Foundation of Education

Key Unit Competence:

Use effective listening to apply principles of guidance and counselling

Introductory activity

In everyday activities, you meet different life challenges and problems related to Social, Moral, and Personality development that may affect your interaction with both inside and outside the school environment. Think and answer to the following questions:

a) What do you do, when you have a problem or a challenge that is beyond your capacity?

b) Where do you need support for overcoming that problem?

c) How confident are you when exposing your problem to the relied person?

d) To what extend do you expect your problem get to be solved?

8.1: Key concepts

Activity 8.1

Observe this picture bellow and answer to questions related to it.

a) What is happening on these pictures?

b) How do you appreciate this kind of support is being given here?

a. Guidance

Guidance is a “process of giving advice”. It is a continuous process of helping the individual development in the maximum of their capacity in the direction most beneficial to himself and to society. It involves listening carefully to the problems of the burdened individuals and discussing possible ready-made solutions that could help solve or at least alleviate the problem discussed at hand. In this way, the person who is in dilemma can choose whether or not to accept the given solution or ignore it. Guidance in education is defined as the help all students/learners receive from teachers, parents, community members, and others to assist with educational and career development.

b. Counselling

It is the process of giving professional help and advice to someone to resolve personal or psychological problems. It is also a method that helps the client to use a problem solving process to recognize and manage stress and that facilitates interpersonal relationship among clients, family, and health care team. It involves a number of sessions that includes talking, listening, discussing the problem at hand and sharing relevant information that could help the person understand the problem and make his/her own decision or course of action. And simply, counselling in education is the help some individual students receive from professionals to overcome personal and social barriers to learning.

c. Guidance and counselling:

Guidance and Counselling is defined as a planned and organized work aimed at assisting the trainee to understand himself and his abilities and develop his potentialities in order to solve his problems and achieve psychological, social, educational and professional compatibility, and also to achieve his objectives within the framework of teachings. Guidance and Counselling complement each other though there are some differences.

d. Career guidance

Refers to the career-orientating activities typically provided by school’s counsellors and teachers as they help students to become aware of the work world, the value of planning and self attributes that may relate to various career options. A career guidance program develops an individual’s competencies in self-knowledge and self-understanding, educational, occupational, exploration and career planning.

e. Therapy

Therapy, also called psychotherapy, is the process of meeting with a therapist to resolve problematic behaviours, beliefs, feelings, relationship issues, and/orsomatic responses (sensations in the body). Through therapy, individuals canchange self-destructive behaviours and habits, resolve painful feelings, improve their relationships, and more. It is also a treatment that is meant to cure a physical or mental disorder.”Psychotherapy” is generally a longer-term treatment that focuses more on gaining insight into chronic physical and emotional problems. Its focus is on the person’s thought processes, and how these may be influenced by past events such that they cause problems in the present.

f. Advising

Advising is a process in which advisor and advisee enter a dynamic relationship respectful of the student’s concerns. It is a plan to aid students in developing selfawareness, option awareness, and decision-making skills. Ideally, the teacher serves as advisor and guide in an interactive partnership aimed at enhancing the student’s self-awareness and fulfilment. This aims of helping students diminish the confusion that comes with a new environment, clarify their goals and get the most out of their education. Advising is also a process of giving students guidance, support and encouragement. Academic advising is an interactive process in which the adviser helps the student set and achieves academic goals, acquire relevant information and services, and make responsible decisions consistent with interests, goals, abilities, and degree requirements. Decisions concerning careers and/or graduate study may be part of the advising process. Advising should be personalized to consider the special needs of each student, which may include appropriate referral services. It is also a comprehensive system to provide students with skills and knowledge to make decisions about

his/her education and career.A process to help each student improve his/her chances for long-term employment.

g. Mentorship:

Mentoring is a human development activity, in which a person known as a mentor possesses good knowledge and experience shares it with another person called mentee who normally has less knowledge and expertise to help him out in the development of his career, improving his self-esteem, enhancing productivity, etc. It is all about general development and psychological well-being of a person. Mentoring is a career development initiative taken by the management, in which an experience person guides and motivates a less experienced one, in gaining competencies for professional development. It provides encouragement, insight, and counselling to the maintenance for the development of person’s career. The relationship between the parties is considered as mentorship, which is a longterm informal one. The mentor may include teacher, guide, adviser, consultant, host, counsellor, etc. The main purpose behind mentoring is to provide open and face to face communication between the mentor and mentee to help an employee to attain social & emotional maturity and effectiveness.

