GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
I
Importance of Guidance to Pupils The provision of diversified courses of instruction imposes on teachers and school administrators the additional responsibility of giving proper guidance to pupils in their choice of courses and careers. The secret of good education consists in enabling the student to realise what are his talents and aptitudes and in what manner and to what extent he can best develop them so as to achieve proper social adjustment and seek right types of employment. The subject of guidance has gained great importance in many countries in recent years particularly in America. In many schools well planned efforts are made to provide assistance to individual boys and girls in deciding upon their future careers and education, and other personal problems. In our country. unfortunately not even a beginning has been made in this direction, except in a few States.
Educational and vocational guidance is not to be regarded as a mechanical process whereby the advisers and teachers sort out boys and girls as a grading machine sorts out apples ! It is not a question of just deciding that one boy should stay on the farm, another work in an aeroplane factory, a third become a teacher and a fourth take to the management of a garage. Guidance involves the difficult art of helping boys and girls to plan their own future wisely in the full light of all the factors that can be mastered about themselves and about the world in which they are to live and work. Naturally therefore, it is not the work of a few specialists but rather a service in which the entire school staff must cooperate under the guidance of some person with special knowledge and skill in this particular field. Guidance in this sense is not confined to the vocational field only. It covers the whole gamut of youth problems and should be provided in an appropriate form at all stages of education through the co-operative endeavour of understanding parents, teachers, headmasters, principals and guidance officers.
Qualifications of a Guidance Officer A good Guidance Officer possesses many good qualities. He must have an understanding of young people and their problems, based on scientific knowledge but inspired with sympathy and the ability to look at life through the eyes of boys and girls. He should have special training in good counselling methods, mental hygiene and in the discriminating use of tests and school records. In the field of vocational guidance he should have an accurate knowledge of occupational opportunities and requirements. He must have ample time for conferences with pupils, parents and employers, and he must be fully familiar with the purpose and programme of the school and have the capacity to work in close co-operation with the teachers.
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Role of the Teachers In all schools a good deal of guidance work will have to be done by the teachers in the class through informal contacts with their students. They can play a very important role in this respect. The Guidance Officer will gather much useful information from them helping him to understand students and their needs and problems. Likewise, he will furnish them with information which would enable them to fit class work more carefully to students' aptitudes and needs.
Principles to be Observed in Guidance There are certain important points to be borne in mind in connection with education and vocational guidance. Personal differences which are of a permanent psychological feature at this stage must be recognised, understood and given due attention. Accurate, comprehensive and continuous information about occupations and about institutions of higher study should be made available to the pupils, as without his information they cannot intelligently determine their future line of action. Vocational and educational guidance should be made available to the individual pupils at different stages because of the possible changes in his economic status, his aptitudes and interests as well as the changes that are likely to occur in the nature of the occupation. Care should be taken to see that students do not decide upon a vocation too early or too huriedly, but only after a careful study of the openings available and in the light of experience gained through trials. There should, therefore, be provision for a reconsideration of their plans at the different stages of education.
Career Masters In some States we found that investigations in Guidance have been started and experimental laboratories established, both for purposes of research and to train guidance officers. In States where a beginning has been made there are Career Masters attached to schools who have received a certain amount of training to enable them to discharge their duties as vocational counsellors. We are aware that in some universities the Students' Information Bureau are trying to collect necessary information for the use of their students. There are also in most States Employment Exchanges which may give information to those seeking employment. This is, however, a different thing from what is needed at the schools stage. In most of the States there has been no serious attempt so far to make a scientific study of the available careers or to bring home to the pupils the possibilities open to them at the different stages of their education. It is not a question here of finding employment, but of seeking the knowledge necessary to equip students adequately for suitable types of work. It is at this stage that vocational guidance is required and Career Masters can be of help in placing these pupils in their proper position or in giving advice to pupils in the choice of vocation suited to their training and aptitudes.
