Introduction
Guidance and counseling are important processes and practices in today’s world because of the several problems affecting humanity. Guidance and counseling entail assisting individuals in discovering and developing their vocational, educational, and psychological abilities (Hughes et al., 2017). The practice helps victims achieve their happiness and social usefulness (Hughes & Meijers, 2017). The idea of counseling in both England and Nigeria is an essential practice allowing children to exercise their rights to shape their destinies.
The area of professional interest revolves around guidance and counseling in basic education for children. The practice is important in nurturing and helping children achieve their future dreams (Zafar, 2019). Counseling in the early years is a vital educational instrument in shaping and developing a positive life orientation among young people (Anyi, 2017). Ideas and positive life instructions need to be planted in children as early as possible since they can have a positive impact on their future (Canzittu, 2020; Karacan-Ozdemir, 2019). Offering the services to young people is challenging since the professionals have to develop a good rapport with them. Counselors have to listen to the complaints of children in a friendly manner and offer sound advice.
The paper covers the analysis integrating a comparison of counseling theories and models in England and Nigeria. Comparing the practice in early childhood in two countries is significant in identifying the approaches used and their impacts on young learners in both countries. The frameworks used to draw comparisons are cognitive and humanistic models. In England, the cognitive theory focuses on helping children change their thinking and behavior (Noble & Marshman, 2018). Guidance and counseling based on a cognitive approach are brief in structure and nature and center on solving the root problems of the young people (Phiri et al., 2017). The counseling institutions have trained experts who deploy cognitive theory to understand children’s mental states and desires.
The cognitive model is a fundamental counseling theory in England with a variety of impacts on the victims. Children find some problems challenging, and they become easily frustrated when proper guidance is not rendered. In England, even though childhood and adolescence are taken as periods of greater changes in people, 20% of the latter group encounter one or many psychological disorders requiring diagnosis and counseling (Mladenovic, 2018). Cognitive therapists revolve around the current situation of a child without reminding them about their distorted past. In the United Kingdom, cognitive and behavioral theories are integrated into cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) (Fogarty et al., 2019). CBT has helped children in their basic education to overcome mental problems such as anxiety, eating disorders, low self-esteem, and poor personality, among other aspects.
The humanistic model is a common framework in the counseling environment of Nigeria, among others. As opposed to the CBT model applied in England, the humanistic theory focuses on human ability and unique personal experiences (Kabir, 2017). However, the practice applied in Nigeria during guidance and counseling sessions has similarities with the CBT model used in England. For instance, both models acknowledge the importance of understanding childhood behaviors and unconscious psychological changes and processes in the basic development of a young person (Hoffman et al., 2016). The humanistic model focuses more on recognizing the ability of young ones during self-understanding and personal psychological health.
The cognitive model in England and the humanistic framework in Nigeria are supported by various literature expounding on several challenges which children experience as they grow. According to Noble and Marshman (2018), a child is not spared from some of the problems which adults encounter in life. However, children experience some difficulties in recognizing, processing, and communicating their problems due to several factors, such as the development stages. From the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) agency, adolescents are susceptible to behavioral challenges, and there is a need for adequate counseling for them to overcome the challenges in contemporary society (Suleiman et al., 2019). Therefore, most scholars emphasize the need for guidance and counseling as a practice in both countries to help young people to achieve stable mental health.
Practices Comparison
Technology has impacted the field of guidance and counseling in various ways. In addition to the cognitive and humanistic counseling models used in England and Nigeria, respectively, the former country has embraced online counseling programs as part of the practice. However, professionals in Nigeria continue to offer counseling services, preferably through face-to-face encounters. Therefore, the comparison is mainly between the online and traditional approaches to service delivery. The rationale for using technology as a comparison framework is to identify the merits of both counseling practices on children’s lives in both countries.
The number of people, both adults, and children, seeking counseling services has increased in England, forcing therapists to use online platforms. According to Stoll et al. (2020), online counseling via mobile phones and interactive video calls has enabled therapists in England to deliver their services to remote regions hence helping a larger portion of the population. According to Affum et al. (2016), traditional counseling practices promote confidentiality leading to trust development between a child and the therapist. Thus, both practices differ in their scopes of application and have varying advantages. The Nigerian traditional counseling practices are based on a philosophical idea of counseling being a community affair (Chiboola, 2019). Any child can attend counseling sessions depending on the nature and scope of a challenge they are encountering. In England, counselors are expected to be accredited professionals and have a proper understanding of different cultures (Clark et al., 2017). Since counseling is a sensitive profession that involves handling people’s feelings and challenges, it is important to understand the approaches to service provision.
Online counseling can be biased and unreliable as compared to the traditional approaches to offering therapeutic help. While using online platforms, a counselor might not identify the exact problem that a child is undergoing due to a lack of close contact (Amos et al., 2020). Traditional counseling approaches create the required proximity and trust between the therapist and a young person, hence increasing the accuracy of practice. However, there are ambiguities in the counseling practices when the comparisons are based on various kinds of literature. For instance, from the research done by Chiboola and Munsaka (2016), procedures of traditional counseling are not documented, and counselors using the approach do not undergo basic counseling training. According to Wong et al. (2018), students prefer online counseling to promote privacy and avoid stigmatization. The varied views of researchers and scholars bring controversy to the best practice and approach for service delivery.
Conclusion
Online counseling practice has more advantages as compared to traditional therapeutic approaches. Some children tend to fear physical contact with professionals and prefer to be counseled via mobile phones or other technological devices. The selection of the online approaches to the practice has been influenced by values and beliefs of making the educational sector more accommodative. Digitalization has made the provision of services easier, and children can now access sound counseling programs while at home. Both the cognitive and humanistic models of counseling have proved to be critical in the country of the application despite the varied ways of delivery. Counseling is a noble practice, and appropriate models and techniques need to be selected to suit the young learners, as evident in the case study of Nigeria and England.
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