Educational and Career Counseling

CIA-I

Vijay C, 21PYC44

The following notes have been made based on the (draft) guidelines document dated 2015 by NCERT for
‘Guidance and Counselling for States’.

1. Approaches to Guidance and Counselling

There are three major approaches that the NCERT identifies and explains briefly:

a. Specialist Approach: Guidance and counseling services are considered professional and are therefore
provided by professionally trained full-time school counselors from elementary through high school.
They are responsible for guidance and counseling in a school to plan, and organize guidance and
counseling activities, keeping in mind the needs and specific concerns of diverse students. They
approach and collaborate with various stakeholders like school leaders, teachers, parents,
communities, and administrators, and conduct orientation/awareness workshops. Due to a limited
number of professionals, awareness, and stigma, only a few public and private schools have the
services of full-time counselors. Some hire them as part-timers or visiting counselors.

b. Career Teacher Approach: In many states, career guidance offices/cells train incumbent teachers for
admissions. Career work is a part of educational activities or a part-time job is highlighted. They need to
collect career information and share it, especially with secondary and higher secondary education since
they are expected to make important career choices at these levels. Vocational teachers are trained in short
courses of 3-4 years. A week that is directed at gathering information and organizing groups is organized.
Activities and exhibitions such as fairs to share information are held to a limited extent. Features related
to career information and advice only. The career teacher model is widely accepted and sought out by
many students these days in the country. The need today is to build the skills of all teachers like this
orientation teacher for professional, academic, personal, and social concerns. Students are important and
should be treated appropriately. Training for each instructor addressing all these concerns is proposed
under the RMSA.

c. Teacher Counsellor Approach: It is assumed that every instructor has a role in guidance and is capable
of offering counselling and direction to students. Teachers participate in professional training programmes
for counsellors to acquire the necessary information and abilities before becoming teacher counsellors.
These educators are expected to incorporate guiding philosophy and principles into their regular
classroom activities, other school-related tasks, and interactions with students, parents, principals, etc.
According to this strategy, every teacher can serve as a counsellor. This point of view is widely accepted
everywhere. Due to the lack of skilled personnel and funding in schools, particularly in developing
nations, guidance and counselling services are offered by teacher counsellors, who can reach a significant
number of pupils. The methods used to offer counselling and guidance services

2. Developmental Framework for guidance and counseling in schools

The facilitation of an integrated and well-adjusted individual's growth is one of the goals of guidance and
counselling. Children not only grow and develop physically, but also emotionally, cognitively,
linguistically, morally, and ethically. They gain knowledge of social and cultural expectations,
expressions, and interactions in various social contexts. The early years of a child's life, from birth
through puberty, are a time of rapid physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development, it is
multi-dimensional growth. The development of children is influenced by the interactions of various
elements. When a person is young, both the family and the school have a big impact on their lives.

But as kids start school and go through the early years of learning, there is a significant transition in their
behaviour from impulsive to autonomous and from self-centeredness to being perceptive of others'
opinions. Their awareness levels increase, the need to reflect on life and gain knowledge becomes in some
ways a duty towards oneself and society as they approach adolescence (i.e., secondary level of schooling).
Therefore, it is vital that kids are taught to comprehend their emotions, learn socially acceptable,
adaptable behaviour while keeping in mind others' needs, and gain skills for leading a healthy and
fulfilling life during their school years. A child's optimal personal-social development is essential for their
potential to become an integrated, well-adjusted adult. This is also a period of changes and crises in
various domains: emotional, social, physical, sexual, intellectual, etc. So, it’s essential to pinpoint the
source of the issue and provide prompt assistance through appropriate guidance and counselling in
accordance with a life-span developmental approach to address the problem holistically, in order to be
sure that a student can successfully manage crises and continue with quality effort in their academic
pursuit. The purpose of guiding and counselling is to not only promote the best possible academic and
developmental outcomes but also to prevent crises from occurring and to provide both the learner and the
school with corrective inputs. To this regard, NCERT has divided school life into various stages with each
stage covering possible challenges and potential interventions that can be implemented for the students
and the stakeholders involved such as school admin, teachers, other staff, caregivers, etc; primary stage (5
to 11 years), upper primary stage (11-14 years), secondary /higher secondary stage (14 to 18 years).

3) NCERT attempts in strengthening guidance and counseling

As a nodal centre for guidance activities at the national level, NCERT has been providing its academic
resources to guidance departments at the state level for training guidance personnel and for setting up
guidance services. It has organised short-term training for career teachers, orientation for educational
administrators, refresher courses for trained guidance personnel/counsellors, and consultancy for the
organisation of guidance activities in schools. It has also worked with NGOs, among other things, and
played a key role in organising national level conferences/seminars for idea sharing and the creation of
action plans and best practises for enhancing guidance services.
The Post Graduate Diploma Course in Guidance and Counseling, which has been available since 1958
and trains professionals to work as school counsellors, is an important moment and initiative in this
regard. The format and manner of granting the diploma have undergone numerous changes since its
beginnings. The department recently launched an international diploma programme in guidance and
counselling for nations in Asia and Africa. It is also available as a distance edu or MOOC, self-learning
format lately. Along with these, various modules, guidebooks, reference books, and handbooks are
available with regular editions. This section of the document provides a long list of states and union
territories that provide such facilities and have and have had a dedicated
committee/council/organization/deparment for this, and has established a detailed set of
recommendations, suggestions and guidelines for state and union territories to implement for guidance
and counselling at various levels.

