The qualified school counselor is a skilled educationalist proficient in school counseling with exceptional knowledge and skills to interact with all students’ educational, individual/ communal, and career growth requirements (Maxwell, 2009). Expert school counselors elaborate a wide-ranging educational institution counseling program that encourages and increases student accomplishment. Their effort is distinguished by the devotion to progressive phases of student development, together with the desires, responsibilities, and student interests associated with those phases (Schellenberg, 2013). Specialized school counselors play the key role in capitalizing on student success. Integrating leadership, encouragement, and teamwork, school counselors endorse impartiality and admission to prospects and laborious didactic practices for all students. Expert school counselors sustain a safe educational setting and make every effort to protect the inalienable rights of all the participants in the community (Anderson, 2010). Qualified school counselors pay close attention to the necessities of all students via deterrence and involvement programs. To accomplish an extreme program efficiency, the American School Counselor Association recommends a counselor-to-scholar proportion of 1:250 (Schmidt, 2010).
Proficient school therapists have a master’s degree or higher in school counseling or the equivalent substitute, comply with the state-run authorization standards and stand by the laws of the areas in which they are active (Loesch & Ritchie, 2009). They maintain the principled and proficient standards of specialized counseling connotations and encourage the expansion of the school counseling strategy based on the groundwork, distribution, organization, and responsibility (Parsons, 2009). School counselors recognize individual views and attitudes as to how all students profit from the school counseling strategy and act on these views and attitudes to lead the growth, application, and assessment of a wide-ranging school counseling program. School counselors generate an assignment announcement backing up the school’s mission and cooperate with other persons and entities to endorse all students’ academic, occupational, and individual/communal growth (Chang, 2012).
The didactic guidance role of school counselors comprises the alliance with a number of stakeholders (Maxwell, 2009). These programs could probably start by establishing ideas and objectives, then elaborate programs and execute them over time in stages rather than in solitary measures. Along with being involved in school counselor-to-institution counselor partnership at the different levels, counselors can shape more proficient student development programs by inviting other depositors, such as family members, tutors, managers, and other scholars (Parsons, 2009). The school counseling fundamental program in the selected institution is aimed at improving academic performance, class attendance, and positive outlook and individual accountability toward education. It helps develop esteem for diversity, motivate the students to be influential, and improve their communiqué skills. The interviewer offers a strategy where the school counselor recommends improvements and modifications for the program based on the educational and emotional needs of the students. This proposal is based on a pervasive belief that skin color or socio-economic status should not determine the ability and willingness of a student to learn (Anderson, 2010).
The school counseling program is designed to display the results of the students’ involvement in the school processes, their academic performance, and personal development. This means that the school counselors utilize the statistics to illustrate the effect of the school counseling program on the overall enhancements and student success. They also perform school counseling program inspections to control the forthcoming activities and capitalize on the future accomplishments of all students. The efficacy of the qualified school counselor is assessed on the elementary standards of training anticipated on the skilled school counselors employing a school counseling methodology (Thompson, 2012).
School counselors make several services accessible to the children attending the school, their parents, and school workers in the areas of various student services. There are two types of student services – direct and indirect. Direct services are interpersonal relations between school counselors and scholars and comprise a number of crucial areas (Chang, 2012). First of all, it is the school counseling fundamental program which is made up of organized lessons premeditated to give to all the students the knowledge, motivation, and aptitudes fitting their progression level. Moreover, school counselors organize the continuing universal activities intended to help students in realizing individual goals and designing the upcoming plans. School counselors are also responsible for the activities planned to satisfy students’ instant requests and apprehensions. These open services may comprise counseling in person or in groups. Indirect services are provided in the best interests of the students on account of the school counselors’ exchanges with others together with the appointments for supplementary help, discussion, and alliance with parents, tutors, and other educationalists.
Peer helping in the given organization encourages the students to feel proficient, understood, and accountable (Cobia & Henderson, 2007). Peer helping introduces the young people to the managerial skills that help fight the adverse peer pressure. Furthermore, peer helping empowers the students to learn how to prevent the use of harmful substances, improve confidence, decrease lonesomeness, endorse healthiness, and sustain academic and individual achievements (Loesch & Ritchie, 2009). Peer helping also subsidizes to the environment of attention and reverence required by educational organizations and public institutions to diminish ferocity, destruction, nonattendance, and dropouts. The interviewee also stated that peer helping is a way for people to prove the worth of service to other people.
