Guidance and Counseling

The purpose of the guidance curriculum is to help all students develop basic life skills. The counselor provides well-planned lessons for small or classroom-sized groups of students. The foundation of the guidance curriculum is designed to help students acquire age-appropriate knowledge and skills within the following areas:

Self Esteem Development
        Have accurate self-concepts
        Value their uniqueness
        Manage their feelings
   
Motivation to Achieve
        Develop their academic potential
        Take advantage of educational
           opportunities
        Choose careers that will allow them to
           fulfill their potential
        Develop leadership skills

Decision-Making, Goal-Setting, Planning and Problem Solving Skills
        Make decisions
        Develop plans of action
        Set goals
        Gather information
        Solve Problems
        Manage change
        Manage transition from one school level to the next
   
Interpersonal Effectiveness
        Respect others
        Relate well with others
        Maintain their personal integrity while participating effectively in groups
        Develop healthy friendships
        Function effectively as group members

Communication Skills
        Understand basic communication skills
        Express themselves
        Listen to others

Cross-Cultural Effectiveness
        Appreciate their culture
        Respect others as individuals and accept them for their cultural membership
        Relate effectively with others based on appreciation for differences/similarities in cultural
                membership
        Realize how stereotyping affects them and their relationships with others

Responsible Behavior
        Behave responsibly
        Take responsibility for own behaviors
        Be self-disciplined

The purpose of responsive services is to intervene on behalf of those students whose immediate concerns or problems put their development at risk i.e. academic problems, personal issues such as abuse/neglect, severe stress, substance abuse, behavior, peer relationships, etc. Request for assistance may be initiated by the student, teacher, administrator or parent. The counselor may be a resource person or may provide direct services to teachers, parents or students.

Some responses are preventative: interventions with students who are on the brink of choosing an unhealthy or inappropriate solution to their problems or being unable to cope with a situation. Some responses are remedial: interventions with students who have already made unwise choices or have not coped well with problem situations.

The school counselor counsels individuals or small groups of students, appraise individuals for the purpose of problem identification, consults with teacher and parents, refer students and/or their parents and teachers to other specialists or special programs. The counselor monitors student progress towards resolution of their problem. The counselor also may train and supervise peer facilitators/mediators and often conducts guidance sessions or class presentations in response to teachers’ requests to address particular problems.

The purpose of individual planning is to guide the students as they plan, monitor and manage their own educational and personal-social development. Counselor may be a resource person to the teacher in the areas of test interpretation, student goal setting and assessment of student progress. They may also assist teacher in the referral procedures of students who are having extreme academic difficulties.

The purpose of the system support is to provide management activities that establish, maintain and enhance the total guidance and counseling program. Whereas the three components previously described serve students directly, the system support component provides services and management activities which indirectly benefit students. The principle areas of system support are program development and management, consultation with teachers, communication with parents and professional development of the counselor. The overall support of the administration plays a key role in maintaining and enriching the local school guidance program.

Though a developmental guidance and counseling program includes all four of the above components, emphasis of each component varies according to the students being served. General guidelines are as follows:

• The developmental guidance components shift as students mature and accept more responsibility for their own growth and development.

• The guidance curriculum is a larger program component at the elementary level than at the secondary level.

• The individual planning system is larger at the secondary level than at the elementary level.

• The needs for responsive services and system support stay fairly constant; thus these two program components maintain a similar share of the program throughout.

• The system support component representing indirect services to students is consistently smallest of the four components.

Curriculum/programs influencing Guidance Program, e.g.  adopted Archdiocese of San Antonio Guidance Curriculum Guide, Love & Logic, Random Acts of Kindness-Kindness in the Classroom Lesson Plan Supplemental materials or activities the school offers/plans to offer, e.g. Parent University, Career Day, Red Ribbon Week.