This site is a class blog space for new Career and Technical Specializations and Heathcare Science teachers enrolled in the New Teacher Institute (NTI) at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Rewards and Challenges
The challenges that I see and understand for school counselors are many. Their role is ever changing and is dependent of the culture of the school and community that they are in. They have to be flexible and willing to adapt to new issues, learn about new issues formally and informally in order to be "in touch" with their clientele. That is another challenge, their clientele. That would include students, families, teachers, administrators and their community. I feel that their roles and responsibilities are far too expansive, at least for the student counselor ratio (1:550) that I see in local high schools. I think it challenging at best for them to conduct any therapy in the daily routine of high school. The rewards, I might image,would be similar to teaching in the sense of making the connection and influencing a student in a way that could change their future for the better. Helping students achieve a goal or make the best choices to get on the pathway to make the goal a reality.
DAB I agree with your comments. I believe that the counselors responsibilities are far too expansive for the number of students that they serve. The fact that they also serve many different demographics each day adds to the work load and surely the stress. The job is not one that you can do it and forget it either, they must follow through or the effects can be devastating. Our young adults today are smart enough to realize and discern if we genuinely care, if they perceive or even suspect that we don't then whatever we say or do has little merit and influence.
ReplyDeleteI think that even more than teachers, guidance counselors truly have at the heart of their "calling" the goal to see students succeed. DAB I agree with your opinions as well, in that there are so many challenges and the roles of the school counselor are so expansive that they must find it challenging to feel like they are doing any good at all. With technology, the adolescent environment seems to be changing faster than ever before and it is the guidance counselor's role to keep "in touch", and current with the student's world. I am teaching in my intro class the growth and development of the adolescent and have been talking about the risks for this age group. We have covered eating disorders, chemical dependence, and suicide. A student came up to me today and said I should include cutting. She's right. A good guidance counselor would have caught that.
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