UNIVERSITY OF MOSTAR

FACULTY OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE EDUCATION

STUDY OF PEDAGOGY

TEACHERS AS COUNSELORS
Essay

Student: Helena Tomi

Profesor:

Mostar, listopad, 2015.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................3
1. BASIC PRINCIPLES A TEACHER HAS TO INSTILL.......................4
2. WHAT IS COUNSELLING....................................................................5
3. TEACHER POWER...............................................................................6
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................7
LITERATURE...............................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION

Myths regarding school Guidance and Counseling abound. Many parents and
teachers think that anything to do with discipline problems among students, no matter
how simple, belongs to the Guidance Office. The common expression among classroom
teachers is It is the work of the Guidance Counselor. Ill bring you to the Guidance
Office has become a handy threat. The Guidance Office is a scary mention and a very
unpopular place to students. Every educator must realize his responsibility as a
Guidance Counselor by right, commission and function. Guidance is an integral part of
being a teacher, a guardian and custodian charged with the overseer of a classroom full
of educable minds.
He is put there to manage the educational development of individuals exhibiting
unique personalities and potentials different from one another. He has to minister to
learners needs and resolve clients troubles and difficulties right there and then if he
only faces up to his total calling. Guidance is good teaching and efficient classroom
management. If he cannot guide his students, surely he cannot teach them. Guidance
and Counseling is simply empowering a person to decide how he can best accomplish
his purposes, what he needs to do, or where he should go. It does not solve problems for
the individual but facilitates the way for him to solve them himself. Guidance is
enabling a person to help himself.

1. BASIC PRINCIPLES A TEACHER HAS TO INSTILL

There are just a few basic principles a teacher has to instill in his heart and mind
while he guides and counsels: 1
a. Guidance gives assistance to the student in making wise choices, plans,
interpretations and adjustments as he faces the many lifes crises.
b. Guidance is client-centered being concerned with the optimum development
of the whole student and the fullest realization of his potentials for individual and social
ends.
c. Guidance recognizes the worth and dignity of the client and his right to
personal assistance in times of need. It must respect the right of every student to seek
help and any of the guidance services offered.
d. Guidance focuses in helping the student realize and actualize his best self
rather than in solving isolated problems, be they those of the individual or the school.
e. Guidance assumes a responsibility to help persons become free deciding
individuals but responsible to society.
f. Guidance enhances significant and meaningful changes in the behavior and in
the life of the student through a series of meetings wherein the guidance counselor
shows genuine interest and concern.
g. Guidance is voluntary in character and depends on client cooperation, not
compulsion. There is no place for coercion or intimidation.
h. Guidance studies and treats the student in his cultural setting by the use of
every scientific technique available. Student understanding must precede student
assistance. i. Guidance services are for everyone, irrespective of status; it is not only for
those with serious problems as it is commonly thought of.
1 Zakariya Abu Dabat (2013): Teacher's Roles in Counselling and Reforming the Academic Delay in
Pupils of the Essential Stage in the Primary School, American International Journal of Social Science,
Taken from a network location: http://www.aijssnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_3_May_2013/9.pdf
20.10.2015

2. WHAT IS COUNSELLING

Counselling is a learning-oriented process which usually occurs in an interactive

relationship where the counsellor expresses care and concern towards the person with a
problem. The counsellors role is that of a guide who helps facilitate that person's
personal growth and positive change through self-understanding.2
A counsellor is a person who provides counsel to another person who is usually in some
position of need or requires help.3
Most counsellors realize their role is less about giving advice, as advice tends to be
ignored, and more about providing guidance.
A counsellor helps those they are counselling come to their own conclusions
about any problems or issues they may be facing, and then may provide suggestions or
methods for helping the person with their issues. In the perspective of a school, the
teacher is a counsellor and the students either approached the teacher when she/he has a
problem, which cannot be solved by self or the teacher senses the problem and offers
help to die student to solve the problem properly. The teacher addresses not only
problems related to the school but also those related to friends, family, health etc.4
In a school set up, students seldom approach teachers with their problems to get any
help, as they are apprehensive about disclosing the intimate nature of their problems.
Having understood the nature of the problem, the role of the teacher is to help a student
realize his/her potential to solve it. Counselling works on the principle that every
individual, if guided properly, can realize the strength of self to solve problem of self.
As a result, a teacher does not have always to give solutions.5

