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SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ISSUES IN SCHOOL COUNSELING
Running head: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ISSUES IN SCHOOL COUNSELING
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ISSUES IN SCHOOL COUNSELING
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Introduction 3
Literature review 4
Introduction to the school counseling 4
The role of school counselors 6
Social issues in school counseling 9
Cultural issues in school counseling 13
Implications for school and educators 16
References 19
Introduction
This literature review is based on the topic of social and cultural issues in school counseling. In school, there come several students from different kinds of backgrounds and families. Thus, they may face issues with the school culture as well as other students too. In this way, students can experience negativities in their studies along with their nature as well. In this case, it is the responsibility of the school counselors to maintain the overall process of the school and study facilities. There are many kinds of activities in the process of school counseling that are going to be evaluated in this part of the study. However, the main purpose of this school counseling program can be identified as their academic success promotion. Like this, the society, as well as the academic knowledge of the students can be developed in a good manner. School counseling is the most important and impactful part of the modern education process. Such counseling has been positively designed in terms of developing the achievements of students, development of attendance and behavior of students as well as helping students to develop their nature socially. In schools, students along with the teachers can face several issues. In this case, school counselors can solve issues in a positive way. Social and cultural issues can create a negative impact towards the school counseling process and therefore, all these need to be resolved for bringing success in education. All details have been described below in the literature review section.
Literature review
Introduction to school counseling
Basically, school counseling can be identified as an effective program that can provide several positive benefits to the education as well as the learning process of a school (Cleveland & Sink, 2017). On the other hand, it can be seen that with the help of proper school counseling, schools are developing their practices and thus, the overall education process is developing with each day. Through school counseling, students are also getting encouraged and motivated to study more effectively. There are three programs that are offered as a part of school counseling. These programs are school counseling M. Ed, school counseling Ed. S as well as Initial certification in school counseling. Therefore, students can effectively develop their career with the help of these three school counseling programs.
According to Lee (2018), current school counseling programs have been implemented by schools in a great way. As such, it can be seen that school counseling programs have been implemented both in private as well as public schools as they have accurately identified the effectiveness of school counseling programs.
There are several educational roles in school counseling for students to build their career. With the help of school counseling, each and every student acquires a lot of emotional and mental support. As stated by Brown, Dari & Spencer (2019), it can be seen there are several schools that have full-time school counselors with their main focus to help students and the school to develop more effectively.
However, the school counseling process was not much developed earlier. Since the 20th century, programs under school counseling have undergone a lot of development. The school counseling process has included a number of courses as well. Thus, to become an effective school counselor, people need to participate in the school counseling courses. People who want to become efficient school counselors need to join the specific and relevant school counseling courses.
Based on the discussion earlier, it can be seen that school counseling is an effective part of the development of schools as well as education processes. As stated by Land, Tuttle & Moss, (2017), school counseling can help students develop their personal and professional issues. Basically, students face a number of personal issues such as family problems, mental problems and more. In situations like these, school counseling processes can help students find mental support through which they can mitigate their personal and professional issues in a good manner. School counseling can also help students develop their listening and learning skills, as well as communication skills. This way, they can become a good student and get a chance to develop their career in a positive direction. Smaller group counseling programs are also offered to help students improve their social skills and learn to empathize with others, as well as finding social support through healthy effective relationships (Griffith et al. 2017).
However, students who are otherwise unable to access mental health services, school counselors can efficiently give provide support free of cost in such cases. Along with this, the school counseling process can be helpful for the school staff as well. School counseling can provide proper support to the school staffs by assisting in classroom management processes and development of the programs aimed at mental health improvement and school safety. In this case, it can be seen that the learning environment of schools can be developed by school counselors and the school counseling program itself. Special students have opportunities here as well. According to Carey & Martin, (2017), school counseling also provides support to special students by providing adequate services and help to cater to their requirements. Classrooms can be decorated according to the requirements of such students. Students can develop their relationships with their parents and teachers with the help of proper therapy as a part of of school counseling during school hours. Thus, it can be seen that the counseling program helps students and provides positive support and assistance so that the education system can be further developed.
