PRINCIPLES OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING

GUIDANCE

 Guidance is gotten from the word ‘guide’ which means to direct, help, steer. Guidance
can be explained as the process through which a guide or a trained personnel gives
directions, information, help to another person about how to do something in order to
understand him/herself as well as things around him/her better.
 Guidance can be defined as a process, developmental in nature, by which an individual is
assisted to understand, accept and use his/her abilities, aptitudes and interests in relation
to his/her aspirations.
 Guidance is concerned with provision and interpretation of information. It involves
personal help and advice given by someone and thus promotes self-direction and self-
growth.
 Guidance is the act of showing someone how to do something by taking them through a
process step by step.
 Guidance involves:
i. Listening
ii. Giving advice
iii. Instructing and directing clients
iv. Giving suggestions
v. Is short lived
vi. Providing of personal information for an immediate situation/solution
 Guidance simply shows or points the way to be followed. It is majorly concerned with
career development.
 Guidance functions in an institution may include:
i. Orientation or adaptive services- acquaintance to new environment, adjustment to
new environment, building sense of belonging to new setting, building support
groups (social guidance), general familiarization with new set up (rules and
regulations, classes and lecturers)
ii. Appraisal or inventory services- use of data collection (interview, observation),
keeping of student records, analysis of student (e.g. health status), realistic

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 planning of a satisfying educational set-up, helping students acquire and organize
useful information about him/herself, to know his/her strengths and weaknesses.
iii. Informational or distributive services-providing students with better knowledge of
educational, vocational and social opportunities to make decisions on career,
higher education etc.
iv. Planning and Placement services e.g. alumni:- help students make his/her future
plans, help students acquire admission into other environment.

Guidance is based upon the following principles.

a) Holistic development of individual: Guidance needs to be provided in the context of total
development of personality.

b) Recognition of individual differences and dignity: Each individual is different from every
other individual. Each individual is the combination of characteristics which provides
uniqueness to each person. Similarly human beings have an immense potential. The
dignity of the individual is supreme.

c) Acceptance of individual needs: Guidance is based upon individual needs i.e. freedom,
respect, dignity.

d) The individual needs a continuous guidance process from early childhood throughout
adulthood.

e) Guidance involves using skills to communicate love, regard, respect for others.

COUNSELING

 Counselling can be defined as a complex process in which a trained professional utilizes

appropriate resources to assist in the client’s development according to mutually
agreeable guidelines.
 Counseling is an interactive process, co-joining the counselee, who is vulnerable and
needs assistance, and the counselor, who is trained and educated to give assistance.
 Counseling is concerned with the feelings, attitudes and emotional dispositions of an
individual about himself/herself and the situation facing him/her.

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  Counseling assists individuals deal with overwhelming anxiety arising from personal,
social, academic or occupational problems.
 What counseling is not:
i. Is not a conversation
ii. Is not a discussion
iii. Is not an interrogation
iv. Is not a confession
v. Is not the giving of information
vi. Is not the giving of advice
vii. Is not about influencing attitudes, beliefs, behaviours
viii. Is not discipline
ix. Is not solving problems for others
x. Is not guidance

Aims of counseling
The aims of counseling are broad. They may depend on the situation and the environment, and
on training. The basic aims of counseling include the following:

1. To help clients and patients gain an insight into the origins and development of emotional
difficulties, leading to an increased capacity to take rational control over feelings and
actions.
2. To alter maladjusted behaviour.
3. To assist clients and patients to move in the direction of fulfilling their potential, or
achieve an integration of conflicting elements within themselves.
4. To provide clients and patients with the skills, awareness and knowledge, which will
enable them to confront social inadequacy.

In almost all situations, guidance must involve counseling and vice versa. Hence, due to the
interactive nature of the two, the word counseling is commonly used to include guidance.

WAYS IN WHICH THE COUNSELLING DIFFERS FROM GUIDANCE

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BASIS FOR
GUIDANCE COUNSELING
COMPARISON
Meaning Guidance refers to an advice or a Counseling refers to a professional
relevant piece of information advice given by a counselor to an
provided by a superior, to resolve a individual to help him in overcoming
problem or overcome from difficulty. from personal or psychological
problems.

