Discuss the Need For Counselling and Guidance

Usually, non-professionals use guidance and counseling freely and interchangeably. The word counselor is to combined with other words to indicate the meaning of an adviser. Such terms are “pest control counselor. rug counselors, and auto counselors. Whatever the use of the term we find positive meaning attached to it. Counseling is required in personal adjustment

Students may face anxiety. It is a fact that anxiety is a universal problem It may have physical as well as psychological symptoms. Physical symptoms may include ulcers, breathing problems, etc. while anxiety may be seen in situations of fear, feeling of depression.  If anxiety is abnormal it will keep the person away from performing efficiently or create headaches. upset stomach or backache.

Moreover, counselors report unfavorable self-evaluation especially in those students who trying for top positions, Elementary school pupils are in the process of developing physical, social-emotional, and total personalities. Their experiences in coping with normal developmental tasks vary widely. These developmental differences create adjustment problems both in the tasks of school and in social life. problems, as indicated by Seltzer and Stone (1980), are:

1. Emotional problems such as anxiety, hyperactivity, in maturity, impulsiveness.
   moodiness and withdrawal.
2. Intellectual disabilities, such as short-term attention span, loss ability detecting
   .memory. perceptual malfunctioning. poor study habits. underachieving and
   inability to understand.
3. Motivational inadequacies include lack of ambition poor or negative attitudes, frustrations, lack of interest, and low level of aspiration.
4. Moral defects such as lying, obscenity, psychological indiscretions, stealing, and other negative values
5. Physical ailments including chronic illness. poor health habits, orthopedic handicaps, and psychomotor malfunctioning.
6. Social maladjustment includes aggressive antisocial behavior. family conflicts, isolation and uncouth behavior.

The above list shows that elementary school students need a referee for intellectual problems, particularly for low ability.

At the high school level need for counseling arises in the area of physique, friendship, relationship with adults, job, skills and abilities, behavior values, and the self. There are two forms of student failure in the classroom. The first is the unsuccessful attempt to master required materials, while the second form includes the students who fail to accept their own goals and values at school. School dropout is also an area where counseling is needed. In colleges, the problems like students crime and drugs may require counseling.

Since the seventies, dramatic changes are occurring in schools in developed countries. The increased concern is over the mastery of fundamental skills (reading, writing, spelling, and mathematics). At the same time, technology has improved and there is more pressure for accountability Schools in our country have decidedly lost confidence in education. Today in developed countries career education and development is a more important component of guidance than it was during the 1960s. Guidance evolved out of the need for national development.

The concept of adaptation originated in biology, where it means survival of the species, but in psychology, it centers on an individual and how he or she manages to live. In psychology, it is called an adjustment. Problems of adjustment are universal. All the people may face these problems at one or another time as the nature of problems change with the circumstances and age. e.g. a key problem of young adults is the determination of their psychological and social identity.

Adjustment can be treated in two ways: first as an achievement to be evaluated and second as a process that we need to understand without evaluating. These two ways may be different as well as overlapping.

Students may feel social frustration which may be seen in inferiority social concepts. Such concept is a result of long series of experiences and is manifested insensitivity to criticism, reference of all criticism to oneself, exclusiveness, over respondence to flattery, poor reaction to competition and tendency to depreciate others (Gliner, 1967).
The counsellor is here to assist such students in adjusting. The process of adjustment goes through four stages:

1. Motive
2. Frustration
3. Varied responses
4. Solution

Many of the students facing such personal problems need counseling. Guidance is needed where individuals require assistance toward understanding themselves and their world. Students look towards the school to help them realize their aspirations. Parents expect the school to provide their children with chances where they can develop their potential. Following are the primary functions of education that clearly need
guidance services:

• Developmental function
• Differential function
• Integrating function

Guidance both as a concept and as a service focuses on the youth and their future. Guidance within education represents society’s expression of concern for individuals. Its need is widely understood when students have an increased understanding of educational vocational and social information to enable them to make wise choices. Within education, the guidance personnel is not individuals who are expected to act as judges or evaluators.

Guidance in elementary school is needed for early treatment and prevention of problems that may otherwise result in pupil behavior disorder at a later stage. Early treatment may facilitate the development of responsibility, decision-making skills, and personal development. (Shertzer and Stone, 1976, ).

The elementary school counselor may be engaged in:

1. Counselling individually and in small groups (six to eight).
2. Counseling teachers, parents, and administrators.
3. Providing supporting services such as testing. Working with teachers on the use of vocational guidance materials, with students: refer to people who need special help and conducting parent study groups.

At secondary school, emphasis may shift towards Locational guidance along with educational and personal guidance. Vocational guidance services provide assistance to 10 individuals to prepare for secure jobs and to advance in their careers Vocational guidance services include the following

1. Collection of information from the labor market.
2. Counseling.
3. Placement and follow-up
4. Service to special groups