The role of school counselors
As stated earlier, school counseling programs can develop the overall culture and education process in a positive way. Therefore, it is the school counselors who have to be aware of their responsibilities and maintain the school counseling process. As sighted by Singh & Kosciw, (2017), during the process of becoming a school counselor, it is very important for people to complete their master’s degree in the school counseling course, psychology, as well as the social work followed by obtaining the right state certification, endorsement, and licensure in terms of gaining employment services (Griffith & Greenspan, 2017).
In this case, the people can be involved in comprehensive exams as well as logging hours in supervised counseling setting as well. Several cases show that counselors have to complete an internship and practicum, and some states require some previous years’ teaching experiences as well. Thus, to become a school counselor, people need to be very responsible and must have relevant work experience along with a proper degree. However, it is the responsibility of a school counselor to renew his/her license every five years. This can vary according to requirements specific to one’s state. There are several rules and regulations that need to be maintained by school counselors, which can have positive effects on the counseling process.
According to Springer et al. (2018), in order to discuss the role of school counselors, one of those roles is to provide help to students and school teachers or staff as per their requirements. This way, the overall teaching and learning process can be developed. Their main role is in helping students maintain their standard of academics as well as set the right goals for academic success. School counselors can shape students’ thoughts into setting proper goals through learning, which can help students further develop their career. Also, it is the responsibility of school counselors to look after the school and people involved in the school. Without proper analyzing, school counselors cannot understand their requirements in a good manner. As per Coogan, (2017), the study habits of students and the overall management of the school need to be developed by school counselors. In this situation, it can be observed that for the role of a school counselor, proper time management is necessary. Therefore, the education process can be developed with proper timing management skills and teachers can conduct/take classes according to the timings specified. This can improve the overall studying and learning process of students as well. School counselors can also help students understand the effectiveness of relationships, which can help their lives become easier and efficient. School counselors can also help students resolve their personal problems in various ways. They can also help develop the social skills of students, thus, developing the overall education process of a school (Abel, Auger & Oliver, 2017).
It can be seen that previously, school counselors did not have many roles in the education process. According to Kull, Kosciw & Greytak, (2017), in today’s modern world, the role of a school counselor has become more effective as they do not just sit in their offices anymore but have various roles now, which can be analyzed from the above description. Today, school counselors have become a vital member in the education process as well as the education team. School counselors can help students with academic achievements, career building as well as emotional and mental development.
They mainly ensure that students become productive as well as adjusted adults for the society of tomorrow (Kim, Fletcher & Bryan, 2017). School counselors can be identified as educational leaders. They are in the role of providing effective and valuable assistance to students. Therefore, counselors have several roles that are related to the education process and development. The most important factor or the role of a school counselor can be identified as the need to look for decreasing the demands for their assistance/role in schools. It needs to be made sure that schools are run in a proper way and their education processes are devoid of any kind of negative effects, keeping their students focused on education.
As per Lopez & Mason, (2017), the education process of a school can have negative effects. It is always not possible to teach students positively in negative circumstances. In this situation, it is the important role of a school counselor to understand the factors lying behind the negative issue. Students come from several backgrounds, races, families and thus, may not be able to successfully cope with the school environment. Students may also find it difficult to be friends with each other due to personal reasons and issues. Thus, it is the role and responsibility of school counselors to communicate with students and make them feel comfortable in the school environment. They can also help build better relationships among students by developing the thought of culture. As per Simons, Hutchison & Bahr, (2017), school counselors can also make students understand the different kinds of the impact of culture and help them understand the culture in an appropriate manner. This can turn helpful for teachers and students and improve the overall education process for positive results. Each and every school counselor needs to make students understand the effectiveness or importance of the study.
Social issues in school counseling
Though the school counseling process is very impactful for students and the overall education process, there are several issues in the process that school counselors need to face during their roles. The social issues are given below:
Mental health issue: There are many students who deal with this issue. This problem can impact the social skills of students and make it difficult to interact with each other. In this situation, school counselors do not get a proper chance to interact with such students (Kok & Low, 2017). Due to this issue, students may also not be able to get in touch with the counselors. Considering a situation like this, counselors need to develop a mindset and attitude like that of a psychologist or they need to refer a psychologist to improve the mental health of the student. However, this can take a long time for school counselors to conduct and complete proper counseling.
