Guidance and
Counselling in
Vocational Education
Dr. Kiran Mathur
Reader
Meaning of Guidance
Guidance in general terms means helping the individual
at various stages in life to solve various types of
problems. Guidance is needed in every aspect of one's
life.
Mathewson (1962) has defined guidance as "the
systematic, professional process of helping the
individual through educative and interpretive procedures
to gain a better understanding of his/her own
characteristics and potentialities and to relate
himself/herself more satisfactorily to social requirements
and opportunities, in accord with social and moral
values".
Meaning of Guidance
Hallak and others (1993) view guidance as a sort
of 'Investing in the Future' which is in the form
of human resource development (HRD).
According to Bengalee (1984), guidance is the
process of assisting an individual to help
himself/herself to develop his/her potentialities to
the fullest extent by utilising the maximum
opportunities provided to him/her by the
environment.
Guidance can be summarised as
Assistance made available by competent persons to an
individual of any age to help him/her direct his/her own
life, develop his/her own point of view, make his/her
own decisions and carry his/her own burdens.
Assisting an individual to have a useful place in society
and gain satisfaction in life.
The process of helping an individual himself/herself, to
know his/her needs, assess his/her potentialities, develop
life purposes, formulate the plan of action and proceed
to realise these under favourable conditions provided by
the environment.
Guidance is developmental in
nature
The present thinking is that guidance is developmental
in nature. It permeates through all stages of human life.
The terms of vocational choices or vocational
preferences are used in the context of vocational
development which is defined in terms of process rather
than an event taking place at a point of time.
The present position of vocational guidance is
highlighted in UNESCO's document titled "Policies for
Educational and Vocational Guidance". Conger (1994)
has made the following observations:
Guidance is developmental in
nature
"At one time, the educational and vocational guidance
was perceived as the process of giving information about
themselves and the educational and labour markets so
that they make the most appropriate decisions
concerning educational and occupational choices.
It is now accepted that information giving is not
sufficient and that guidance must address the personal,
social, educational and vocational development of the
student.
Another change is that it is perceived as a developmental
process which requires curricular approach (e.g. career
education programmes introduced in the U.K.) and not
simply interviews at decision making times".
Guidance is developmental in
nature
The guidance process involves creating awareness of
strengths and potentials of an individual for
overcoming his/her problems and resolving
difficulties. Guidance aims at making the individual:
 Self-understanding - of one's strengths, limitations,
and other resources.
 Self-accepting - acceptance of things one cannot
change.
 Self-directing - ability to solve problems, make
choices and decisions on one's own.
Objectives of Guidance in
vocational education
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help students in selecting appropriate vocational career.
get maximum results and also to utilise money and
efforts invested in vocational programmes.
make the children realise their potential by providing
education according to their educational expectations.
utilise maximum intellectual resources means fruitful
and effective utilisation of talents.
generate awareness among children, parents, and other
community agencies about VE.
help vocational pass-outs in future career planning.
assist in proper implementation of the programme of
Vocationalisation of Education.
Types of Guidance
Educational guidance
Vocational guidance
Personal guidance
Major Guidance Functions
Appraisal and self-understanding
Orientation
Adjustment
Development
Major Guidance Services
 Orientation
service
 Individual inventory service
 Career information service
 Counselling service
 Placement service
 Follow-up service
 Referral services
Guidance in Vocationalisation of
Education
The NCERT document "Higher Secondary
Education and its Vocationalisation" (1976)
All higher secondary institutions will have to
provide guidance and counselling for careers
and courses to the students both at the point of
entry and at the end of semesters.
Guidance in Vocationalisation of
Education
The NCERT document "Higher Secondary
Education and its Vocationalisation" (1976)
This does not imply that one particular teacher will
have to be entrusted with this work; instead, practically
all teachers should be familiar with arriving at a profile
of a student's personality, interests and capabilities on
the basis of a school record of internal assessment and
semester course grades.
They should also be familiar with employment and
work opportunities associated particularly with the
vocations for which there is provision in the school.
Guidance in Vocationalisation of
Education
The Revised Scheme of Vocationalisation of
Secondary Education (1993)
According to the revised scheme of Vocationalisation
of Secondary Education (1993), the vocational
guidance activities of the school will have two broad
objectives:
i) providing necessary guidance to students, parents and
teachers regarding suitable educational and
vocational choices;
ii)helping in actual administration and smooth
functioning of the scheme;
Guidance in Vocationalisation of
Education
The Revised Scheme of Vocationalisation of
Secondary Education (1993)
Specifically, the guidance programme will be directed to
achieve the following outcomes:
The Vocational Guidance Teachers (VGT) will
gather and make available the information regarding job
opportunities, mobility etc. as most .of the vocational
courses being employment oriented in nature.
The VGT will help the school pass-outs in finding
on-the-job training and/ or placement by working in
collaboration with employers and the employment
exchanges.
Guidance in Vocationalisation of
Education
- He / she will maintain liaison between pupils,
schools and the employment agencies at local,
district and state levels and help the
educational management/ administrators in
identifying the available infrastructure for
vocational training in the neighbourhood.
Guidance in Vocationalisation
of Education
The Revised Scheme of Vocationalisation of
Secondary Education (1993)
To carry out these functions, one trained graduate
teacher in each vocational school should be trained in
vocational guidance. It is also envisaged that at least
half of his/her working time at the school should be
devoted to run the vocational guidance programme.
The scheme further stipulates that one trained
counsellor should also be appointed at the district level
to organise and run the career advice centre and assist
the vocational guidance teacher at the school level.