Differences between counselling and guidance; counselling and therapy

Application activity 8.1

After learning this lesson:

a) Briefly, explain guidance, counselling, therapy, advising, and mentorship.

b) What are differences and similarities in the above concepts?

8.2: Types of guidance and counselling

Activity 8.2

Read this small scenario and reflect on it, by using questions below.

Diana is a struggling learner in P4, due to the uncouthness transition occurred last year; she is poorly motivated in class and has low grades in her academic performance.

a) In case Diana approaches you, how could you assist her?

b) Is there other ways of assisting learners/students to cope with changes?

There are different types of guidance and counselling services that can be offered to learners in different schools. The focus of our attention should determine what kind of non-specialized guidance and counselling services, teachers can offer in order to promote meaningful learning with focus on pre-primary and primary education.

8.2.1. Educational/Academic Guidance and counselling

Educational Guidance may be defined as the guidance which; a child or a learner needs while learning in educational institutions or schools. It stands to help them sort out the problems they face there. The educational guidance gives all kinds of information that the children or students need to join the type of school that he may be found most suitable to each of them. Education is the process of directing and guiding one to have his proper development. 

Educational/academic guidance and counselling is vitally related to every aspect of the educational institution or of the school aims and objectives, the curriculum, the methods of teaching, discipline, role of the teacher and the co-curricular activities. Educational guidance and counselling assists or helps the child or learner to make curricular adjustments according to his ability and capacity. It is a process of assisting the individual in making wise choices in relation to his educational life and planning his educational programme in order to carry it forward successfully. For instance: educational or academic guidance and counselling occur when an individual or a student needs assistance for choosing courses and subjects, developing study habits, obtaining scholarships, making satisfactory progress in studies, appearing examination, continuing higher education in colleges and universities and adjusting to the life in schools and colleges. There are four different stages of educational or academic guidance and counselling for every level of education, but this textbook will focus on preprimary and primary education.

a. Educational or academic guidance and counselling at the Pre-Primary stage

At this stage the guidance and counselling has to help the child now to adjust himself to the new life of the school which is somewhat important than the home and family. At this stage, guidance and counselling is directed more definitely towards the development of personality, social behaviour and problems concerning life. The class teacher performs the functions of both the teacher and the counsellor. He can very easily discover the children who are dependent, shy, easily frightened, over aggressive, quarrelsome, gifted or otherwise.

Besides, school norms are also very helpful in discovering other characteristics. But empathetic counselling, by organizing activities, and by making contact with home the teacher gradually helps the shy and over-dependent child to

overcome his weak points. It has been appropriately said that “every teacher is

a guidance and counsellor worker” and guidance is occurring minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day in every classroom of every school building. So guidance at this stage or level should help the child make a satisfactory transfer from home to school.

b. Educational/academic guidance and counselling at primary Stage

The importance of the early years of child’s life in the development of habits, attitudes, interests and personality qualities which would be required to live a healthy and well-balanced personality have been emphasized. The level of foundation development of well-balanced personality is done at this stage of education.

For this, the potentialities of the child are to be identified, his talents are to be explored and proper opportunity or facility be provided for his development. The child must:

- Be helped to develop his power of thinking and understanding.

- Be oriented to know modes of living and thinking which will become the main ground of his habits and attitudes.

- Be helped to adjust him/herself to an expanding environment both within the school and outside.

- Be helped to explore his/her talents and to understand him/herself.