Stress: As stated by Carkhuff, (2017), students can face a lot of stress as well as pressure in the modern education process. Thus, students get de-motivated to study. Students reduce or stop taking part in school activities including sports. School counselors face a huge challenge in making students understand the effectiveness of studying; also, students refrain from listening and understanding anything from anyone regarding education. This can become a major issue for counselors. In order to solve this, school counselors need to determine connections between students and talk to their parents as well. Students need to be handled properly and the stress of education needs to be decreased as well.
Bullying: Lately, students feel very depressed, which has negative effects on their personal lives along with their education and studies. As per Shechtman, (2017), in this case, it can be seen that the internet has become very impactful in the lives of students. Students sometimes face the issue of cyberbullying that may make them feel depressed and sad. Cyberbullying had spread hugely throughout the world via the internet within a minute. Due to cyberbullying, a number of students feel that they cannot face anyone and/or they will be bullied in front of the public. Students become very uncomfortable and start fearing to go to school due to bullying problems (Goodrich, 2017). This has become an effective concern for students in their daily lives. In this situation, school counselors face an issue of maintaining their role in a good manner as they do not have an opportunity to improve the academic platform for the student. Moreover, it is the responsibility of school counselors to decrease the fear of the students as well as to make them comfortable enough to join their school. Therefore, in this situation, the school counselors need to communicate with the students and make them understand the fact about education. Like this, they can provide the students can support mentally as well. Therefore, after getting proper support the students can start to go school again and understand the fact regarding bullying. The counselors can effectively help the students and stop them to take any wrong decisions as well.
Gender issues: Different social issues can create a negative impact on the school counseling process. Gender issues can be identified as one of the most common issues that school counselors face while counseling students. There are three different genders that exist in schools – male, female, and tans-gender. Counselors need to apply different strategies depending on whether the student belongs to any of the three genders. As per Bardhoshi, Duncan & Erford, (2017), male and female both have different behaviors and therefore, the counselor needs to identify accurate counseling strategies and their applications carefully in order to solve their issues successfully. However, counselors also face the number of issues with transgender students and the controversy over transgender students are also increasing. Transgender students do not feel safe in schools and also fail to maintain good relationships with other students. Other students don’t want to accept transgender students, which creates a negative impact in the minds of transgender students. They are not feeling happy in the school and also they don’t want to school as well. Thus the counselor is facing many issues to encourage them efficiently and also facing many issues to encourage them towards the school easily. School counselor needs to create a user-friendly environment to help transgender students feel happy and safe in schools (Cholewa et al. 2017). They also need to treat transgender students with special care, dignity, and respect and also need to communicate with these students effectively by motivating them to attend schools more frequently.
Suicide: Suicide is one of the most common issues that school counselors are currently facing. Most of the high school students are committing suicides because of personal reasons, including examination failures and other reasons. According to Gonzalez, (2017), suicide prevention and suicide intervention is not an easy task and therefore, school counselors face many issues during their counseling process. When students commit suicide, the same can de-motivate other students as well and this can be identified as one of the major social issues that school counselors are recently facing. School counselors are always trying to identify personal issues that students face in their real lives and stay aware of students who might exhibit any behaviors indicating self-harm. Focusing more on students also help counselors respond to their personal issues easily. Counselors first identify sudden behavior changes in students, after which their parents are immediately informed. This can definitely help parents take care of their child easily and also help them identify issues that their child is facing as well. Connecting students and parents with community resources can provide support revolving self-harm and ideas, which can help school counselors resolve these issues successfully. Apart from this, they also need to communicate with students all the time, enabling them to identify student issues successfully (Mullen & Crowe, 2017). After identifying their issues, school counselors can provide an effective solution to students for resolving their problems successfully.