Nature Preventive Remedial and Curative

Approach Comprehensive and Extroverted In-depth and Introverted

What it does? It assists the person in choosing the It tends to change the perspective, to
best alternative. help him get the solution by himself or
herself.

Deals with Education and career related issues. Personal and socio-psychological issues.

Provided by Any person superior or expert A person who possesses high level of
skill and professional training.

Privacy Open and less private. Confidential

Mode One to one or one to many One to one

Decision making By guide. By the client.

Psychotherapy: This is a deeper, more fundamental or involving process of change with more
disturbed clients. Psychotherapy has been the term used in medical settings such as psychiatric
units (McLeod, 2005).

Counselor/psychologist: Acounselor or psychologist who is engaged in developing and

empowering others through counselor or psychology education.

Client/counselee: An individual who seeks counseling or psychological services, or is referred

for counseling or psychological service.

History of Guidance and Counselling

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  The history of academy counseling formally started at the about face of the twentieth
century, although a case can be fabricated for archetype the foundations of counseling
and admonition attempt to age-old Greece and Rome with the abstract article of Plato and
Aristotle.
 There is additionally affirmation to altercate that some of the techniques and abilities of
modern-day admonition attorneys were accomplished by Catholic priests in the average
ages, as can be apparent by the adherence to the abstraction of acquaintance aural the
confessional.
 Near the end of the sixteenth century, one of the Aboriginal texts about career options
appeared: the Universal Plaza of All the Professions of the World, (1626) accounting by
Tomaso Garzoni quoted in Guez, W. & Allen, J. (2000). Nevertheless, bookish
admonition programs appliance specialized textbooks did not alpha until the about-face
of the twentieth century.

Guidance Movement in the Western World

The guidance movement was started with an emphasis on vocational information, planning and
guidance. Vocational education was believed to be that part of both organized and unorganized
methods of securing occupational confidence and experiences by individuals for achieving
occupational proficiency. Vocational planning was regarded as a process for helping students, or
others, to develop and accept an integrated and adequate picture of themselves, and of their roles
in the world of work, to test this concept against reality, and to accept its benefits with
satisfaction. The concept emanated from the fact that:

1. both human personalities and the economic order are in the process of continuous change
and development;
2. people differ in their potential and capacity for work, but can qualify for a number of
occupations;
3. each occupation requires a characteristic pattern of abilities, interests and other personal
qualities;
4. there are variations among individuals with respect to the nature and tempo of
development through various stages;

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 5. the career pattern of an individual is influenced by parental and socio-economic factors as
well as unique patterns of abilities, interests and other personality characteristics;
6. vocational guidance is a long process extending through the school and working life.

USA

Guidance and counseling has its roots in the USA as vocational guidance, around the turn of the
20th century. It is an emerging, growing and continually changing concept and movement. In the
beginning of the movement, the focus was on the provision of occupational information. Later,
there was need for more objective methods of assessing individuals for different jobs. The
movement emerged as a natural consequence to the type of conditions existing at that time.
Conditions thought to have led to the rise of guidance as a movement or process are:

 division of labour
 growth of technology
 extension of vocational education
 Spread of modern forms of democracy.

The early 1900s were characterized by urbanization, immigration, industrialization and social
and cultural evolution. The guidance movement is traced to divergent major sources which are:

 Philanthropy (humanitarianism)
 Mental hygiene
 Social change
 Psychometrics

Guidance counseling dates back to as early as 1907, when Jesse Davis implemented the first
guidance counseling programme at Central High School in Detroit.

Frank Parsons is known as the Father of Vocational Guidance. He developed a framework to

help individuals decide on a career.

Alfred Binet was the inventor of the first usable intelligence test known today as an IQ test.

Clifford Beers, the founder of has become the Mental Health Association.

