GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING

1
UNIT 3
UNIT 3: Information and support to learners
on Educational, Personal and Social Issues

• An overview of some problems experienced by teenagers and adolescents

- personal problems
- social problems
- educational problems

• Problem-solving and decision making skills

• Decision-making

- introduction to Decision making

- why decision making and problem-solving skills
- influencing factors: high risk consequences, uncertainty,
complexity, alternatives, interpersonal issues, age and
level of education
UNIT 3: Information and support to Learners
on Educational, Personal and Social Issues
• Models/ Techniques/ Strategies

- Five whys technique

- Systematic Approach
- Additive Model
- Elimination Model
- Shared Problem-solving Model

• Educational Implications
• Referral system
• Practical
LECTURE OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

• Name the personal, social and educational problems that

learners in Namibia often are faced with
• Briefly explain the role of the teacher as related to these
problems
• Discuss the importance of decision-making skills
 Introduction
Overview of some of the problems that teenagers experience:

• As a teacher you can help learners to solve their problems and to

change their lives so that they can be happy and well-adjusted
human beings.
• It is always important to let learners understand they have choices
in life and that the choices they make will have a direct effect not
only on their own life and future but also on that of those people
close to them.
• In life there should therefore be a good balance between
satisfying your own needs and satisfying the needs of
others.
• Only then can we live a truly happy and fulfilling life.
• The guidance and counselling that learners need could be of
personal, social, educational or vocational nature.
1. OVERVIEW OF SOME OF THE PROBLEMS
THAT TEENAGERS EXPERIENCE
1. PERSONAL PROBLEMS (some serious, some not but all important)

NB: emotional wellbeing of learners

• The death of a loved one

• The divorce of parents
• Drug and alcohol abuse by parents/other family members
• Sexual and other types of abuse
• Serious neglect by parents
• Teenage pregnancy
• Life issues (friends, romantic relations, popularity, unpopularity etc)
2. SOCIAL PROBLEMS

• Inability to form and maintain sound relationships

• Bullying (victim and the bully)
• Prejudice
• Difficult to get along with other members of their families
• Respect of other people and their properties
(communal property, e.g., toilet and personal property, e.g.,
books)
3. EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS
• Learning and study difficulties (most learners do not go over gr 10)
• Loss of interest in specific subjects
• School drop out
• Specific learning difficulties
• Disciplinary problems
• Low academic achievement due to:

Truancy (staying away from school without good reason)

Late arrivals of learners and teachers
Reluctance or refusal to do homework
Tardiness (doing things at an unnecessary slow pace)
4. PROBLEM SOLVING AND DECISION-MAKING
SKILLS
• Develop strategies to solve a variety of problems on their own
• Understand the importance of making the right choices.
• It is important that young people discussing their difficulties not only
with their peers but also with more mature and experienced
individuals in society.
• Teachers, parents and other educators should be accessible and
approachable so the young people would feel comfortable to discuss
possible choices with them
 Decision Making
• Making decisions (good or bad) is part of human life.
• Decision making is a process of evaluating and selecting alternatives
among them.
• People are bound to make decisions every day.
• Some decisions are simple and straightforward
• Other decisions are complex and confusing.
• Decisions making process for difficult situations requires effective
processes of systematic and rational thinking (sound mind).
 ACTIVITY

• Why is it necessary for one to have effective decision making and

problem solving skills?
 Influencing factors
Often people make decisions that are full of errors and biases

• High-risk consequences (think careful before, ask other people)

• Uncertainty (what is the cause, what will be the consequence)
• Complexity (rent a new flat)
• Alternatives (which one is the best?)
• Interpersonal issues (other people, e.g., move to a new flat)
• Age (experience, maturity)
• Level of education (including from home)
ACTIVITY 2

• Considering the influencing factors we just spoke, discuss the most

common factors which usually influence the processes of decision
making and problem solving of many people.
 Most common models or techniques for decision
making and problem solving:
1. Five Whys technique
2. A systematic approach
3. Additive model
4. Elimination model
5. Shared Problem Solving model

Educational implications
 1. Five Whys technique
The technique is called Five Whys because:

