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TheIrishJournalof Education,1993,xxvii,pp. 5-24.
GerryShiel andMaryLewis
EducationalResearchCentre
St Patrick'sCollege,Dublin
5
6 SHIEL
GERRY LEWIS
ANDMARY
Appraisaland Assessment
Appraisalandassessmentof studentsis also animportantpartof theguidance
counsellor's work (Chamberlains Delaney, 1977; O'Leary s McCay
Morrissey,1987). Accordingto the governmentGreenPaper,Educationfor a
ChangingWorld,thepurposeof appraisalandassessmentis to `enabletheschool
to understandthe needs of the student,as well as helping studentsand their
to SHIEL
GERRY ANDMARY
LEWIS
SubjectTeaching
The involvement of guidance counsellors in time-tabled non-guidance
subject teaching is an importantissue in the context of available time for
counselling activities.At present `ex-quota'guidancecounsellorsmustprovide
a minimumof eight hoursguidanceandcounsellingif they workin VEC schools
and a minimum of 12 hours if they work in community, comprehensive,or
secondaryschools. In additionthey arerequiredto teach a school subjectfor at
least threehoursper week (Ireland.Departmentof Education,1983).
In the School Guidance Committee's survey (Ireland. Department of
Education,1987), counsellorswho were `ex quota' reportedteachinga school
subject for an average of 5 hours per week, while counsellors who were not
`ex-quota'reportedan average figure of 9 hours per week. In most cases, the
school principal,workingwithin official parameters,decides how the guidance
counsellor's time is allocated.As indicatedearlier,counsellors who engage in
more subject teachinghave less time availablefor counselling in general, and
personalcounselling in particular,than their counterpartswho do not have a
strong involvement in subject teaching. The tensions in combining subject
teachingand counselling are underlinedin the following dilemma.On the one
hand, freeing guidance counsellors from subject teaching duties would allow
them to provide more guidance and counselling; on the other, greater
involvement in subject teaching might afford them valuable contact with
students in a non-guidance setting as well as leading to more effective
relationshipswith colleagueswho areengagedin subject-teachingon a full-time
basis.
In general, the available research findings indicate that counsellors prefer
to do some subject teaching in addition to performing their counselling
duties, but not as much as they are typically assigned (O'Leary, 1987;
O'Leary s Adams, 1986). The principal teachers in O'Leary's (1987 study
were in agreement with guidance counsellors regarding the amount of time
(0 to 6 hours per week that should be allocated to subject teaching. Even so,
these principals also reported that they allocated significantly more
subject-teachinghoursto counsellors; only 50 of teachers in the study were
engaged in teaching for fewer than six hours per week. O'Leary makes the
point that, while the report of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors (1985
did not perceive subject teaching as part of the guidance counsellor's role,
guidance counsellors in her study generally felt that they should do some
subject teaching. A useful research contribution might be to examine what
benefits, if any, accrue from guidance counsellors engaging in non-guidance
subject teaching particularly when it is argued that counsellors have
14 ANDMARY
SHIEL
GERRY LEWIS
Pastoral-CareProgrammes
An areain which counsellorsmay become more involved in the futureis in
the provision of personal and social education throughthe developmentof
pastoral-careprogrammes.These programmes,which have been a featureof
counselling in second-level schools in Englandand elsewhere for many years
(see Lang, 1993), are usuallydevised by a pastoral-careteam consistingof the
guidancecounsellorandsubjectteacherswho volunteerto actas tutorsor special
class teachersto individualclass groups. According to Chamberlain(1988),
there is substantial overlap between the content of typical pastoral-care
programmes self-awarenesstraining, informationon the transitionfrom
primary to secondary schools, subject choice, study skills, examination
techniques, responsibility/decision-making skills, and life skills and the
ANDCOUNSELLING
GUIDANCE SERVICES 15
PartnershipswithParents
Anotherareain which guidancecounsellors'activitiesmightbroadenin the
futureis in theirpartnershipswithparents.Severalresearchershavepointedout
that parentsare a particularlyimportantinfluence on their children'scareer
decisionsandthatcounsellorsregularlymeetwiththem(Ireland.Departmentof
Education,1987; McCarthy,1993b;O'Brien, Tuite, McDonagh,s Deffeley,
1982-83; O'Leary s McCay-Morrissey, 1987). At this point, however,
relativelylittle is known abouthow counsellorsand parentsworktogetherto
assist the careerchoices of students.While recognitionof the need for greater
parentalinvolvementin guidanceandcounsellinghas been expressed(Hannan
et al, 1983; O'Learys McCay-Morrissey,1987), it seems importantthatthe
developmentof such links be basedon a sharedunderstanding of how parents
andcounsellorscanco-operateto assistyoungpeoplein makingeducationaland
career-relateddecisions. The current involvement of the Departmentof
Education'sPsychologicalServicein a European-wideprojecton enhancingthe
role of parentsin guidancemay providecounsellorswith new insightson how
to involve parentsmoreeffectively in guidance.