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Africa

 Prior to western influence, most African societies had various forms of social services
that were provided for young people and children, so that they could develop and grow
into responsible and productive members of their communities or ethnic groups.
 To function effectively in one’s community, one needed to be aware of the values, beliefs
and roles one had to play as a member of a particular regiment or sex.
 Many young boys and girls were socialized, or taught the ways of their communities, as
well as the various skills their forebears used to earn a living, or to provide for their
families. Initiation schools, for example, taught young people things they would need
later on in their adult lives. For instance, they would learn about the history of their ethnic
group, how to relate to each other as boys or girls, and how to behave as adults, as well as
know their responsibilities as parents or members of the community.
 The extended family provided other services that young people and children needed.
Uncles, aunts and other relations were sources of information that young people needed
as they grew up. For example, a boy talked to his uncle if he had questions.
 Skills in carving, hunting and other occupations needed later on in life were passed on to
young people by parents at different stages in the development of each child. Some of the
behavior and skills were learnt either by observing adults, or acquired through other
means of training.
 Every community had its culturally-based social services for young people and children.
Among these culturally-based social services was the extended family system, in which
relatives played a significant part in providing guidance and counseling for the young.
 The initiation schools/ceremonies introduced young people to the history of the ethnic
group, its customs and any other cultural activities that every member of the community
needed to know about, in order to live a successful life.
 Guidance and Counseling for individuals have always formed part of the African strategy
for combating personality problems and practiced by indigenous counselors.
 In the traditional African context, guidance involved educating the youth about the
traditions and culture of the community. Every event and occurrence was taken to

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 provide a lesson for all to learn e.g. initiation, marriage, death, rain making, planting and
harvesting, divination and sacrifices and times of natural catastrophes.
 In traditional African societies, counsel was given in various forms, the most common of
which were giving advice and sharing wisdom. Giving advice has been a common way of
providing help for other people. The advice offered was frequently instrumental in
helping people to consider their future. In many instances, the extended family was the
main source of advice for family/clan members. There was usually no shortage of people
willing to share their wisdom with others. Therefore giving advice often promoted the
dependence of the young persons on the advice given which was largely subjective and
did not promote the personal development of young people. Wisdom generally refers to
experience and knowledge about life and using them judiciously. In African societies, it
was considered the responsibility of elders to provide wisdom or counsel to young boys
and girls. The wisdom provided by elderly men and women was part of the counseling
function of the family or society for boys and girls. Another aspect of wisdom is sharing
proverbs or folk stories. A well-known African proverb is, ‘When elephants fight, the
grass suffers.’ Folk stories about the ‘hare’ are also told in many parts of Africa.
 While some people argue that guidance has always been part of an African heritage, the
formalization and integration of guidance services into the education system only began
in the late fifties.
 The beginnings of guidance in some African countries can be dated back to the fifties in
countries such as Nigeria, which made great strides in the field. In other countries, such
as Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Swaziland, guidance services did not exist until the late
sixties.

Guidance and Counseling Movement in Kenya

In Kenya, guidance and counseling in schools dates back to 1970. The Ominde commission
suggested the establishment of guidance and counseling programmes in schools and colleges.
The following conditions in present day Kenya have created a need for guidance and counseling:
social problems, economic problems, educational problems, work problems, leisure problems
and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Many societies have experienced a lot of social and economic
changes. The most outstanding changes are:

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 i. A gradual shift from the extended to the nuclear family, or single parent family-
homosexual family.
ii. Heavy reliance on a cash economy against a background of widespread poverty.
iii. Political demands and expectations.
iv. A rapid rate of urbanization against a very high unemployment rate.
v. Rate of illiteracy.
vi. High population growth rate.
vii. Infiltration of elements from foreign cultures through mass media which have led to
general moral decay.
viii. Wars, political instability and epidemics leading to increased numbers of orphans and
refugees.

Guidance and Counseling needs related to Education

1. Personal and social issues: problems associated with personal characteristics such as
physical conditions or health status, intelligence level, degree of emotional control,
habitual attitudes, social interests, vocational interests, ambitions and cultural
background. Problems of sex and interpersonal relations-lack of proper and objective
education may lead to many misconceptions on sexual behaviour.
2. Educational issues: problems which are functional rather than organic. These include
poor motor skills, conceptual understanding and creative expression. Problems arising
from home conditions: unhygienic home environment. Parental attitudes and home
situations (frequent moving, too little or too much home duties, lack of home cooperation
with school or community, broken families, poverty). School experiences which bring
about difficulties in adjustment to learning experiences (lack of interest in school, too
much or too little teacher assistance, fear of failure). Facilitation of smooth transition
from home to school, from primary school to secondary school, from secondary to post-
secondary institutions or to work. Coping with examination anxiety. Development of
effective study habits.

