Secondary School Counselors
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A variety of factors influence the roles and functions of secondary school counselors in the contemporary education environment. Traditionally principals have played the largest role in determining the duties and scope of practice of secondary school counselors. However, such principal-influence scope of practice continues to relegate counselors to an administrative or quasi-administrative role. TodayÆs increasing challenges among counselors involve designing and implementing a developmental counseling program that helps all students develop to their fullest. Professional organizations like the NACAP continue to formulate guidelines and provide ongoing professional development to help counselors exert more influence in expanding the scope of practice in order to utilize the skills for which they were trained. Only such a comprehensive developmental program that embraces diversity and significantly expands skill and competency development in students will result in effective counseling outcomes. As todayÆs teens face an enormous and complex array of challenges, such programs and such expanded scope of practice are greatly warranted in contemporary secondary education.There are a number of factors that influence what is labeled the ôroleö of secondary school counselors. According to Sears (1991), among these influences are: state certification standards; counselor education training programs; the nature of school system
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ams. Such programs include both content and process components. Content elements of such developmental programs include rationale; personal-social, educational, and career development skills; and a management plan that steers counselorsÆ management of the program (Sears 1991). Process components of developmental counseling programs also include a variety of roles and duties including: activities designed to achieve basic skills and competencies; counseling strategies for individuals and groups; and methods for evaluation of the program and effectiveness with students, staff and parents, (Sears 1991). Such a scope of practice and program enables the counselor to influence the nature and outcome of responsibilities, designed in a manner that improves effectiveness of counseling to target todayÆs challenges among secondary students.
Such challenges among secondary students involve more than the basic skills and competencies involved in the conventional Three RÆs of education. Attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors among students must include those that enable students to perform successfully in an increasingly self-directed, interpersonal, and technology oriented work environment. According to Feller (1994), in addition to reading
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Approximate Word count = 1619
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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