
be followed by usual follow-up step.
Whatever be the technique
used by the counsellor, counselling
process requires honesty,
Sincerity and openness of the counsellee.
2.13 TYPES OF COUNSELLING
Counselling can be group
counselling or individual counselling.
GROUP COUNSELLING
It is a technique where a
group of persons is counselled by
applying group interaction method with the purpose of arriving
at a
solution to the problem
common to the group. All the group members
were provided with an
opportunity to discuss their problem together, in
a free atmosphere. Knowledge of reality, self-knowledge and self-
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realization can be achieved
through group interaction process. These
help to modify certain faulty
social learning and to relearn
certain
attitudes and dispositions
which are essential for healthy adjustment.
The counsellor initiates the
session with the students chosen on the
basis of common problem.
Everyone in the group gives his opinion and
shows respect for others
viewpoint and the group finally
take a
decision which is acceptable
to all. The limitation here is the
size of the
group. It should be small
otherwise the interaction among the
members will result in
confusion instead of solution.
Techniques of Group
Counselling
There are various techniques
used for group counselling.
1. Informal discussions
Discussions done under a
skillful leader with desirable objectives
result in conclusions helpful
to the whole group.
2. Group reports
Students with similar
specific problems are divided into groups,
the solution arrived at is
discussed in the larger group.
3. Lectures
Lectures delivered by experts
on specific problems is used to
impart group guidance.
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4. Dramatics
Guidance is given in an
interesting way by dramatisation.
5. Question box
Shy students get a solution
for their problems when similar
problemis discussed in a
group.
6. Caseconference
It is an experience in social
thinking where the problem faced by
the majority of the group is
stated concretely by way of a case.
INDIVIDUAL COUNSELLING
{INTERVIEW}
Interview is one of the main
techniques employed in assisting
the individual to understand
himself. It is the fundamental
operation in
the counselling process.
According to Bingham and
Moore Interview is 'Conversation with
purpose'. Irrespective of the
nature of the interview, facts about the
involved individual are gathered, inferred
and sometimes judged and
verified during the counselling process. In
addition to the obvious
picture of the students'
traits as obtained through structured tools in
the form of data blanks,
questionnaire, rating scales, a proficient
counsellorcan enrich the data collected
by having casual conversations
withteachers concerned and
parents.
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Typesof Interviews
1. Introductory Interview
The first interview with the counsellee for getting
mutually
acquainted and building
rapport is introductory interview. It
makes the
follow up procedure easy. The
counsellor introduces himself and states
the purpose of the interview to the
counsellee. It also develops
confidence in the counsellee
about the counsellor's competence,
interest, knowledge, skill and feeling of
freedom. This type of
introductory interview does not provide all
the data needed to
understand the counsellee. To get details
about the counsellee, the
introductory interview is to be followed
by fact finding interview.
2. FactFinding Interview
This helps the counsellor to
identify the intensity of counselle's
attitudes towards family, friends, school,
subjects and situations which
are not revealed by the
counsellee in writing. Counsellor knows about
the strengths and weaknesses of the
counsellee by this follow-up
interview.
3. Informative Interview
A counsellee may be
interviewed by the counsellor with the
purpose of informing him about the data
collected from various
sources. The students who seek educational
and vocational choices
require this type of interviews by
expert counsellors.
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4. Counselling Interview or
Therapeutic Interview
It is a conversation with a
purpose between two individuals in
the specific context of
counselling. It requires a cooperative attitude
and readiness for sharing on
part of both the participants, An
expert
counsellor can arouse a confidence in the
counsellee that they are
close enough for his free
expression of any of his feelings which he
cannot talk openly with
others. Thus with the development of
counselling interviews, the
counsellor is increasingly able to
understand the counsellee's special need without getting
emotionally
involved with the counsellee.
A proficient counsellor can observe
significant facts in the
counselling situation. The gestures, looks, tone,
pitch and movements of the
counsellee during the interview also give
information about the
counsellee's emotional state, his attitude
towards the problem and his
ego strength. Termination of a counselling
interview should be an
achievement experience for the counsellee and
fulfilling experience for the counsellor.
2.14 EDUCATIONAL GUIDANCE
Students often encounter
difficulties in understanding what is
taught in the classrooms
because of which there are problems such as
under achievement,
unsatisfactory involvement in academic activities
and extra-curricular
activities. Among the students, there are poor
achievers, high achievers,
creative and gifted, and students with low
level of motivation. Adolescent students
of similar type may be
59
grouped and group guidance
may be organised. The steps in
organising group guidance programme
are:
1. The areas in which guidance is to be
organised is determined.
