A proposed organization and administration of pupil guidance in the public school

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Part of The Philippine Educator

Title: A proposed organization and administration of pupil guidance in the public school
Language: English
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Fulltext: A PROPOSED ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF PUPIL GUIDANCE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS EPIF ANIO MAD ALI Supe?·viso?· of Elementa1·y Education, Bu1·eau of Public Schools With the issuance of the Bureau of Public Schools Bulletin No. 17, • S. 1951 entitled Pupil Guidance in the Elementary School, guidance and counseling has become an important phase of the school program. Every school division will now have to provide guidance work in the elementary schools. This is a step in the right direction. School administrators here and abroad have fully realized the need for real guidance in the schools today. In his article "Halfway to Where?" published in the NEA Journal for February 1951, Herold C. Hunt, General Superintendent of the Public Schools, ·chicago, Illinois, in predicting the trend of education for the next half of the Twentieth Century, has these to say on the importance and future of guidance: "Counseling- and guidance will be a part of the education services to children of all ages, and the school psychologist and psychiatrist will be as concerned with the mental health of the child as today's doctor is concerned with the physical health of our boys and girls. Better counseling and guidance, especially on the high school and immediate post-highschool levels, will insure more meaningful highschool and community-college ·experiences and will result in improved vocational adjustments." In a study1 conducted by the writer, it was revealed that twenty-eight school divisions conducted during the school year 1949-1950 some sort of guidance in their elementary schools; that guidance was conducted by all teachers in four divisions, by many teachers ~n six divisions, by some teachers :n nine divisions, and by a few teachers in nine divisions; and that seven divisions and guidance committees assisting the teachers in guidance, twenty divisions had the principals or district supervisors as administrators of the guidance program, and eleven divisions. ~ad division supervisors superv1smg guidance work in their respective divisions. The study further revealed that only ten divisions had guidance programs; that majority of the teachers and supervisors had no training in guidance except some knowledge of it; that only eleven divisions had in-service education program in guidance· and that only fourteen divisions' that conducted guidance in their elementary schools used· and kept cumulative records of the children. This study found, amongother things, the need for a more systematic and comprehensive program of guidance in our schools today. Principles of Organization and Administration of Guidance The following general principles should be kept in mind in the or1 A thesis submitted to the Graduate School, National U niversity, Manila, in partial f ulfillment for the degree of Master of Arts in Education. THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR 47 ganization and administration of the guidance program :1 1. The guidance srevice should arise out of the interest, needs, and purposes of the children. 2. The guidance service should be continuous and serve all youth, not merely the maladjusted, in ways that will help to foster their best growth. 3. It should be concerned with the whole indivdual in his total development. 4. It should be organized to deal not only with serious problems after they arise, but also with causes of such problems in order to prevent them from arising or to prepare better for their solution. 5. It should provide for all phases of pupil problems and pupil study. 6. It should provide for specialists, and the services of these specialists should be so organized and administered that they not only contribute in these special fields directly to the guidance program but also constantly strengthen all other members of the school personnel and help them in their problems. 7. All guidance should be directed toward improved self-knowledge and self-direction. 8. A functional guidance program should be an integral part of 'che total school program and be vitally related to home, community, and other out-of-school experiences of pupils. 9. It should enlist the interest and effort of every member of the school staff. 10. It should be as simple as possible. 11. It should provide for leadership and for coordination of all agencies of school and community for guidance of youth. Simple Organization Best It is the best policy to keep the organization as simple as possible to have different parts grow out of the actual needs of the school or division. The proposed organization for the public schools meets this need. Complicated machinery often interferes with real function of guidance; it sometimes takes so much time and money to run the machinery itself that the actual g·uidance of the pupil is neglected. We should never lose sight of the iPUrpose of the organization- to help the individual. If we allow the machinery to be developed as the need arises, we shall avoid the danger of neglecting the purpose of guidance to a large extent. There are, however, some disadvantages in this plan. A school may begin in a small way to do guidance work-some teachers or the principal starts it. As the work develops, the need for guidance is more clearly seen and further agencies are needed. But the guidance has all been done by one person and to in roduce new egencies will necessitate taking away from the one who started the work part, at least, of what she is doing. Sometimes it involves taking away all of the work from her-and giving it to someone who is better qualified than she. This always creates an unfortunate stituation; it seems ungrateful to penalize the very one who has started such enterprise. Wise and tactful management on the part of the principal or superintendent is all that can overcome such difficulties. 1 Jones, Arthur J. Principle• of Guidance, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1945. pp. 465-466. 48 THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR Type of Organization Sugg·e ted for the Public School The charts of organization below are suggested for each province or division if guidance services are to be made available in the elementary schools. A. Line and Staff Organization Superintendent Supervising Counselor 1---·l I I I r I r r __ P_ r_ incipa!___j --i I i I ' I ' Guidance Committee I ' : ssroom Teacher ----. ..... ----- --------1 Counseling Teacher • Cia l '· I I I Pupils Lines of adminstration Lines of consultation and guidance The type of organization herPin proposed is designed to meet the present administrative setup and the financial capacity of the government and people to support the program. According to the chart above, the d i v i s i o n superintendent of schools is the chief administrator of the guidance program in the division, and that the elementaryschool principals or the head teachers are the key persons in the guidance program for their respective schools. The classroom THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR B. Instructional Organization ["" · L _P _u _ P_I_L _ s ____ ---l J ·- I J I I I { j I J I i ---1 Classroom Teacher l--i I - J J I , J l I I I I ) J ! ---1 Counseling Teacher l--i J L-----------------• • ------- I J I 1 : ) I ) I I I ' I l I I Supervising Counselor I Guidance Committee i J I ) I J I ) ! J - I ) I ) : I J L L. ___ P _r_ in _c _i_ p_ a_ l ___ __!l J Superintendent Lines indicating instructional significane Lines of (;onsultation and guidance 49 teacher1 who is in daily contact with her pupils is charged with carrying out the greater part of the guidance activities. She is assisted by the elementary-school principal2, the counseling teacher, and the division supervising counselor. I Madali. Epifanio. "Guidance and the Elementary Classroom Teacher"', The Philippine Ed1tcator, August, 1950, pp. 27-31. 