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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Counseling;

Abstract

This study was devoted to an examination of the subjective perceptions held by counselors within the state of Iowa relative to the value of their counselor education for meeting the demands of their work. Factors investigated included: (1) the professional preparation of the Iowa school counselor; (2) the possibility of identifying a professional core of education for school counselors; (3) the appropriateness of preparatory courses for the performance of the job as perceived by the counselor; and (4) the counselor's perceptions of the relative importance of various specialized roles and functions.

The Iowa Educational Directory was used to identify and select those performing a guidance role in the schools. Five hundred individuals, representing 79 per cent, responded to a questionnaire.

Some pertinent findings were: l. The typical counselor in Iowa was a married man less than 40 years old. He had obtained an undergraduate degree in either Social Science or Physical Education before 1960. This degree had been awarded from an institution in Iowa. He had completed his counselor education program since 1960 in an Iowa institution or in an institution in a state surrounding Iowa. He had eight and one-half years' teaching experience, four and one-half years' counseling experience and was working as a counselor with permanent approval from the Iowa State Department of Public Instruction.

2. Courses taken by 90 per cent or more of the Iowa school counselors were: 1. Introduction.to Guidance and Counseling 2. Techniques of Counseling 3. Educational and Occupational Information 4. Group Evaluation Techniques

Courses taken by less than 20 per cent of the total sample were: 1. Parent Education and Counseling 2. Community Welfare Organizations 3. Anthropology 4. Elementary School Guidance

3. The Iowa school counselor perceived the following preparatory courses as most appropriate for the performance of his job: 1. Techniques of Counseling 2. Supervised Counseling Practicum 3. Advanced Counseling Theory and Practice 4. Supervised Guidance Practicum 5. Analysis of the Individual 6. Group Procedures in Guidance and Counseling The courses perceived as least appropriate were: l. Anthropology 2. Community Welfare Organizations 3. Philosophy of Education 4. Criminology and Delinquency

4. According to the perceptions of the Iowa school counselors, the following school roles were considered most important: 1. Counseling individually with students regarding academic and educational problems. 2. Counseling individually students with personal and social problems. 3. Interpreting appraisal and test data to students. 4. Assisting the student with planning of the four year high school educational program. 5. Working with teacher referrals. The roles perceived as least important were: 3 1. Gathering personality ratings on individuals. 2. Supervising the maintenance of the school's cumulative records. 3. Developing occupational planning units for a separate course or for integration into other courses. 4. Counseling students with severe discipline problems. 5. Providing leadership for school in-service training programs in guidance.

Year of Submission

1967

Degree Name

Specialist in Education

Department

Department of Educational Psychology, Foundations, and Leadership Studies

Department

Department of Education and Psychology

First Advisor

Robert L. Frank

Comments

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Date Original

1967

Object Description

1 PDF file (259 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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