Qualities and role of a school counselor

by Yuvi - July 25, 2021

Qualities and role of a school counselor

Counsellor

Qualities of a Counsellor

Self-awareness
Honesty
Ability to communicate
Knowledgeable
Good basic intelligence
Wide general information
Intensive special information. Eg. Regarding career, training centres for career, etc.
Knowledge of people like interest, attitude, psychological knowledge of human beings.
Special skills – Technique of testing, interview technique of placing in jobs, technique of finding jobs.
Special personal qualities like objectivity.
Belief in client’s capacity of adjustment.
Tolerance and acceptance of the client’s differences.
He should possess a mature personality based on emotional stability, flexibility and adaptability.
He should have attractive and good personal appearance.
He should have a pleasant personality and must have patience.
He should have leadership qualities.
He should have interest in guidance and counseling work.
He should be dedicated in the service of students and people.
He should have pride in his professional work.
He should be willing to work at any time and place.

Educational Qualifications of a Counsellor

A. In Psychology OR
A. B.Ed. with Guidance and Counselling OR
Ed. and M.Ed. with Guidance.
Diploma course in Guidance
Knowledge of Personality Problems i.e. testing, mental hygiene and counselling techniques.

Role and Functions of a Counsellor

Tyler – “The job of a counselor is to help a person to find out what his personality is like, and decide how he can use the assets (qualities) (potentialities) he has in order to get rid of the obstacles blocking his progress.”

Counsellor’s role –

Assisting pupils or helping students to understand themselves and their social psychological world.
Helping students to understand their aptitude, abilities and interests.
Helping pupils to develop decision making competencies.
Help staff members to understand individual by providing material.
To find out the relationship between school programme and development of students and convey to the staff.
To suggest change in the school and non-school environment.
Assist parents to understand the development needs and progress of their children.
Helps individuals with the solutions to their problems.
Conserves human talent and prevents emotional breakdown.
Helps to achieve high level productivity and personal adjustment skill.
Provides knowledge of needs and goals to the individual to plan for opportunities facing them.

Ethics of a Counsellor

He must respect the value of the client.
He must keep the client’s confidential material secret.
He should interpret the test result as without interpretation, counselor cannot solve the problem.
In case of any malpractice, he must report to the higher authorities or higher professional bodies.
He should not accept a client who is being helped by another counselor.
Counsellor should maintain a file of case history of counselee.
He should observe courtesy to find out if the client is progressing in his work.
Counsellor should make sure the client is continuing with the specialist.
He should not allow his private time or leisure time for counselling.
He must have fixed hours of work.
He should not encourage dependency.
He should not entertain too high an expectation off his client.