2 Also
3 Samuel B. Batara (1995): Every Teacher is a Guidance Counselor , Taken from a network
location :http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/2517/13/13_bibliography.pdf
21.10.2015
4 Kirsty Clausen (2012): The Teacher as a Counsellor, Taken from a network location
https://koreatesol.org/sites/default/files/The%20Teacher%20as%20a
%20Counselor_Kirsty_Clausen.pdf 20.10.2015
5 Also

3. TEACHER POWER
The power base for the counseling role comes primarily from Personal Power and
involves two types of empowerment, referent power and information power. Referent
power is the attractiveness which the teacher possesses in the eyes of students and
others. The relationship between the teacher and the student has a major influence on
the students behaviors. Information power assists the teacher in influencing behavior. It
is part of the confidence which students and parents gain as they perceive the teachers
ability to act as a center of information. Parents and students alike will be amenable to
the teachers programs if they believe the instructor possesses and disseminates unbiased
information as well as being a valuable resource when called upon to assist with
individual problems and concerns. 6
The role of the teacher is to firstly produce several teaching techniques to accommodate
various levels of competence. Continuous efforts are provided in revising and assessing
the teaching strategies that take place. It can therefore be argued that the educational
process as a whole plays a significant role above the pupils' achievements, as the
teacher's role entails a significant amount of duties.
There are three aspects which can be examined for the teachers delay treatment,
firstly the role of the teacher on duty and secondly the role of the teacher in the school
administration and the teachers personal potentials. Therefore the role of the school
administration must accommodate to the variations of skills available by the teacher.
The school head master in particular, is an individual who identifies the potentials of the
teachers in his school. He can also encourage the students to excel in their creative
skills, and provide them with a unique learning experience.7

6 School-Based Counselling Work With Teachers: An Integrative Model,

location : http://ejcop.psychopen.eu/article/view/58/html 20.10.2015

Taken from a network

CONCLUSION
Teachers increasingly face many challenges in a wide range of areas, mainly in
those related to their students behavioural problems and psychological well-being.
Evidence shows that teachers can effectively assist students at risk or with difficulties,
when they are adequately guided and supported by well-trained school counsellors.
Hence, the need for more holistic and systemic school-based interventions for
children at risk and their families, as well as specialized assistance for teachers is
advocated by many authors. Focusing on the role of teachers in promoting the socialemotional health of pupils at risk, the key components of an innovative counselling
intervention within school context that focuses on enabling teachers being more resilient
and more confident in order to better deal with cases of difficult students.
The model integrates elements of systemic, psychodynamic and resilience based
thinking with a strong emphasis on inclusive education issues. The key theoretical
background and the various aspects of this model, discussing the challenges of its
implementation. They finally propose that in order to be effective, such models should
emphasize the collaborative, dialectical, and systemic aspects of the counselling process
with teachers. The final conclusion is that school counsellors have a critical role to play
in supporting teachers helping their difficult pupils avoid school exclusion and
develop further mental health problems.

7 Also

LITERATURE
-

School-Based Counselling Work With Teachers: An Integrative Model, Taken

from a network location : http://ejcop.psychopen.eu/article/view/58/html
20.10.2015

Kirsty Clausen (2012): The Teacher as a Counsellor, Taken from a network

location

https://koreatesol.org/sites/default/files/The%20Teacher%20as%20a

%20Counselor_Kirsty_Clausen.pdf 20.10.2015
-

Samuel B. Batara (1995): Every Teacher is a Guidance Counselor , Taken

from

network

location:

http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/2517/13/13_bibliography.pdf
21.10.2015
-

Zakariya Abu Dabat (2013): Teacher's Roles in Counselling and Reforming

the Academic Delay in Pupils of the Essential Stage in the Primary School,
American International Journal of Social Science, Taken from a network
location:

http://www.aijssnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_3_May_2013/9.pdf

20.10.2015