Cultural issues in school counseling
Along with social issues, there are cultural issues that can have a drastic impact on the school counseling process. Based on earlier discussions, it can be seen that there are students who come from different backgrounds and states, thus, creating a cultural mix an issue in schools. As such, it is important for school counselors to understand such issues in the school counseling process. With the help of proper understanding, counselors can develop essential strategies to mitigate cultural issues. The different kinds of cultural issues existing are given below:
Cultural differences: There are students who belong to different kinds of cultures, which have an effect on their education and thoughts as well. Basically, the way of thinking of people or students is mostly based on their culture. As per Kim et al. (2017), school counselors face difficulties in making students understand the effectiveness of the school environment and study culture. Therefore, some students don’t attend schools to study but come to school to distract other students in their education as well. In this situation, it is the role of school counselors to conduct proper counseling and mitigate the issue. Though there are counseling issues such as students and their families not wanting to listen to facts regarding education, however, school counselors need to think in a different way and still make them understand. In this case, they can develop a campaign in schools where they provide information regarding the positive effects of education (studying and learning), which can mitigate counseling issues in a positive way.
Equity-related issues: In the society, there are several kinds of differences among people as some people belong to low-income families and some belong to wealthy families. This creates negative effects on the minds and thoughts of students and their families. Thus, school equity issues may occur such as with students who do not want to study in the same classroom. On the other hand, students who belong to wealthy families may also insult and look down upon those belonging to middle and low-class families. According to Lemberger et al. (2018), the same can have negative effects on the minds of students, which can harm the education system. It can also be seen that students from lower class or low-income families may not return to schooling. In this case, school counselors need to address the issue as soon as possible. Thus, to mitigate the issue, counselors have to understand the main culture of families through proper communication with students. By communicating with students, counselors can shape their thoughts regarding the negative effects of this culture. They can also provide training to students regarding their equity. This way, the counseling process can be conducted properly.
Adjustment issues in a new environment: Students come from different kinds of culture and environment that have been already discussed in the earlier part. In this situation, students may face adjustment issues to a new culture as well as a new environment at the time of learning in schools. Therefore, students and teachers can face challenges in communicating or interacting with each other. The same may also create further issues for teachers to teach each and every student in a proper way (Cleveland & Hartline, 2017). It can also become difficult for students and teachers to get habituated with the classroom environment as well. Thus, school counselors involved in the process of counseling including teachers and students have to face similar kinds of challenges. In the school counseling process, school counselors can provide training to teachers and make them more habituated with the school environment. After getting adjusted to the school environment, teachers can effectively mitigate various issues of students through a proper teaching process. This can, in turn, have positive effects on teachers as well as students.
Problems with the self and new culture: In this case, it can be seen that trust issues with one’s self as well as the new culture can be the most serious problem in intercultural classrooms. Intercultural classrooms usually see several students that come from various cultures and backgrounds. On the other hand, there are schools where only one kind of cultural students come to study. As sighted by Brown & Ayala, (2017), cultural issues in the school counseling process can be seen in intercultural schools most of the time. With the help of another study or research, it can be found that emotional relationships and self-confidence between teachers as well as their students in the intercultural classroom can be built and improved by establishing trust between students and their teachers. This study has also suggested that teaching material or approaches of teachers need to be modified for recognizing the different cultures of students. Therefore, school counselors can develop study materials for teachers that can help them understand the culture of students. This can also help teachers gain the trust of students. This way, students can feel respected as well as safe with their teachers and classmates also.
Implications for school and educators
As sighted by Stevens, (2018), school counseling is one of the most important factors for the school and in the education process. Based on earlier discussions, it can be seen that there are several kinds of problems in a school that can have different kinds of effects in the overall education process. School counselors create positive influences towards the education process. School counseling is the process of helping students. Through such processes, students can develop their careers along with their teachers who bring various positive effects in the school counseling process. In this case, school counselors need to spend most of their time in schools with the students. Like this, they can be helpful in terms of understanding the issues in the school and the educators in the education process. After understanding the issues they can make proper plans regarding mitigating the issues. This is how the school and the educators can be helpful to handle the overall education process and helping the students. However, in the process of school counseling, the counselors can effectively adopt some curriculum, activities, as well as games to influence the students to be a part of the school. This is how the school environment can become more reliable and habituated for the students (Arrastia-Chisholm, Bright & Grimes, 2017). Along with this the educators or the teachers can easily interact with the students. Like this, the environment of the school can become more efficient and impactful and the relationship between the students and the teachers can be more effective. This can make the school and the overall education process more impactful. When the school counselors spend their time and give their involvement in school for a small time in terms of developing some indirect support then that can be identified as the system support. In this case, the counselors look after the activities as well as the tasks of the schools. If they find something wrong with the activity then they immediately take the decision of eliminating that particular activity. This is how the school and the students can be positive results. Basically, the school counselors must have focused on the prevention of the demands of their programs with developing the education systems.