16 GERRY
SHIEL
ANDMARY
LEWIS
LinkswithExternalAgencies
Yet anotheraspect of the guidancecounsellor'swork involves liaison with
agencies outside the school including government departments,places of
employmentandtraining,andthird-levelcolleges, in orderto obtaininformation
regardingeducational and career opportunitiesand, increasingly,to secure
work-experienceplacementsfor students.Therespectiveroles of theDepartment
of Enterpriseand Employment(formerlythe Departmentof Labour and the
Departmentof Educationrequirefurtherclarification,particularlyin relationto
the provision of career-relatedinformation(McCarthy,1986). While it is not
difficultto acceptthatthe qualityof guidancemay be affectedby factorsrelating
to theprovisionandflow of career-related information,thepreciseways in which
guidancecounsellorsor studentsmight be affectedin practicaltermsfrom this
administrative arrangement havenotbeenexplored.Further,no researchhasbeen
carriedout on the appropriateness or value of the careerinformation,including
published materials, thatis providedto schools by stateagencies.
Relativelylittleis known eitheraboutthe natureandeffectivenessof the links
between school guidance counsellors and human resources personnel in
industry.Onlyone studyin thisareawas identified.Ina surveyof 150companies
carriedout by the Confederationof IrishIndustry(CII),now knownas the Irish
Business and EmployersConfederation(IBEC), 42 reportedthat a schools
careerguidancecounsellorhad been in contactwith theirfirm in the previous
two years. Smallerfirms were much less likely to have been contacted(19
comparedwith 59 for largerfirms).The most popularinitiativeswith respect
to school-industrylinks were company visits by students, career talks by
industrialists/businesspeople, careerseminars,and careerexhibitions.Of the
150 companies,just 31 felt thatinformationconcerningcareersin industrywas
beingpassedon to post-primary studentsin an appropriatemanner(CII,1990).
Intheabsenceof additionalresearchon therangeandeffectivenessof existing
links between guidance counsellors and industry,it is difficult to determine
whethercurrentarrangementsareoperatingsatisfactorily.Clearly,calls for the
appointmentof externalcareerofficers (see IBEC, 1993 must be evaluatedin
the context of the objectives of the guidanceservice providedin schools, the
links which guidance counsellors have established with industry, and the
initiativestakenby industryto foster links with schools.
Irish-EuropeanGuidanceLinks
The past severalyearshave seen the developmentof links betweenguidance
counsellorsin Irishsecond-levelschoolsandtheircounterpartsin othercountries
in the EuropeanCommunity.These links have been supportedby various
ANDCOUNSELLING
GUIDANCE SERVICES 17
Evaluationof GuidanceOutcomes
There are a numberof ways in which evaluationof the effects of guidance
andcounsellingmightbe undertaken.Perhapsthe most basic approachtowards
evaluatingoutcomesmightinvolveobtaininga detaileddescriptionof the nature
and extent of guidancefrom guidancecounsellorsand students.This approach
could be adopted in the context of examining the guidance and counselling
system in general as well as specific interventionsor programmes.A second
approachmight be based on an examinationof students'satisfactionwith their
guidance experiences with a view to determininghow students felt those
experiences had helped them in making personal, educational, and career
GUIDANCE
ANDCOUNSELLING
SERVICES 19