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 3. Problems concerning future vocation: career and vocational choice, lack of access to
adequate and accurate information on occupations. Dealing with unemployment.
Provision of meaningful experiences thus enabling the student to relate the curriculum to
occupations. Assisting students make informed decisions about their educational paths-
choices to be made between subjects, curricula, schools and colleges. Availability of
schools and colleges, admission requirements and educational and work opportunities.

The Components of Guidance

 Guidance can be defined as a process, developmental in nature, by which an individual is

assisted to understand, accept and use his/her abilities, aptitudes and interests and
attitudinal patterns in relation to his/her aspirations.
 Guidance as an educational construct involves those experiences that assist each learner
to understand him/herself, accept him/herself, and live effectively in his/her society.
 This is in addition to the learner’s experiences in the world of work and the people found
there.
 Guidance can also be looked at as a programme or services to individuals based upon the
need of each individual, an understanding of his/her immediate environment, the
influence of environmental factors on the individual and the unique features of each
school.
 Guidance is designed to help each individual adjust to his/her environment, develop the
ability to set realistic goals for him/herself, and improve his/her education.
 As a process, guidance is not a simple matter, but involves a series of actions or
progressive steps which move towards a goal.
 As a service, we can isolate four major services, those of educational, vocational,
personal and social guidance.

1. Educational Guidance

 Guidance as an educational construct involves those experiences that assist each learner
to understand him/herself, accept him/herself and live effectively in his/her society.
 Educational guidance, in so far as it can be distinguished from any other form of
guidance, is concerned with the provision of assistance to pupils in their choices in, and

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 adjustment to, the curriculum and school life in general. Educational guidance is,
therefore, essential in the counselling service.
 Guiding young people to pursue the right type of education is necessary, while ensuring
that the right balance is kept in order to meet the human resource needs of a nation.
 This is a term was first coined by Truman Kelley in 1914 (Makinde, 1988). Educational
counseling is a process of rendering services to pupils who need assistance in making
decisions about important aspects of their education, such as the choice of courses and
studies, decisions regarding interests and ability, and choices of college and high school.
Educational counseling increases a pupil's knowledge of educational opportunities.
 Educational guidance is a process for helping an individual to plan a suitable educational
programme and make progress in it. The individual may be assisted, for example, in
choosing subjects, courses, schools, colleges, and school adjustment. The individual has
to be helped to know his/her present position in the educational system and see what lies
ahead. Girls and women, for example, need to be guided away from those educational
myths which contribute to the reluctance of females to pursue careers in technology,
mathematics, engineering, and most male-dominated occupations.

Some of the aims and objectives of educational guidance are:

 To assist the pupil to understand him/herself i.e. to understand his/her potentialities,
strength and limitations.

 To help the child make educational plans consist with his/her abilities, interests and
goals.

 To enable the student to know detail about the subject and courses offered.

 To assist the student in making satisfactory progress in various school/ college subjects.

 To help the child to adjust with the schools, its rules, regulations, social life connected
with it.

 To help the child in developing good study habits.

 To help the child to participate in out of class educational activities in which he can
develop leadership and other social qualities.

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The Importance of Educational Guidance

Educational guidance is important in schools and colleges in the following ways:

1. Educational guidance helps young people to pursue the right type of education. In this
way, the individual is motivated to maximize his/her contribution to society.
2. It assists individuals to make informed decisions about their education. Individuals have
to know the choices that have to be made, and determine whether the choice is between
subjects, curricula, schools or colleges. They have to know subject combinations or
options, what the subject involves in the classroom, available courses and where each
course leads, the available schools and colleges, admission requirements, and educational
opportunities.
3. It facilitates the smooth transition for children from home to school, from primary to
secondary school, from secondary to post-secondary educational institutions, and to the
world of work. The final transition from the educational system to the labour force
appears to be most important and challenging for students.
4. It helps students to cope with examination anxiety. The fear of failure and the craving for
the highest grades are major sources of pressure among students.
5. It helps students to develop effective study habits. The students are assisted to improve
their competence in reading, note-taking, and academic achievement.
6. It provides students with meaningful educational experiences. The students are able to
relate the curriculum to occupational groups.