Basically, the school counselors are the leaders and they have the main decisions regarding the overall education process. When the schools do not implement any kinds of school counseling programs in their system then it can be seen that their education must have some negative influences. There are several kinds of factors which influence the education process in a wrong way. According to Arrastia-Chisholm, Bright & Grimes, (2017), there are many school teachers who do not have much knowledge about the process of education. Like this, they do not teach the students in a positive way which negative effects on the school. Thus, the students do not get the right chance to learn effective things. Thus, in order to handle the situation the school counselors provide training to the teachers and make them professional. After getting proper training they can easily interact with the students and provide the right education. On the other hand, it can be stated that the schools have several different kinds of elements. With the help of those elements, the teachers can properly teach the students beyond their syllabus. Therefore, the students can develop their talents and can become an efficient person in their life. This can be possible for the schools with the help of the school counseling programs. Time by time as per the needs of the students the school counselors make proper plans to develop the skills of the students.
With the help of counseling, the differences among the students can be decreased. It has already discussed that in the schools there occur many cultural differences and which can provide effects on the minds of the students. As per Stevens, (2018), education has some values for each and every culture of the society or the people but it does not support the differences at all. In this situation sometimes the school counselors decide to discuss the value of the cultures in the schools. Students can develop their respects for every culture and all kinds of people. This is how the bond among the students can be developed in a positive way. However, in terms of each and every student and the teacher, it is very important to have a proper idea regarding socialization. To live in a society in a positive way and to develop the education system of the school socialization is important. Without proper socialization, it cannot be possible for the teachers and students to make the education process effective. Also, the students cannot make a proper relationship with their classmates and it can harm their study as well. In this case, the school counselors identify the influential agents of socialization in childhood can be identified as the family, schools, media as well as peers (Stevens, 2018). After identifying the influential agents the counselors can develop the socialization of the students through proper planning. The counselors discuss with the family members of the students along with the teachers to influence the students towards society. This can improve the mental health of the students and the education process can be developed more.
Thus, after analyzing the literature review it can be seen that the school counseling is the most essential part of the modern education system. There are various positive parts of the school counseling but the counselors face different issues regarding the school counseling process. Thus, they have to plan proper strategies to decrease the issues and develop the overall education structure. However, nowadays in modern schools school counseling programs have been implemented to get a positive result in the overall education process.
References
Abel, N. R., Auger, R., & Oliver, B. (2017). Spotlighting Stigma and Barriers: Examining Secondary Students’ Attitudes toward School Counseling.
Arrastia-Chisholm, M. C., Bright, S. B., & Grimes, L. E. (2017). College and Career Counseling in Rural Schools: A Review of the Literature. Georgia School Counselors Association Journal, 25, 60-69.
Bardhoshi, G., Duncan, K., & Erford, B. T. (2017). Effect of a Specialized Classroom Counseling Intervention On Increasing Self-Efficacy Among First-Grade Rural Students (Featured Research). Professional School Counseling, 21(1), 12-25.
Brown, C. H., & Ayala, C. (2017). Developing and Sustaining a Regional School Counselor Leadership Team. Professional School Counseling, 21(1), 2156759X18786444.
Brown, L. V., Dari, T., & Spencer, N. (2019). Addressing the Impact of Trauma in High Poverty Elementary Schools: An Ecological Model for School Counseling. In Creating Caring and Supportive Educational Environments for Meaningful Learning (pp. 135-153). IGI Global.
Carey, J. C., & Martin, I. (2017). Policy Research on School-Based Counseling in the United States: Establishing a Policy Research Agenda. In International Handbook for Policy Research on School-Based Counseling (pp. 399-415). Springer, Cham.
Carkhuff, R. (2017). Toward effective counseling and psychotherapy: Training and practice. Routledge.
Cholewa, B., Goodman-Scott, E., Thomas, A., & Cook, J. (2017). Teachers’ Perceptions and Experiences Consulting with School Counselors: A Qualitative Study (Featured Research). Professional School Counseling, 20(1), 77-88.