2. Planning appropriately to
involve students in the programme.
3. Evaluating the strategies
and implementing the same.
4. Spreading the group
guidance programme throughout the year.
5. Involving all the needed
faculty in the programme.
6. Evaluating the
effectiveness of the programme.
7. Organising follow up.
Besides the general group
guidance, teachers may have to
design and implement group
guidance in their own class for the
purpose of general
improvement in academic performance. Such
guidance must form an
integral part of instruction. In
these
programmes, teachers may have
to focus on the progress of the
students, common problems
faced by them and suggestions for
overcoming them, common
mistakes committed in tests and
assignments and suggestions
for improving their·
academic
performance.
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Guidance for special learners
Special learners are those
who standout as a distinct set from
other students in a class and therefore
they require special attention.
Educationally they deviate from the average
students in their academic
achievement. These distinct sets may be
classified as : (i) gifted,
(ii) creative, (iii) slow learners and (iv) learners with
difficulty for
learning. Gifted are students who show remarkably
high performance
in educational endeavours. They have
superior intellectual potential
and functional ability to achieve
academically in the top 15 to 20% of
the students in the class. Creative are
those who exhibit creativity such
as forming ideas or hypothesis and show a
different approach to a
problem. Slow learners are students who require
more time for
learning than the average students in a
class. They are expected to
show a marked educational deficiency. For
these learners, individual
guidancehas to be arranged.
2.15 SOCIAL GUIDANCE
Inferiority complex, over
dependency, antisocial behaviour,
deviant sexual behaviour, and social
outbursts are some of the
social
problems. The common cause for these
problems is social environment
of the adolescent. The clash between adult
expectation of the
adolescents and their own standards resu\t in socia\ ma\adjustment.
Socialadjustment is also linked with the
adolescents' home and school
relationship. Poverty, parental indifference, physical and
mental
disability are also other causes for social
maladjustment.
61
Adjustments in social setup,
developing interpersonal
relationship, positive
attitude towards the values are the expected
social qualities of a normal
citizen in any society. The process of
socialisation involves
nurturing of likes and dislikes, interests,
attitudes, values, goals and
aspirations in the hearts of adolescents.
Educationaims to train the
students to become efficient members of
the society. If the social
needs of the students are not properly
fulfilled, they become
socially maladjusted. Thus to avoid
maladjustment of the
adolescent, proper nurturing of social qualities
by parents, teachers, peers and elders in the society is to be
done.
Causes of Social Problems
Social taboos
Social Problems
Fear from
opposite sex
For social and emotional well
being of an adolescent three
essential social needs are to
be considered. They are the need for
interpersonal satisfaction, need for group
status and need for self-
62
development. Any student, as
a member of student group expects
acceptance by his peers. He, as a member tries to understand group
pattern, tries to behave
according to group norm. He needs social
recognition through
self-assertion. The adolescent, boy or girl desires
to freely interact with
members of the opposite sex. Social norms,
•
vague fear, restrictions,
shyness impose severe restriction on
heterosexual relationship
which leads to withdrawal behaviour. These
types of social problems can
be reduced by providing social guidance.
Glasser developed a strategy
known as classroom meeting model for
solving social problems of
students. The objectives of the programme
were to reduce loneliness in the students
and to promote self identity
in students. The problem solving model
involved six phases. First
phase was establishing
congenial climate for sharing the opinions
among the group members. Next
phase was exposing the problem for
discussion; Phase three was the
involvement of the students in making
personal value judgement about the
problem concerned. Alternative
courses of action was to be
identified by the students in the next
phase. Phase five involved
public commitment to carry out the specific
behaviour which was finally
followed by behavioural follow up. If it was
effective, then the student was guided to reinforce
them for future
action.
Like this, sensitivity training method can also be
used for solving
socialproblems. It is based on assumptions. The student
should not go
back into the past to analyse the effect of
events on. their lives.
63
Emotions are shared and
experienced so that student prepares to
acceptand understand the
problem situation.
2.16 PERSONAL GUIDANCE
Personal problems of
adolescents are emotional in nature. An
adolescent with emotional
control can face any threatening situation.
The client centered
non-directive counselling can be followed for
solving personal problems.