Hence for all these purposes in relation to educational guidance and counselling a well-planned educational guidance programme must be organised and implemented for the developmental needs and requirements of the children or students. This guidance programme is to be planned with the inclusion of curricular and co-curricular activities to develop in a systematic way, his basic potentialities which would be important from the point of view of the individual, as well as from that of the society.

The functions of educational guidance and counselling programme at this stage are given below:

- The programme must help the children to make a good beginning and to plan intelligently of their education.

- To get the best out of their education and to prepare pupils how to enter the secondary schools.

- The guidance programme can be used in identifying learning difficulties and the special needs of children.

- It has to help the potential drop-outs staying in school, in guiding pupils to develop an insight into the world of work.

- The educational guidance programme at this stage has to assist the children in planning for the future education and training.

For doing all these things properly, a sound, conducive and favourable learning climate is to be created and developed in the educational institution or school.

8.2.2. Vocational/Career Guidance and counselling

The vocational guidance may be defined as the assistance children or students get in schools to know the world of vocations in their life. It is an early exposure to the variety of jobs they will have to make a choice latter in life. The vocational guidance is an incentive for hard work at studies. Vocational guidance is concerned with helping the individual to become aware of his strengths and weaknesses in world of occupations and helping him to choose a vocation for his better adjustment with every situation of the society.

In other words, vocational guidance may also be defined as a process of helping individuals or people to cope with problems relating to occupational choices, plans, developments, adjustments and maturity. The children know by themselves what they would like to become in life and this depends on what they do in school life. Of course, vocational guidance is meant for telling the children that it is high time for them to think of what are the possible vocations await them in life. For this they need to prepare themselves to be at the right track.

Orientation to a vocation and developmental perspectives of a vocation can be initiated at the stage of Elementary or Primary School Stage. The aims of vocational guidance at this stage are development oriented because children in the primary stage do have interest in business, in agriculture, in professions;but their interests are mere notions and are not to be taken seriously. Their wishes and expectations are not in accordance with reality. They are in a stage

of exploration as the child develops his interest to grow. More serious type of interests develops at the adult stage.

The following qualities and skills are to be developed at this stage:

- Love and respect for manual work.

- Neat and systematic work.

- Orderly arrangement of materials.

- Spirit of cooperative work.

- Good interpersonal relationship.

- A desire to do better work.

- Appraisal of one’s own product.

- The spirit of sharing with others.

8.2.3. Personal/social Guidance and counselling

Personal and social guidance is the process of helping an individual to know how to behave with consideration towards other people. Primarily, personal and social guidance helps the individual to understand himself, know how to get on with others, learn manners and etiquette pursue leisure time activities, practice social skills, develop family and family relationships, and understand social roles and responsibilities. It is given to an individual or a person to overcome his problems of personality adjustment. It may also be accepted as the assistance given to the individual to solve his emotional, social, ethical, and moral as well as health problems. It is a process of guidance helping the individual to solve his problems which don’t come within the power of educational and vocational guidance.

In the school setting, personal counselling is often suggested for children who display behaviour problems, such as excessive fighting, chronic tiredness, violent outbursts, extreme withdrawal, inability to get along with peers, and a neglect of appearance.

In small groups, children have the opportunity to express their feelings about a wide range of personal problems.

a) The need and importance of personal guidance has been felt in the following grounds

- It is needed to develop all personal and social qualities that would enable the individuals in solving personal problems and seeking better adjustments.

- It is meant to overcome the personal problems of personality adjustment of every individual.

- It gives importance on the personal and social needs of the pupils or individuals.

- It is linked with our day-to-day life.

- It is an answer to our big question what should be or not be.

- It is meant for deciding what habits, attitudes and values we should develop.

- It deals with all problems of life which are not covered by educational and vocational guidance.

- This guidance is the core of all types of guidance.

- It concerns with the total person.

