Introduction
School counseling is an important branch of social work that prioritizes the needs of minors. In this paper, an anticipated process of forming a group similar to A School Counseling Group for 6-11- year-olds presented by Corey, Corey, and Corey (2018). Due to the particularities children might have in the school environment, the work of a counselor should be directed at the application of research and practical interventions to eliminate the problems and encourage students to deal with difficulties effectively.
The Purpose of the Group
The planned group will engage school children aged from six to ten years who have particular problems with learning achievements. The purpose of the counseling group is to help the students improve their learning outcomes and behaviors in school by addressing their difficulties through sessions and communication with teachers and parents. The integration of home and school environments into the counseling process will provide the basis for effective achievement of the goal.
The Focus of the Group
Taking into account the goals of the counseling, the group should be focused on the specific individual and group interventions aimed at developing effective behavioral patterns in children who encounter difficulties in school. Low level of performance at an early age is often caused by environmental issues (Hines et al., 2017). Therefore, the priority of the sessions will be set of the integration of different systems of environment, such as home, parents, school, peers, and others. By articulating the issues during the individual sessions or group meetings, the counselor will be able to single out the particular problems of each child and will make corrections in the plan to meet the specific needs of the participants.
Participants’ Characteristics and Rationale
The participants for the group will be allocated on the basis of their behavior and educational achievements in class. Overall, the group will consist of 12-16 students of different genders and aged from six to ten years. The number of participants is thought to be optimal to both ensure the effectiveness of the interventions in small groups and to provide sufficient counseling support for as many children as possible. The maximum of 16 participants will be an appropriate number for a group led by one counselor. When choosing and admitting children to the group, all involved stakeholders (teachers, parents, and counselor) will be particularly cautious toward children with low educational performance, difficulties in adjusting to the school environment, and those from underprivileged families (Hines et al., 2017). Such participant characteristics will allow for attracting the individuals who are struggling the most in school and who need support from a professional.
Procedures and Techniques
The choice of procedures and techniques for the group will depend on the particular issues and needs the participants have. In terms of the leader’s preparation for the work with the group, it will be required to research the target population by retrieving necessary information from teachers and parents. During the introductory communication with participants’ parents, informed consent will be required (Corey et al., 2018). Also, continuous communication and exchange of the intermediate results with parents and school teachers will be established to ensure effective cooperative work.
Overall, the sessions will be designed in the form of a combination of communicative exercises and gamification to facilitate the outcomes for the designated age group. At the initial stage of forming the group, the counselor will establish the rules and disclose that the information about each participant will be shared with their parents and teachers for the benefit of the children. Such an open presentation of the issues concerning child privacy will contribute to the trusting relationship with the counselor that is crucial for effective work (Corey et al., 2018). The counselor will “minimize reluctance on the part of members” by initiating a discussion in a trusting atmosphere (Corey et al., 2018, p. 178). The success of the initial stage will become a basis for fruitful cooperation in the future.
The duration of the counseling will be approximately five or six months, during which the goals will be achieved within a chosen theoretical background. According to Hines et al. (2017), “environmental factors influence the academic performance and development of students” (p. 4). Therefore, the interventions and techniques will be implemented around such ecological systems as microsystem (individual students), mesosystem (their parents and teachers), exosystem (libraries), macrosystem (school administration), and chronosystem (life events) (Hines et al., 2017). Thus, by addressing particular issues related to these five environmental factors will enable the progress of the sessions and meeting the goals of the group.
Evaluation
A crucial element of any counseling work is the validation of the results of the sessions. The evaluation of the goals’ achievements will be carried out by means of follow-up observation of students’ progress. It will be possible to accomplish by discussing the learning and behavioral changes in the participants as interpreted by teachers and parents. Also, repeated evaluations of the results between sessions will be implemented to make corrections in sub-groups and interventions (Corey et al., 2018). The comparison of the grades and teachers and parents’ feedback concerning the participants will be an objective indicator of the group’s effectiveness.
References
Corey, M.S., Corey, G., & Corey, C. (2018). Groups: Process and practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Hines, E. M., Moore, J. L., Mayes, R. D., Harris, P. C., Vega, D., Robinson, D. V., … Jackson, C. E. (2017). Making student achievement a priority: The role of school counselors in turnaround schools. Urban Education, 1-22. Web.