4) Guidance program at the secondary stage

a) Nature: In order to study well and function in life, students must develop the attitudes, knowledge, and
abilities that support these endeavours. At the secondary level, students must select from a variety of
courses in various streams offered by the schools or from skill training programmes. After 12th grade,
students are often expected to set future academic/professional ambitions. They need to connect their
academic learning to the workplace and to life in general. Counseling and guidance should be seen rather
as an intervention, not directive. Any step of the guidance and counselling programme must be created in
a way that addresses the needs of the students at that time.

b) Major Ccomponents:

• Orientation: This activity helps students become acquainted with the school, programmes,
extracurriculars, resources, staff, etc., as well as become acclimated to the academic environment and
cultivate positive attitudes. Orientation aids the student in understanding their mission.

• Evaluation: Psychological evaluation seeks to pinpoint a student's strengths and traits in order to
enhance self-awareness. For this, a variety of instruments and assessments, both conventional and
non-standardized, are used.

• Group Guidance: To encourage students' physical, educational, and personal-social growth and
adjustment as well as to provide career information, group guidance activities are organised. Class talks
and career talks, discussions, workshops, conferences, visits, displays and exhibitions, role playing, etc.
are frequently employed techniques.

• Information on Careers:

It involves gathering, managing, and disseminating accurate information about courses and careers to both
groups and individual students. Information about careers aids in career development, adaption, and
decision-making.

• Guidance: Counseling encourages decision-making and problem-solving while focusing on the

development and adjustment of students. It is typically given to certain pupils based on their needs.
It is also divided into major domains, concerns and suggestions for each have been mentioned, some of
which under them will be covered in the next sub-section.

c) Needs and Concerns:

Academic: Development of- study habits/study skills for academic success, -different styles of learning
and their influence on academic performance,- motivation,- time management skills for studies and other
activities at school and home, and planning short-term and long-term academic goals, and preventing
dropout.

Career:Need for career planning Career Talk 41 Understanding diversity of world of work (i.e.
occupations) Subjects of study and their relationship to different occupations or relationship of
educational courses to occupations and life, Providing information in different careers (general,
professional, technical, vocational etc) New and emerging careers/occupations. Govt. Schemes/
scholarship/ financial assistance for promoting students’ education and training Changing occupations
and lifelong learning. Collecting information from different sources Understanding work habits, attitudes
and personal qualities needed at work place. Educational institutes in the region. Career options
available to school students. Exposure to a work place,Making career related decisions. Developing
job seeking skills(preparing resume and for interviews)

Personal-Social:Developing/ facilitating self-understanding Enhancing self-esteem Developing

selfconfidence Self-discipline Promoting adjustment to school Developing Healthy peer relationships
Communication skills Understanding society’s requirements from adolescents Understanding expected
social behaviour Understanding peer pressure & coping with it Assertiveness training Coping skills to
deal with problems/ways to approach problems of life, Managing stress and conflict Bullying : reasons,
consequences, control Minimising violent behavior Substance abuse and its prevention Understanding
abilities, interest, aptitude and personalit

5) Guidance and training materials

As mentioned earlier, NCERT and Ministry of HRD has made available various resources for free for
teachers, students and any academic practitioner. There’s a long list in the document, I will mention some:
I Modules

1. Module – I Introduction to Guidance (2008), Module – II Counselling Process and Strategies (2008),
Module – III Guidance for Human Development and Adjustment (2008), Module – IV Career
Development –I (2008), Module – V Career Information in Guidance and Counselling – I (2008), Module
– VI Assessment and Appraisal in Guidance and Counselling – I (2008), Module – VII Basic Statistics in
Guidance and Counselling – I (2008) , Module – VIII Guidance in Action (2009), Module – IX Special
Concerns in Counselling (2009), Module – X Developing Mental Health and Coping Skills (2009) 11.
Module – XI Career Development – II (2009), Module – XII Career Information in Guidance and
Counselling – II (2009), Module – XIII Assessment and Appraisal in Guidance and Counselling-II (2009)
,Practicum Handbook (2009)- Diploma Course in Guidance and Counselling IV, Career Resource
Material Career posters, Charts, Video Films, etc. 45 Career and guidance Monographs (separate list
attached) And there are various tools for Assessment: Student Information Blank, Family Information
Blank Problem Checklist, Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM), Interest Inventories: • Occupational
Aptitude- Survey and Interest Schedule (OASIS) • Career Interest Schedule (CIS) • Career Interest
Inventory (CII) Aptitude Tests Differential Aptitude Test (DAT), David’s Battery of Differential
Ability(DBDA), Occupational Aptitude Survey (OAS), Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire (EPQ)
Other Related Tests Self Directed Search (Holland), Self- Concept –rating scale Learning Style- rating
scale. Decision Making Style, Checklist Motivation - rating scale.

The Guidance Resource Centre-DEPFE offers a wide rage of guidance material such as Monographs,
Ethical and Legal Considerations in Guidance (1968), Guidance Personnel and Other Professionals
(1968), Career Education and Physical Sciences (1975), The Child with Learning Disabilities and
Guidance (1970), The Counselor and Drug Abuse Programs (1973), The Function of Counseling Theory
(1968), Staffing Guidance Programs (1968), Prevention and Control of Delinquency: The School
Counselor’s Role (1971), Rehabilitation Counseling: Scope and Services (1970), Speech and Hearing
Disorders in Children (1970), Counseling Approaches with Elementary School Children (1975),
Psychological Influences on Vocational Development (1970), Rational-Emotive Therapy (1975), School
Testing Programs (1968),. Intelligence, Aptitude, and Achievement Testing.

References

National Council of Educational Research and Training, Department of Educational Psychology &

Foundations of Education, & RMSA Project Cell. (2015, January). Guidance and Counselling

Guidelines for States. NCERT. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from

https://ncert.nic.in/depfe/pdf/Guidelines_for_Guidance_and_Counseling.pdf