- This guidance and counselling points out the strengths and weaknesses of every individual or child.

b) The aims and objectives of personal guidance and counselling  are as follows:

- To assist the individual in understanding himself.

- To assist the individual in solving the problems related to his health.

- To assist the individual in developing suitable habits, attitudes, interests etc.

- To make individuals aware about the personal problems of life.

- To assist the individual in developing positive attitude and real self concept.

- To make individuals aware about the democratic qualities and values.

- To assist the individual in developing the qualities of loyalty, co-operation, love, sympathy, tolerance etc.

- To help the individual to become a man of sound moral character in future life.

- To assist the individuals in his physical, social, moral, spiritual and emotional development.

- To assist the individuals in taking independent decisions and judgements.

- To assist the individual to plan his leisure time activities properly.

- To assist the individual to view the world and the social environment from the right track.

- To assist the individual in becoming a responsible member of his community.

- To assist the individual in developing the qualities of leadership.

- To assist the individual in making sound adjustments to different problems faced in life.

- Personal guidance and counselling assists or helps every individual immensely about how to develop an integrated personality.

- At the Primary Stage:

- Personal guidance and counselling at this stage aims at helping the children to get along with others and to develop certain social qualities. At this stage, opportunities or facilities are given to pupils for their selfexpression.

- Personal guidance and counselling at this stage deals with the problems related to health, feeling of insecurity, social acceptance, discipline and leisure time pursuits.

Application activity 8.2

After learning this lesson;

Make a brief description of types of counselling at pre-primary and primary level.

Activity 8.3

Which program should be based upon to understand the needs and problems of the students, competence and interest of the guidance personnel?

The basic principles of guidance and counselling were developed by various scholars.

According to Rotimo (2014), the basic principles of guidance and couseling are as follows:

a) Guidance and Counselling is for everyone. The service is not only for those with disabilities but it is also meant for all people without disabilities, developing children and adults;

b) Guidance and Counselling activities should be based on the need and total development of every person. It is the duty of all personnel in a setting to identify the needs of individuals so that programme activities can be designed to meet such needs;

c) Guidance and Counselling must be provided in a way that ensures human dignity and worth. The full and adequate development of the individual must be given preference. It should be seen as encouraging individuals to attain maximum satisfaction, to realize their potentials and to be aware to self. No one who has gone through counselling should feel inadequate;

d) Guidance and Counselling is a sequential, continuous and developmental process, which starts from birth to death. This means that guidance and counselling runs from the nursery school through primary, secondary to the tertiary institutions. It is not a once andfor-all event but a process which is an integral part of the total educational programme throughout the school life of an individual;

e) There is a close relationship between counselling activities and the instructional process, each contributing to the other.

Counselling can help make the instructional activities to be more relevant and meaningful to the needs of students, while the instructional activities can help to give necessary information and directives to a student in planning his/her life goals;

f) All guidance activities must emphasize the will for each student to learn more about himself in an accurate and systematic manner. Through the use of well-planned instructional strategies and appraisal techniques, individuals can become more knowledgeable about themselves and about the world around them. Without such knowledge, an individual cannot exercise intelligently the rights to free choice in educational, vocational and personal social fields.

g) Every member of staff in a school and non-school setting should assume responsibility for guidance activities. The principal, teachers and counsellors are all members of the guidance team and each member has prescribed functions and roles.

h) Effective leadership is the watchword for any effective guidance and counselling programme. Guidance counsellors who are qualified, well- trained and competent are expected to function in schools and other settings. Such professionals would be able to enlist the support of staff members in effecting guidance activities.

i) The practitioners should practice within ethical and moral limits. The ethical and moral guidelines should be such that clients would feel secure and confident in using the services provided. This also guarantees that counsellors will not use techniques and/or approaches for which they do not have competence; and

j) The objectives of counselling should be based on clients’ needs and not on the needs of the counsellors. In pursuing such needs of the client, the counsellors must present a positive image. 