• It involves looking at any problem and asking Why and What caused this problem.
• It simply called Five Whys because the answer to the first Why often prompts
another “Why” and the answer to the second “Why” will prompt another “Why” and
so on.
• The main advantage is that the technique gets to the root of the problem quickly;
and it is also easy to learn and apply. It is basic in nature and can be adapted quickly
and applied to almost any problem.
• The weakness of this technique is that it can easily mislead when applied to a more
complex situation or problem.
 EXAMPLE OF FIVE WHYS TECHNIQUE
Q1. Why are my learners not passing my subject?
• A. Because they do not understand what I teach
Q2. Why don’t they understand what I teach?
• A. Because they are not familiar with my teaching approach
Q3. Why are they not familiar with my teaching approach?
• A. Because in the previous grades, they were taught differently
Q4. Why didn’t I notice the problem much earlier?
• A. Because I did not take time to assess my class at the beginning.
Q5. Why did I not take time to assess my class at the beginning?
• A. Because I assumed learners will understand my teaching approach
Activity
• What is the problem in this scenario?
• What is the cause?
• What is the solution?
2. A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH
This approach requires you to follow six steps to make an effective decision.

1. Create a constructive environment (objective, how, others, outcome)

2. Generate good alternatives (dig deeper)
3. Explore the alternatives (evaluate, risks etc)
4. Choose the best alternatives
5. Check your decision (before making it)
6. Communicate your decision, and move to action.
 3. ADDITIVE MODEL

Using an Additive model to make a decision, you need to:

(A) List the factors that influence your decision

(B) Rate the desirability of each alternative on each factor
(C) Add up the ratings of each alternative
(D) Select the alternative with largest total
EXAMPLE OF ADDITIVE MODEL
Kandjimi is a university student who wants to rent a flat while studying.
He considers four factors: cost, noise level, distance to/from campus and
cleanliness of the property. The model requires him to make a ratings
from -3 to 3 add up each rating and choose the alternative flat with the
largest total: See the table below:

Factor Flat A Flat B

Cost +1 (expensive) +2 (cheaper)
Noise level -2 (noisy) +3 (quiet)
Distance to campus +3 (near) -1 (far)
Cleanliness +2 (same) +2 (same)
Total +4 +6
 ACTIVITY 1 (5MINS)

• After graduation, you are offered a teaching post from two schools at
once. Obviously, you should take only one of them, but both offers
challenges and advantages. Using the principles of Additive model,
select the most feasible school you would accept.
• Feel free to come up with your own factors and share with the rest.
 4. Elimination model

• This model suggests that you can make an effective choice by gradually
eliminating less attractive alternatives. You begin to reject the choices
that do not meet the required criteria until one alternative remains.
Example:
The choice of what to eliminate depends on the order in which you have
evaluated the attributes.
 5. SHARED PROBLEM SOLVING MODEL
The Shared Problem Solving (SPS) model is more effective if your pressing problem concerns other people (i.e.
friends, parents and others). Very personal problems try solve alone. The model is applied following specific
steps, namely:
1. Discover a share need
a) there is a problem (e.g., enough study time)
b) Others can make an impact on the problem
c) They are accountable for the results solving the problem
d) They can positively contribute resolving the problem

NB: these criteria makes the problem shared if they are all met
2. Identify the problem
3. Propose solution
4. Evaluate the ideas
5. Plan specifics
6. Implement the solution
7. Evaluate outcomes
 EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
• In educational settings such as schools, children are faced with
choices in life and making good decisions could not be more critical
to them.
• For example, a child that is traumatized by the death of a family
member may find life hopeless and thus decides to quit school.
However, through decision-making counseling, a teacher/counselor
can work with the child to help him/her learn decision making and
problem solving models, techniques or strategies and to
understand that decisions and choices have consequences.
• The child will therefore be made to consider the advantages and
disadvantages of quitting school.
 Summary
•We talked about decision making and problem
solving
•Factors including decision making
•Strategies/models for decision making.
•Implications of decision making on education
•The process of decision making and problem
solving is an life event, we simply need correct
strategies to facilitate the process.