Background of the School
Counseling Profession
Exercises & Applications
Reflect on your experience with a school
counselor. Based on this, describe the role
of the school counselor.
 Compare this description to the ASCA
description of a school counselor. Discuss
differences and similarities.

History of School Counseling
 The
counseling profession entered
the schoolhouse in the early 20th
century
History
 Jesse
B. Davis - introduced
“vocational and moral guidance” as a
curriculum into an English course
 This was the first systematic guidance
program in public schools
History
 Frank
Parsons - the “Father of
Guidance”
 His work had significant impact on
the vocational guidance movement
 1909 - Wrote the book, Choosing a
Vocation, which offered a method to
match a person’s personal
characteristics with an occupation
History
The work of Jesse Davis, Eli Weaver, and
Frank Parsons and a host of other
pioneers created momentum for the
development of a school counseling
profession.
 During the 1920s-1940s, many events
occurred that gave clarity and direction to
this emerging profession.

History
 World
War I - gave more reason for
testing individuals
 The term “counselor” rarely heard
prior to the depression, was now a
part of the vocabulary of all
educators.
 Prior to this time, the term
“guidance” was used
History
World War II - and it’s aftermath
created a greater emphasis on
“psychological testing” that directly
influenced school guidance
 World War II - government requested
assistance from counselors for
screening, selecting military and
industrial specialist

History
 1930s
- the first theory of guidance
was introduced. E. G. Williamson’s
Trait and Factor theory.
 This was known as directive or
counselor-centered
History

1946 - George Barden Act - legislation that
provided funds to develop and support
guidance and counseling activities in
schools and other settings

This was the first time school counselors
and state and local supervisors received
resources, leadership and financial support
from the government
History
 1957
- Sputnik - first earth satellite
that was launched by the Soviet
Union
 Sputnik was the “lift-off” and “orbit”
for counseling & guidance in the US
 1958 - Nat’l Defense Ed. Act
History
Part of the NDEA focused on:
 1. Providing funds to help states establish
and maintain school counseling, testing,
guidance activities
 2. Authorized the establishment of
counseling institutions and training
programs in colleges and universities

History
 1953
- ASCA joined APGA
 1962 - Wrenn’s book, The Counselor
in a Changing World -solidified the
goals of school c’ing
 1964 - ASCA develops a role and
function statement for counselors a
History
1965 - Elem & secondary Ed Act provided funding to improve educational
opportunities of low-income families
 1960-70s - Collaboration with teachers
 1974 - PL 14-142
 1980-90s - maturation of legislative
efforts, need for clear identify, roles

History
 1997
- National Standards for School
Counseling Programs is published
 Late 1990s-00s - Transforming school
counseling
School Guidance
 (1900
- 1920) - Occupational
Selection and Placement was
emphasized
 (1930 -1960) - School Adjustment
 (1960- present) - Personal
Development
AlCA’s Formative Years/History
www.alca.sumternet.com
 1957 - Guidance Dept @ St Dept
 NDEA = Guidance Institutes
 1967 - Joins APGA as “AlPGA”
 1979 - 3rd state in nation to have
licensure for professional counselors

Defining Guidance & Counseling
What
is guidance?
What
is counseling?
Defining

School counselors serve 3 populations:
students, parents and teachers.
 Counselors deliver these services within the
framework of an organized program
 The design of the program is guided by the
overall mission of the school, the desires and
needs of the local community and the
expanded goals of the state
 (Schmidt, 1999)
Defining
"School counseling is a relatively young
profession having emerged out of the
vocational guidance movement in the early
1900s. In the decades since then, the
profession has searched for a clear identity and
the role for counselors in schools. Over 50
years ago, counselors struggled with their
direction and purpose in schools, and today
this struggle continues. Because of
Defining

this uncertainty, school counselors are
sometimes criticized for not fulfilling their
obligations. Exactly what these obligations are
is a basic question all school counselors must
ascertain in developing appropriate goals and
objectives for their programs. Without clear
goals and objectives, a
Defining

counselor's obligations can easily be
misinterpreted and misunderstood by both the
professional and the people who seek
counseling services."
 "Misunderstandings about the counselor's role
are related in some measure to the confusion
between the terms guidance and counseling
and how these terms are used to describe what
school counselors do."
School Counselor Role

