Unit I: Introduction to
School Counseling
Prepared By: Sana Israr
Unit I: Introduction to School Counseling
1. Definition of Counseling
2. Goals of School Counseling
3. Brief History of School Counseling
1. Definition of Counseling
The counseling profession relies on a broad knowledge of
human development, psychology, sociology, and education. At
the same time, it incorporates effective communication and
leadership skills with the essential human qualities of caring,
genuineness, regard, and respect for others.
Counseling emerged as an applied specialty within the
American Psychological Association (APA) in the 1940s. It has
been recognized as a specialty by the APA since 1946, and this
recognition was reaffirmed in 1998.
The act of helping the client to see things more clearly,
possibly from a different viewpoint.
This can enable the client to focus on feelings, experiences
or behavior, with a goal to facilitate positive change.
A service offered to the individual undergoing a day-to-day
problem and needing professional help to overcome it.
The problem keeps him disturbed and under tension.
Counseling is a more specialized service requiring training
in personality development and handling exceptional groups
of individuals.
Counseling is Not:
• Judgment
• Giving advice
• Getting emotionally involved with the client
• Attempting to sort out the problems of the client
• Looking at a client's problems from your own perspective,
based on your own value system
• Expecting or encouraging a client to behave in a way in
which the counselor may have behaved when confronted
with a similar problem in their own life
2. Goals of School Counseling
1. Enact a leadership role within the school whereby the school
counselor advances the school’s educational improvement
efforts and substantially contributes to the overall mission of
the school.
2. Develop advocacy skills (effectively communicate rights of
yourself or another person) that will assist educationally
vulnerable and underserved students and their families.
3. Collaborate with teachers, administrators, and the
community to help students and their families.
4. Engage in assessment and use of data to determine the academic,
personal/social, and career development needs of students to design,
successful educational interventions that will provide the most tailored
assistance to students and the school as a whole.
Hayes et al. (2002) identified the variety of data that school counselors
have access to achievement test scores, attendance and discipline
records, graduation and college enrollment rates, achievement trends
across student groups (e.g. racial groups, socioeconomic groups, gender
groups, students with disabilities, and students with limited English
ability, etc.), surveys, and needs assessments which capture school
stakeholders’ perceptions regarding school’s needs. Each of these sources
of data can help school counselors organize school counseling programs
and school personnel to provide detailed and school-specific interventions
that contribute to the school’s overall mission.
5. Optimize the role of the school counselor in system
support, learning to use the skills of the school counselor in
activities that are necessary for the functioning of the
school.
6. Design and execute individual planning activities for
students.
7. Develop and deliver a guidance curriculum that is based
on national standards, prioritizes student/school needs, and
supports the academic success of all students.
8. Master brief counseling skills and crisis management within
a K-12 school setting as a part of responsive services,
including Bordin’s (1983) goals:
(a) Mastery of specific skills
(b) Enlarging one’s understanding of clients
(c) Enlarging one’s awareness of process issues
(d) Deepening one’s understanding of concepts and theory
(e) Maintaining standards of service.
Responsive services: short-term counseling interventions to
resolve immediate conflicts/problems, respond to crisis
events, and intervene in school-specific situations that
disrupt learning.
Bordin (1983) identified eight possible goals that could be
used to guide the supervision process:
(a) Mastery of specific skills
(b) Enlarging one's understanding of clients
(c) Enlarging one's awareness of process issues
(d) Increasing awareness of self and impact on process issues
(e) Overcoming personal and intellectual obstacles toward
learning and mastery
(f) Deepening one's understanding of concepts and theory
(g) Providing a stimulus to research
(h) Maintaining standards of service
Brief History of School Counseling
School counseling, in comparison to other professions and
fields of study, is a relatively recent area of inquiry and
practice.
Inception of the profession of school counseling 110 years
ago.
Pioneers in the Profession
In 1881, Lysander Richards was the first to present a model for career
development, while in 1894, George Merrill advocated for exploratory classes
in public education for students in order to develop their occupational
interests.
In 1907, Jesse Buttrick Davis, a principal in Michigan, initiated the first
“school for systemic guidance”, maintaining that “students should be
respected for their own abilities, interests, ideas, individual differences and
cultural identity” in an effort to support all the students within the school
setting.
In order to incorporate school counseling classroom lessons into the general
curriculum, Davis encouraged English teachers to take on the role of teaching
guidance which was the first time that teachers were encouraged to assume a
counseling role.
Frank Parsons “Father of Guidance” - primary architect of
vocational guidance in the US, based upon his advocacy work.
Parsons’ Trait/Factor theory represented a three-step approach
to vocational guidance:
(1) finding your aptitudes, strengths, and interests
(2) developing knowledge of career choices and conditions for
success
(3) understanding the relationship between the first two steps.
Parson’s Trait/Factor theory was modified by E. G. Williamson,
who is also recognized as a pioneer in the school counseling
profession (Thompson, 2012).
This organization also helped with the development of the
American School Counselor Association (ASCA). In 1953, ASCA
officially became a division of the American Personnel and
Guidance Association (APGA), which is now referred to as the
American Counseling Association (ACA).
The Humanists. Although Carl Rogers was not directly involved
in advocating for the profession of school counseling, he was
instrumental in influencing the approaches used by school
counselors.
Rogers’ concept of unconditional positive regard and his non-
directive, person-centered approach has become foundational
competency for counselors in training.
The notion that school counselors were “education specialists”
emerged during the political and economic turmoil of the
1930s.
In an attempt to define the school counselor role, Reavis and
Woellner (1930) identified three terms to describe the
provision of guidance: educational, personal, and vocational.
Recent Efforts to Promote Unity within the Profession
The 1960s and 1970s encouraged individual school
counselors to develop and define their own roles and
responsibilities, based on the needs of each school.
This individualized movement added fuel to the fire
regarding the role confusion in the field of school
counseling.
Political and Social Impact on the School Counseling Profession
World War I had a significant impact upon the role of the school
counselor.
Standardized measurements, such as the Army’s Alpha and Beta
intelligence tests, were introduced to identify youth for armed
services selection (Gysbers, 2010).
During the war, school counselors focused upon identifying
students for armed services selection, and students’ vocational
aspirations often represented a secondary interest.
The psychometric movement inspired by World War I.
The paradigm of the profession has been changed through
viewing school counseling as an integral service in the
educational system, and not merely as that which is provided
by or to a few lone individuals within the school or district.
In embracing this shift, the school counseling profession has
taken the next step in its evolution.
With legislative advocacy and proactive behaviors exhibited
on the part of individual school counselors, state school
counseling organizations, and national professional
organizations, school counseling is poised to no longer be
viewed as ancillary to the educational system, but rather as a
service that ensures the holistic development of all
students.
References
Coleman, Hardin L. K., and Christine J. Yeh, eds. Handbook of School
Counseling. New York: Routledge, 2008.
Wood, C., & Rayle, A. D. (2006). A model of school counseling supervision:
The goals, functions, roles, and systems model. Counselor Education and
Supervision, 45(4), 253–266. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-
6978.2006.tb00002.x
Watkins, C. E. (2014). The supervisory alliance: A half century of theory,
practice, and research in critical perspective. American Journal of
Psychotherapy, 68(1), 19–55.
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.2014.68.1.19
