background of the school counseling profession

Background of the
School Counseling
Profession

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.

History of School Counseling
The

counseling profession
entered the schoolhouse in the
early 20th century

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

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 person’s personal
characteristics with an occupation

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.

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

History
World War II - and it’s 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


History

1930s

- the first theory of
guidance was introduced. E. G.
Williamson’s Trait and Factor
theory.
This was known as directive or
counselor-centered

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

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 - Nat’l Defense Ed. Act

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

History
1953

- ASCA joined APGA
1962 - Wrenn’s book, The
Counselor in a Changing World
-solidified the goals of school c’ing
1964 - ASCA develops a role and
function statement for counselors
a

History

 1965

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

History
1997

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

School Guidance
(1900

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

AlCA’s Formative Years/History
www.alca.sumternet.com
1957 - Guidance Dept @ St Dept
 NDEA = Guidance Institutes
1967 - Joins APGA as “AlPGA”
1979 - 3rd state in nation to
have licensure for professional
counselors


Defining Guidance & Counseling

What

is guidance?

What

is counseling?

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)

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

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

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."

School Counselor Role
 Interventions
Individual

and small group
counseling
Group guidance
Consultation with parents, teachers,
others
Program coordination
(Cobia

& Henderson)

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)

Struggles and Confusion with
Professional Identity
 Schmidt’s

view (1993):
 Confusion between the terms
“guidance” and “counseling”
 Myrick’s view (1992):
 No “clear understanding of the
programs and processes involved in
guidance and counseling

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..

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

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Historical Approaches to C&G
Myrick

(1992) offered 4
approaches:
1. Crisis Approach
2. Remedial Approach
3. Preventive Approach
4. Developmental Approach

Status of the Profession
ACA

- www.counseling.org

ASCA

- www.schoolcounselor.org

ALACA

www.alca.sumternet.com

ACA’s 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

Status
What

is the role of the school
counselor?

What

should the school
counselor do? What should they
not do?

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.”

Status
This

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

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.

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.

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.

 Discuss

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

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
counselor’s 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?