Interventions
 Individual and small group counseling
 Group guidance
 Consultation with parents, teachers,
others
 Program coordination
 (Cobia
& Henderson)
ASCA Ethical Standards

Responsibilities
 To
 To
 To
 To
 To
 To
students
parents
colleagues and professional associates
the school and community
self
the profession
(Cobia & Henderson)
Struggles and Confusion with
Professional Identity
Schmidt’s view (1993):
 Confusion between the terms “guidance”
and “counseling”
 Myrick’s view (1992):
 No “clear understanding of the programs
and processes involved in guidance and
counseling

Defining Guidance
Imprecise meaning and usage
 Has been flip-flopped with counseling for
over 50 years
 Traditionally an “umbrella” term
 Guidance, guidance program, guidance
services, guidance lesson, guidance
personnel, guidance counselor, guidance
lessons, etc..

Guidance
An umbrella term that includes such a
constellation of services aimed at personal
and career development and school
adjustment
 Guidance also describes the overall school
program and implies personal assistance
to students, teachers, parents and
administrators

Defining Counseling
Counseling has been perceived as a
process in which someone who has a
problem receives personal assistance,
usually through private discussion
 Term not used exclusively by school
counselors or other professional
counselors. Who else uses our term?
 What is counseling? What factors are
involved?

Counseling

The term "counseling" is used by people in
the counseling profession to describe a special
type of helping process.

There is a trust relationship in which the focus
is on personal meaning of events and
experiences. Counseling focuses on personal
awareness, interests, attitudes, and
Counseling
 goals.
It has a philosophical and
theoretical base which conceptualizes
learning, human behavior, and
interpersonal relationships.
 Counseling
considered a professional
endeavor by a professionally trained and
certified person
Counseling
 Counseling
can be described as a job
function and a helping process. It
identifies the work or service of the
counselor and the way in which the
counselor helps the students.
What Can Counseling Do?
1. Counseling can help prevent “normal”
problems from becoming more serious. More
serious ones could result in delinquency,
school failure, emotional disturbance
2. Counseling can create a healthy environment
to help children cope with the stresses and
conflicts of their growth and development.
What Can Counseling Do?
3. Counseling can also be a major remedial
force for healing children in trouble.
They can be helped through the
counseling interventions offered at
school.
Historical Approaches to C&G
 Myrick
 1.
 2.
 3.
 4.
(1992) offered 4 approaches:
Crisis Approach
Remedial Approach
Preventive Approach
Developmental Approach
Status of the Profession
 ACA
- www.counseling.org
 ASCA
- www.schoolcounselor.org
 ALACA
- www.alca.sumternet.com
ACA’s Formative Years & History






www.counseling.org
1952 - APGA established
1983 - Name changed to AACD
1992 - Name changed to ACA
60,000 members in ACA
13,000 in ASCA
Status
 What
is the role of the school
counselor?
 What
should the school counselor do?
What should they not do?
Status
 Myrick
stated: “As a whole, we have
a poor identity. Even today, we are
many things to many people.”
 “… they are miracle workers, record
keeping and scheduling clerks,
….their own guidance program.”
Status
 This
inability to identify a clear
purpose has placed some counselors
in clerical, administrative, and
instructional roles, diminishing their
value in school.
Status
 In
contrast, by developing a clear
understanding of their purpose,
school counselors can establish a
philosophical basis on which to build
a credible program.
Status
 In
the past, school counselors have
been willing to be viewed as “support
personnel.” Accepting the “support
role” instead of the “essential role”
allows others to define the role,
assign functions, dictate the mission,
and design the program.
EXERCISES:

1. Professional identity is an important issue
for school counselors. If you were hired by
a school tomorrow as its new counselor,
what five actions would you take to begin
establishing a professional identity? Discuss
and compare your actions with a group of
your classmates.

Discuss factors and events that influenced your
decision to enter or consider the counseling
profession
 Select and write down any historic leader’s
name. In 15 minutes, describe how the leader
would have benefited from counseling at some
particular point of his/her career.
Exercises

Review the ASCA role statement (see
Appendix A in Cobia & Henderson) and
identify any aspects that are different from
the previous preceptions of a school
counselor’s role. Reflecting on these
differences, speculate about how you
came to hold these beliefs. How might
your awareness of these preconceptions
influence your training experiences?