Anatory (2016) listed the following principles of guidance and counselling:

a) Clients have the right to access the services of the guidance and counselling program in offering to him/her

b) Disclosure of confidential information regarding a student should be done with the student’s knowledge.

c) Counselling services are most effective when client voluntarily seek them

d) Co-operation with parents is desirable and preferable; the guidance counsellor should consider informing the parents of the provided counselling service in the event that there is significant interference to other aspects of the student’s program group counselling a student who is personally or academically at risk an immediate opportunityfor the parent to be a part of the solution.

According to Diksha Kashyap, the basic principles of counselling in the guidance programme of schools or educational institution is based on the following principles:

- Counselling is strongly dedicated to self-direction and self-realization of the pupil or client.

- It is the development of the insights and understandings of the relations of self and environment.

- It is a structured learning situation.

- Counselling methods vary with the needs of the client or pupil.

- It is primarily a preventive and remedial process.

- It is voluntary for the pupils.

Application activity 8.3

Explain the basic principles of Guidance & Counselling.

8.4: Effective listening techniques

Activity 8.4

Observe the picture and answer to questions related

a) What do you see on this picture?

b) Describe the activity, which is being done, on the picture above.

Listening is the behaviour of actively hearing and understanding what someone has to say.

In order to do this, an individual must focus on the other person’s story while ignoring thoughts about his own needs and activities. Being a good listener entails receiving and sending appropriate messages. In counselling this is important, because it means meeting the needs of the students.

Listening to students is not just a matter of receiving what they say, but also receiving how they say it. Sometimes how they communicate is much more revealing that what they actually say, which may be more concealing than revealing.

Listening skills are basic to all human interaction, whether the purpose is for getting information, conducting in-depth interviews, or offering informal help. Listening is considered to be the most important counselling skill.

Listening seems like a simple process and yet so many are more eager to talk than to listen. In guidance and counselling, effective listening requires a twoway communication.

Here are some tips for effective listening techniques established by Parker Associates (2015):

• Stay present – Do not let your mind wander. Many people compose a response while the speaker is still speaking.

• Make eye contact – Let the speaker see your interest by regularly making eye contact.

• Ask questions for clarification – This is not your time to respond. Get really clear about what is being said. If you don’t understand, ask questions in an open non-charged manner.

• Acknowledge feelings – If the speaker is telling you something about his/her feelings, acknowledge them. You don’t have to agree to show that you see the speaker is upset or unhappy about something.

• Restate or paraphrase – Make sure you are getting the information the speaker is presenting by periodically repeating what you hear in different words from the speakers. “Let me see if I’ve got it so far?”

• Covey says, “Seek first to understand and then to be understood” – Before you state your thoughts and ideas make sure you totally understand and acknowledge the speakers’ thoughts.

• Give nonverbal feedback – While the speaker is speaking, be sure to smile, nod, frown, shrug your shoulders, or raise your eyebrows – whatever is appropriate.

• Be Silent – Don’t be afraid of this. Periods of total quiet will allow you and the speaker to think about what was said. When you are sure the speaker has completed his/her thoughts on the subject, it will be time for you to comment.

• Take in all the information both verbal and nonverbal – Focus on the meaning of what is being said and what is not being said. There may be a lot of emotion behind the words being said. Be sure you understand the emotion and what is causing it.

• Get permission – Sometimes people just want to be heard. At other times they are seeking advice. Give advice only when requested and only after the person has had a chance to give you the whole story. If you are not sure, ask if the person is looking for your input

Application activity 8.4

After learning different steps of effective listening techniques;

Prepare and practice active listening techniques in a role-play showing how supporting a learner to find solutions to a problem.

End unit assesment

After learning this unit;

a. Discuss the benefit for guidance and counselling in educational settings to both teachers and learners.

b. Apply principles of guidance and counselling in the role-play to assist learners to find solutions to their problem. For example: In groups, plan and present sketches on teenage pregnancy. How can you use guidance and counselling to help boys and girls avoid problems like teenage pregnancy and any other problem that may interfere with their studies?