Components of educational guidance

 The components of educational guidance include study skills, time-tabling, note-taking,

sitting for examinations, and academic counselling.
 Academic counselling - assisting a student to define and resolve his/her educational
problems, so that he/she becomes self-sufficient in exploring, choosing, and pursuing, an
educational programme.

2. Vocational Guidance

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  Vocational guidance is a process for helping individuals to choose an occupation, prepare
for it, enter it and develop in it.
 Vocational happiness requires that a person’s interests, aptitudes and personality, be
suitable for his/her work. It plays its part by providing individuals with an understanding
of the world of work and essential human needs, and familiarizing individuals with such
terms as ‘the dignity of labour’ and ‘work value’.
Some of the aims and objectives of vocational guidance are:
 Assisting pupil to discover his/her own abilities and skills to fit them into general
requirements of the occupation under consideration.

 Helping the individual to develop an attitude towards work that will dignify whatever
type of occupation he/she may wish to enter.

 Assisting the individual to think critically about various types of occupations and to learn
a technique for analyzing information about vocations.

 Assisting pupils to secure relevant information about the facilities offered by various
educational institutions engaging in vocational training.
 At the elementary stage, although no formal guidance programmes are needed, the
orientation to vocation can be initiated at this stage. At this stage some qualities and skills
which have grater vocational significance viz. love and respect for manual work (ii)
training in use of hands (iii) spirit of cooperative work (iii) sharing (vi) appreciation for
all works (vii) good interpersonal relationship are to be developed.
The Functions of Vocational Guidance

Among the functions of vocational guidance are the following:

1. Aid in placing talent where it is needed. The student is assisted to make the best possible
vocational choice.
2. Strengthen the educational system by providing motivation and meaning to education.
This means ensuring that the students’ education, curricula and extra-curricular activities
are useful, and will eventually result in something worthwhile. The students are
encouraged to make maximum use of all educational opportunities, since these will be
beneficial to them during their lives.

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 3. Add a feeling of security to the nation, the schools, and the student, so that all face the
future with confidence. The student is helped to develop an ability to control his/her
future.
4. Provide information about occupational opportunities. Students become aware of the
world of work, and the range of available opportunities that exist.
5. Encourage students in decision-making. Decisions on what type of life a student would
like to lead depend on his/her interests, values, abilities, skills, and motivation to learn.
6. Assist students to know themselves and their environment. Each student is helped to
understand him/herself in terms of interests, potential skills, and abilities, in relation to
the world of work.
7. Help students to deal with a variety of problems. Since the society in which students live
is constantly changing, they have to adjust to change. For example, more emphasis is
now given to self-employment and job generation than in earlier years.
8. Help students to understand the problems of unemployment and its causes.
9. Assist students to understand the process of making choices, and of the possible
consequences of their decisions.
10. Enable students to acquire acknowledge of the practical procedures needed for getting a
job and progressing in it.
The Components of Vocational Guidance

The main components of vocational guidance include the following:

1. Analysis of the student: Self-appraisal of the student is a necessity. The student should
have extensive knowledge about him/herself and match this information with such things
as home background, school progress, work experience, personality, health, values,
interests, aptitudes and achievement. The counsellor should assist the student to collect,
analyze and use a variety of objective and subjective, psychological and social data about
him/herself, so that he/she gains a better understanding of him/herself. The counsellor can
administer interest and aptitude tests and provide occupational information.
2. Occupational information: Occupational information is the publication and
dissemination of facts on the nature and prospects for employment in different
occupations. The data derived from self-appraisal enable the student to search for an
occupation. For the student to have an intelligent match between him/herself and jobs,