Her program is designed to expand institutional and career enthusiasm, develop teamwork skills, reduce failure ratio in students, lessen conduct complications, decrease intimidation, cut the consumption of narcotic substances and alcohol, reduce deferral rates, and get rid of the moods of loneliness. By founding a peer program, the organization teaches the students how to provide assistance to others (Schellenberg, 2013). The program is directed and administered by professionals explicitly proficient and knowledgeable in peer helping. School counselors in the given organization are capable of exhibiting and forming the skills peer assistants are anticipated to absorb (Thompson, 2012). The program comprises the organized training conferences containing a confirmed curriculum, founded on verified student needs along with the objectives of the pertinent provision groups (Nelson, 2011). The students that were carefully chosen as learners felt their activities are distinct and focused on their wishes and present skills. The training approaches are collaborative and empirical with teaching and response.
Through the interview, I have gained an extensive awareness concerning the factors that have an impact on the correctness of a school counselor program and the key characteristics that every professional school counselor should possess. The questions that I have asked helped me to evaluate the role of a school counselor objectively and learn more about their responsibilities. The interviewee demonstrated a deep knowledge of the subject and provided me with relevant and comprehensible answers. Relying on the received information, I can state that the role of a school counselor should never be underestimated for the reason that they play the key role in the physical and mental development of the students and function under their own curriculum that is in compliance with the organization’s curriculum. One should never undervalue school counselors because they empower students and give them the necessary knowledge and motivation (Nelson, 2011).
The school program totally responds to the academic, career, and personal-social development concerns of the students. The school counselor presented their weekly agenda and arrangements with the superintendent so that they recognize the significance of the role of the school counselor in an all-inclusive supervision and counseling methods. They as well provided a complete supervision and a counseling yearly summary statement for the chief, district manager, and school board staff. The interviewee also dwelled on the cooperation of school counselors and the stakeholders. It was mentioned that their organization’s counselor had conversations with all school personnel, which comprises custodians, chefs, and bus drivers as well as other educationalists.
One of the most important things was the fact that the school counselor of this particular institution prearranged and upheld a supervision advice-giving commission consisting of parents, educators, analysts, managers, and students. Therefore, taking into consideration all the factors presented above, the level of the present collaboration between the counselor and the stakeholders is maintained at a decent level and represents a balanced interpersonal relationship between the parties involved. The impact of professional organizations and preparation standards on the practice of school counseling is prominent for the reason that the school counselor is aware of the professional establishments involved in the educational processes, specialized standards, and permissions that are related to the activities of a school counselor. Mrs. Ramos, the current school counselor and a member of a local educational association, suggested that maintaining the open lines of communication with professionals in my field would help develop ideas and new programs regarding my professional career (personal communication, August 7, 2016).
School counselors are an imperative fragment of the didactic management crew and provide a valued support to students in spite of the education level (Nelson, 2011). School counselors should devote most of their working hours to direct service to and interaction with the students. School counselors’ responsibilities are emphasized on the complete distribution of the overall program via management curriculum, specific student scheduling, and receptive services (Thompson, 2012). An insignificant portion of their time is dedicated to indirect services called organization sustenance. Schools should eradicate or redistribute the most critical and unsuitable program responsibilities, if at all possible, so school counselors can concentrate on the anticipation requirements of their programs. The interview helped me realize and assess to the full extent the importance of a school counselor in the learning environment and provided me with the information that may be of great assistance in my future practice.
References
Anderson, K. L. (2010). Culturally Considerate School Counseling: Helping Without Bias. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Chang, C. (2012). Professional Counseling Excellence Through Leadership and Advocacy. New York, NY: Routledge.
Cobia, D. C., & Henderson, D. A. (2007). Developing an Effective and Accountable School Counseling Program. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Loesch, L. C., & Ritchie, M. H. (2009). The Accountable School Counselor. Austin, TX: CAPS Press.
Maxwell, T. J. (2009). What Do School Counselors Do? Examining High School Counselors’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Their Role and Function on Student Outcomes. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest.
Nelson, M. D. (2011). School Counselor’s Guide: High School Guidance Curriculum Activities. New York, NY: Routledge.
Parsons, R. D. (2009). Thinking and Acting Like a Behavioral School Counselor. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Schellenberg, R. C. (2013). A New Era in School Counseling: A Practical Guide. Lanham, MD: R&L Education.
Schmidt, J. J. (2010). The Elementary/ Middle School Counselor’s Survival Guide. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Thompson, R. (2012). Professional School Counseling: Best Practices for Working in the Schools. New York, NY: Routledge.