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Place of Visual Aids The development of new types of visual aids provides unlimited possibilities for the pupils to obtain knowledge of the different occupations open to them at different stages of their educational ladder Thus to broaden the pupils' understanding of the scope, nature and significance of the occupations or industries, films should be available which not only depict the actual nature and conditions of work in a particular industry but also supplement this with information concerning the daily routine of the worker on the job. Vocational guidance films are available in different countries to bring home to the young student the different types of employment that are available as well as what is expected of the employee who chooses a particular vocation. We believe that in this country there is urgent need to prepare such educational films showing the conditions of industrial, agricultural, technical and other vocations which will give the students information as well as guidance in the choice of their vocation.
It is not to be expected that every student will necessarily accept what the teacher or the headmaster or the counsellor may advise him to do. In some cases the parents' influence may out-weigh his opinion or the student may have a higher opinion of his own talents than the more sober and objective view taken by the guidance officer. We feel, however, that if the system is tried with tact and sympathy and the co-operation of all persons concerned, it will develop, in course of time, into a valuable method of avoiding the present waste of talent, and it will fit the trained aptitudes of students into types of work which they can do efficiently and through which they can achieve at least a certain measure of self-fulfilment
Role of Government Agencies In all progressive countries, Government aims at a wide dissemination of facts concerning various occupations and constantly seeks to establish suitable agencies and techniques which will enable every individual to find employment suited to his inclination, ability, and skill. There should be in every region in India a centre for the training of Guidance Officers and Career Masters and their services should be made available, in an increasing measure, to all educational institutions so that guidance may be given to students at different levels of education, particularly at the Secondary stage at which decisions about employment have to be taken by a large majority of students.
Career Conference Among the agencies for imparting information about occupations is the "Career Conference" of teachers, parents, students, employers and successful persons from different vocations. Such a conference can stimulate interest, give fuller knowledge of vocational requirements and encourage students to avail themselves of the service provided by the vocational and educational guidance staff. At this conference successful men and women from various walks of life can be invited to discuss
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the requirements and opportunities in their special fields of work. The pupils too, should participate in it so that their interest may be stimulated and their curiosity fully satisfied. Often they do not know the further facilities available in Technical Higher education or the conditions of admission and the nature and duration of these courses, or the level of efficiency that they must attain if they are to pursue them success-fully. It would be the business of the Guidance Officers to provide necessary information and advise about all of these matters.
The Centre's Responsibility We have referred briefly to the need for guidance, the place of Career Masters in schools, and the responsibility of the headmasters and teachers in regard to the future of their pupils. If this scheme is to be implemented satisfactorily, we are of the opinion that the Centre should take the responsibility of opening in different regions, institutions for the training of Guidance Officers and Career Masters to which each State should depute its nominees. It would be neither possible nor economical for each State to set up its own training centres. It may be possible to attach some of these centres to teacher training institutions so that, besides providing necessary training for Guidance Officers and Career Masters, they may also train the teachers in the general principles of educational and vocational guidance. This will help them to understand better the methods of observation to ascertain the aptitudes of the pupils under their care, and thus enable them to co-operate with the Career Masters more intelligently in the common problem of adapting instruction to the pupils and preparing the pupils more successfully for their future vocations.
In addition to the training institutions for Guidance Officers that we have envisaged we recommend that a Central Research Organization may be established for carrying out research in educational and vocational guidance and for the preparation of tests with particular reference to Indian conditions and the needs of the pupils concerned and the opportunities available to them from time to time.
In order to fulfil all the purposes we have in view we also recommend that in every State there should be a Bureau of Vocational and Educational Guidance whose duty would be to plan and coordinate the activities recommended above.
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Educational guidance should receive much greater attention on the part of the educational authorities.
2. In order to broaden the pupil's understanding of the scope, nature and significance of various occupations of industries, films should be prepared to show the nature of the work in various industries and this should be supplemented by actual visits.
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3. The services of trained Guidance Officers and Career Masters should be made available gradually and in an increasing measure to all educational institutions.
4. The Centre should take up the responsibility of opening in different regions centres, of training for Guidance Officers and Career Masters to which each State may send a number of teachers or other suitable persons for training.