Monday, February 4, 2008
Professional Counselor Vs. Guidance Counselor
After listening to the speaker on Saturday morning and talking to our guidance counselor today I think I took for granted what a guidance counselor is actually suppose to do. Throughout my professional career I have depended on our guidance counselor to help with such tasks as gradebooks, class schedules, and items of that nature. Taking for granted what it is they are actually there to do. For instance, our school counselor this year is in charge of implementing powerschool (online gradebook), all scheduling, college information, and standardized tests. For anyone this would be a lot to handle on top of what they are suppose to be doing. Our guidance counselor mentioned to me today that he is a little frustrated because he often times does not get to utilize what he was trained for and instead feel likes another office worker. I think a lot of times guidance counselors are taken for granted and their skills are not properly utilized. They should be a resource to school districts to help with situations that they are trained for not clerical work that many individuals would be able to do without the same type of training. They should also be out in the classrooms becoming more familiar with all students and utilizing many of the programs that would be proactive to the many social and emotional issues facing our students instead of constnatly reacting to a given situation.
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3 comments:
in my "short" 14 years as a teacher i have noticed the gradual change in the "guidance" counselor position and have more respect for what they are doing today. we have a small school and share a counselor and i am amazed at all she accomplishes. the administration stacks the work on, all the old school stuff - scheduling, testing, colleges - AND she actually has time to counsel students in their personal lives. personally, i believe students and their parents should take more responsibility in planning their kids educational path which would "free up" some of the counselor's time.
I have to agree with you on what counselors do. Our counselor is also doing scheduling and many other jobs besides looking into the lives of students that could use a little help and guidance. We are a small school and the Administration hired our Counselor with certain things in mind. He was hired to do the scheduling, help the high school students get scholorships, and if he has time counsel students.
I also think that a majority of teachers do not know what a counselor's job actually is. Teachers get upset because they feel counselors are not doing their job when in actuality they are doing a variety of things outside their job.
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