Cleveland, R. E., & Hartline, J. (2017). School Counselor Evaluation Instrument Pilot Project: A School Counselor Association, Department of Education, and University Collaboration. Journal of School Counseling, 15(12), 1.
Cleveland, R. E., & Sink, C. A. (2017). Student Happiness, School Climate, and School Improvement Plans: Implications for School Counseling Practice. Professional School Counseling, 21(1), 2156759X18761898.
Coogan, T. A. (2017). Supporting school counseling in Belize: Establishing a middle school career development program. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 8(3), 379-390.
Galassi, J. (2017). Strengths-based school counseling: Promoting student development and achievement. Routledge.
Gonzalez, M. (2017). Advocacy for and with LGBT students: An examination of high school counselor experiences. Professional School Counseling, 20(1a), 38-46.
Goodrich, K. M. (2017). Exploring school counselors’ motivations to work with LGBTQQI students in schools: AQ methodology study. Professional School Counseling, 20(1a), 1096-2409.
Griffith, C., & Greenspan, S. (2017). Conducting Intervention Research to Identify Efficacious and Effective Practices in School-Based Counseling. In International Handbook for Policy Research on School-Based Counseling (pp. 121-132). Springer, Cham.
Griffith, C., Mariani, M., Zyromski, B., McMahon, H. G., & Greenspan, S. B. (2017). Intervention research in school counseling: A 10-year content analysis of ACA-affiliated journals. Unpublished raw data.
Kim, J., Bryan, J., Choi, Y., & Kim, J. H. (2017). Understanding Asian American Student Achievement: Do Their Immigrant Parents’ Networks and Empowerment Contribute to Their Academic Performance?. Professional School Counseling, 21(1), 2156759X18788534.
Kim, J., Fletcher, K., & Bryan, J. (2017). Empowering marginalized parents: An emerging parent empowerment model for school counselors. Professional School Counseling, 21(1b), 2156759X18773585.
Kok, J. K., & Low, S. K. (2017). Proposing a collaborative approach for school counseling. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 5(4), 281-289.
Kull, R. M., Kosciw, J. G., & Greytak, E. A. (2017). Preparing school counselors to support LGBT youth: The roles of graduate education and professional development. Professional School Counseling, 20(1a), 13-20.
Land, C., Tuttle, M., & Moss, L. (2017). Counseling Older Children and Young Adolescents in School and Clinical Mental Health Settings. Counseling Children and Adolescents: Working in School and Clinical Mental Health Settings, 36.
Lee, C. C. (Ed.). (2018). Counseling for social justice. John Wiley & Sons.
Lemberger, M. E., Carbonneau, K. J., Selig, J. P., & Bowers, H. (2018). The Role of Social–Emotional Mediators on Middle School Students’ Academic Growth as Fostered by an Evidence‐Based Intervention. Journal of Counseling & Development, 96(1), 27-40.
Lopez, C. J., & Mason, E. C. (2017). School counselors as curricular leaders: A content analysis of ASCA lesson plans. Professional School Counseling, 21(1b), 2156759X18773277.
Mullen, P. R., & Crowe, A. (2017). Self‐Stigma of Mental Illness and Help Seeking Among School Counselors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 95(4), 401-411.
Shechtman, Z. (2017). Group counseling and psychotherapy with children and adolescents: Theory, research, and practice. Routledge.
Simons, J. D., Hutchison, B., & Bahr, M. W. (2017). School counselor advocacy for lesbian, gay, and bisexual students: Intentions and practice. Professional School Counseling, 20(1a), 29-37.
Singh, A. A., & Kosciw, J. G. (2017). Introduction to the Special Issue: School Counselors Transforming Schools for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Students. Professional School Counseling, 20(1a), 1096-2409.
Springer, S. I., Land, C. W., Moss, L. J., & Cinotti, D. (2018). Collecting School Counseling Group Work Data: Initiating Consensual Qualitative Research through Practitioner–Researcher Partnerships. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 43(2), 128-143.
Stevens, H. (2018). Implementing the School Counseling Core Curriculum. In School Counselors as Practitioners (pp. 61-82). Routledge.