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 he/she needs knowledge of the occupational, industrial, and labour structure of the
country, classifications of occupations, occupational requirements, entrance procedures,
occupational distribution, training opportunities, and employment prospects, and
occupational hazards. Self-employment is critical in an age when there are fewer jobs
than the number of job seekers. Students need to be guided in assessing the resources
around them, and exploring ways of making new products, and finding new sources of
livelihood. In this regard, linkages between the guidance counsellor and science and
technology should prove productive.
3. Consultation: The counsellor should give technical assistance to teachers, administrators
and parents, and help them to be more effective. Personnel from a variety of occupations
(e.g., medical, industrial), could be invited to speak to students.
4. Vocational counseling: The major objective of vocational counselling is to assist the
student to integrate the information about him/herself and the occupational world, and to
develop a plan for career development. This involves a face-to-face encounter between a
counselor and a client. The student is assisted before any occupational selection is made,
admeasures are taken to meet occupational requirements. The student must possess an
understanding and acceptance of her/his personality, interests, aptitudes, and background.
5. Placement: This is a co-operative enterprise which involves the services of the school,
community and the student. The term ‘placement’ refers to helping the student obtain
part-time or full-time employment. The term also includes giving the student work
experience, and placing him/her in an appropriate vocational training institution. It
involves record-keeping, vocational counselling, employment contacts, supervision, and
follow-up.
6. Community Occupational Surveys and Follow-up Studies: The counsellor must
conduct Community Occupational Surveys and Follow-up Studies of school-leavers, and
procure data on local training and employment conditions, labour turn-over, and job
opportunities. Such surveys should be conducted because the majority of workers find
employment in their immediate environment or community. Follow-up studies on
graduates should be made.

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 7. Evaluation: The counsellor should determine the impact of the vocational guidance
programming students, schools, and society, and find out how any deficiencies in
theprogramme can be removed.

The Principles of Vocational Guidance

The provision of an effective vocational guidance service is based on the following principles:
1. Vocational guidance is concerned primarily with the personal development of the
individual.
2. Human beings have a capacity for self-development, which is best encouraged through
active involvement in the exercise.
3. The primary way in which guidance is conducted lies through individual behaviour.
4. Guidance is oriented towards co-operation, rather than compulsion, between the client
and the counsellor. In other words, it is an activity based on mutual consent and trust.
5. Guidance is based on recognizing the dignity and worth of individuals as well as their
right to choose.
6. Guidance is a continuous educational process.
7. Guidance demands that the counsellor should not be emotionally involved.

3. Occupational Information in Guidance

The dissemination of occupational information in guidance is carried out in the following ways:
1. General group guidance: The counsellor collects information and makes it available to
groups of students. The students also collect information on various occupations for
themselves.
2. Teaching of occupations: The counsellor meets a class and teaches them about different
occupations.
3. Career day/week activities: Lectures on different careers, career demonstrations,
debates, and film shows, are provided by the school.
4. Trips and excursions to industrial establishments: Students go out of school/college to
workplaces, to see things for themselves.

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 5. Career clubs: The clubs can show films relating to careers, organize career quizzes,
competitions, career conferences, dramas, and invite lecturers/employers to provide
information on various careers.
6. Vacation jobs and work-study: The school can assist students to obtain vacation jobs
during the long vacation or provide work-study programmes.
7. Bulletin boards: The school can display vocational, educational, and social information,
on bulletin boards.
8. School subjects: Teachers can relate their teaching of subjects to careers for which they
are useful or applicable.

Kinds of Occupational Information Which Students Should Know

1. Employment prospects: Are the employment prospects for this occupation expanding or
diminishing?
2. Nature of Work: What are the pleasant or unpleasant things workers have to do? What
tools, equipment, or materials, are used? What are the hours of work? Are there any
shifts?
3. Work Environment: Is it hot, cold, humid, dry, wet, dirty, noisy, etc.?
4. Qualifications: What are the academic and/or physical qualifications?
5. Aptitudes: What is the I.Q. and other special aptitudes needed?
6. Interests: What are the interests of people who succeed in this particular occupation?
7. Legal and professional: Is a license or certificate required?
8. Preparation: What kind of education and training is needed?
9. Entrance: Is it by examination, by application and interview, or by capital investment?
10. Likes or dislikes: What are the likes and dislikes of the job?
11. Advancement: What proportion of workers advance? And to what positions?
12. Earnings: What are the earnings per month and year? How are wages paid?

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