Apart from this, other methods viz., cooperative
counselling and stress
reduction model can be used. Cooperative
counselling is a blend of the
direct guidance and authority
typical of the directive
counselling and the non judgemental, active
listening behaviour typical
of non-directive techniques. (Halloran,
1978).
In co-operative counselling
the counsellor encourages the
counselleeto express his
thoughts freely, restates the counsellor's own
feelings and message, so that
the counsellee understands his problem
well. This type of counselling called
'mirroring' is useful to find
out the
realcause of an emotional
problem and exploring a suitable strategy to
solvethe problem.
Emotional conflicts which
produce anxiety and stress increases
the blood pressure causing
tension on the muscles. The stress
reduction model recommends
systematic relaxation of different sets of
musclesfrom head to toe. The
adolescent with anxiety is allowed to sit
comfortably closing his eyes.
He then focuses his mind on different
64
partsof his body from head to
toe and relaxes with deep breathing.
This strategy can be
practised for physical, mental and emotional
relaxationand harmony.
2.17 COUNSELLING PROCESS
The scientific job of
counselling is easy for professional workers.
Anyteacher turned counsellor
in a school can take a course or two in
guidance and counselling and then begin
work as a part-time
counsellor. The difference
between teaching and counselling is not a
matter of purpose of goals but the
approach and the methods used.
Both teaching and counselling
aim at bringing about the desired
behavioural changes in the student. The
primary preparation of
counselling includes preparation of a
cumulative folder for each
counsellee containing his personal and
academic history, short
autobiography and academic achievements.
General data about the
student, physical data regarding health,
psychological data consisting
of intelligence, aptitude, interest, etc., must be collected by the
counsellor from school records, personal
interview from parents and
fromother teaching faculties.
When the counsellor has a
clear understanding of all
aspects of
the problems of the adolescents and actual
causes of the problems,
then he can assist the student in working
out solution. Depending upon
tt\e nature of the problem, educational,
vocational, personal, social,
t\t., \n~t~\l\\~~\\~\ 'n~\?~'tn~ c.~:)\l\\~~\\~~\\\ 0\\\\1\\\9 o't 0 ~~\\l'\\~\\. \N'n~\\
the counsellor has to provide needed
information for vocational
65
guidance,he must be aware of
career information and other agencies
ofsuch information. In
solving emotional problems, the counsellor may
have to use psychological tests to
understand the .counsellee.
Thereforethe counsellor must
know the formal and informal devices of
collectingdata, tools and
techniques of guidance.
The counsellor should be
competent in interpersonal skills. He
must have an extensive
background knowledge of the dynamics of
human behaviour, changing
population, rapid technological changes
and new occupational trends.
He is both an educator and a
psychologist. In the words of
Indu Dave, "counsellor is an expert guide
to help the counsellee get
acquainted with sources of related
information; an intelligent interpreter
of obtained facts and ideas; a
stimulating force to motivate
the counsellee for self-understanding;
and a moral support to the
individual struggling in the dilemma of
taking a decision."
2.18 EVALUATION OF GUIDANCE
AND COUNSELLING
Evaluation of guidance is the
process of finding the value of
guidance. It is an attempt to
find out to what degree the objectives of
guidance and counselling has
been attained. Evidences of success such
as having developed the
ability to be self-sufficient in solving problems
and improvement in academic
achievement are some of the positive
outcomes expected of guidance
and counselling.
66
As compared to the data
collection methods followed decades
ago, in this twenty first
century, it can easily be done by putting
questionnaires on the computer screen.
Even if the adolescent is
hesitant to reply before the counsellor,
he may feel free to provide
datathrough the data
collecting machine.
Any number of
students and
anyamount of data can be
collected and stored for reference with less
time. Simple vocational and avocational
problems can be solved by
clickingthe keys. If the
problem is personal and needs interpersonal
communication, it can be done
by one to one interview type
of
counselling. In colleges and
urban areas, this type of computer
counsellingcan be done easily but only to
certain extent in schools and
ruralareas.
In the first chapter, the
problems of adolescent girls and other
relatedtraits, need for and significance of
the study were dealt into. In
the second chapter, the details
of guidance and counselling was given.
In the foil-owing chapter, related studies
pertaining to adjustment
problems, guidance and counselling,
self-concept, attitude towards
school,involvement in studies and achievement
are mentioned.
67
Social Plugin