2 Madali, Epifanio. "The Role of the Elementary-School Principal in Guidance", The Filipino Teacher, April, 1951, pp. 21-24. 50 THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR A counseling teacher should be made available for every five to ten teachers. These positions may be provided for from extension positions created every year, from the savings of positions due to the merging of classes for lack of pupils, or from funds provided by the parent-teacher association. Properly appraised of the value and importance of pupil guidance in the life of each child enrolled in the school, the parent-teacher association may willingly pay the salaries of one or two counseling teachers ;in a community. The guidance counselor fot the division may be the academic sup ervisor, in which case no additional fund is necessary. Only those who are willing to undertake the additional work of supervising the guidance program and take courses in guidance may be assigned. When funds become available in the future, a guidance specialist may be secured for the Bureau of Public Schools. In the meantime it may be possible, through the technical assistance program of the ECA and UNESCO, to secure again the services of a guidance special~st (we had one during 1949-1950 in the person of Dr. Roy G. Bose) from the United States. From the instructional point of view, the pupils come first on the chart. This is to emphasize the importance of the child in the guidance program. All efforts of the teachers, counseling teachers, the r>rincipals, and the supervising counselors are directed toward the proper development and growth of the child in school. In other words, the entire staff for guidance must be built with the purpose of giving to each pupil every possible advantage and assistance in finding himself, in making such decisions affecting his life career as the school system forces upon him from time to time, and in making a right start during the formative years of his life. Next in importance is the classroom teacher who is assisted by the counseling teacher; then the principal, the supervising counselor of the division, and finally the division superintendent of schools, whose important duty is to give life and inspiration to the guidance program. What the Administrator Can Do to Insure the Success of the Guidance Program The division superintendent of schools in cooperation with his staff, through workshops and study conferences, should develop a guidance philosophy through the following viewpoints: 1. Teachers, counselors, administrators and others responsible for guidance will look upon all guidance activities as means of adjusting the school's program to the needs of individual pupils. 2. Guidance should be extended to all pupils in the school---.!.Jnot limited to the obviously maladjusted. 3. Guidance should endeavor to make a pupil increasingly able to direct his own activities wisely. 4. Guidance workers need special training. 5. Guidance must involve the use of carefully collected data. 6. Guidance is a continuous process for all pupils at · all levels. The administrators should consider the following problems in developing a guidance program: THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR 51 1. The program must be appropriate for the school and the community; it must also consider the number of pupils and teachers, financial resources, vocational and educational opportunities after graduation. 2. Size of guidance staff. Place of classroom teacher in counseling, etc. 4. Use of testing program, cumulative records. interview, observation, anecdotal records, case studies, etc. 5. Techniques in interpreting guidance to the community. The administrator must also provide adequate physical facilities for guidance such as office space, record files, and clerical help. Guidance in the Elementary School Guidance in t h e elementary ~chool is concerned with helping the child to make choices appropriate to his age and school program and to adjust himself to the school and his expanding life out of school. The transition from home life to school life frequently causes maladjustments, undesirable, attitudes toward school and life, and emotional disturbance that profoundly affect the entire future of the individual. Many of these, if recognized early and if effective guidance is given are prevented, and the later adjustment of the child to the school and life in general is made much more easily. Serious problems also arise because of health conditions and physical defects that impair the ability of the child to learn. Failure to be promoted or failure to achieve what is expected of him becomes much more important in the school than it was in the home and becomes more important as he progresses from grade to grade. As children grow older and as they develop physically and mentally, differences in physical and mental equipment becomes more apparent and important. These differences, if not cared for. often result in undesirable habits and attitudes both in the gifted and in those of low mental ability. All these conditions make guidance in the elementary school especially important. The logical place for beginning organized guidance is the point at which the child enters school. For many children it will be the only opportunity to secure the help that is needed for the proper adjustment to life, because many still leave school at the end of the sixth grade. Only an everage of 18.17 percent of the children who entered Grade I during the period from 1925 to 1929 reached Grade Vl.l The curricular organization of the elementary school may be a very important factor in the total guidance program. Not only can it help in the gradual development of life goals in general, but it can be of real assistance in the final selection of an occupation. This assistance is given chiefly by laying a background for understanding occupational life and its significance and by developing desirable attitudes toward all- type of occupational activities. Definite occupational information of a kind that is us-eful chiefly in choosing an occupation or getting a job is entirely incidental and unimportant except for those, relatively few in number, who will almost 1 B.P.S. Bulletin No. 3, s. 1946-Number and Percentage of Pupils Surviving at Each Grade Level. 52 THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR surely drop out of school at the end of the sixth grade. We should not think of this instruction as something t hat is to be added to our elementary program merely for the purpose of assisting in vocational guidance. The general point of view that will be taken in connection with practically all the instructional wqrk described here is that all work introduced into the school, elementary or secondary, must be worth-while in itself for other purposes than merely that of guidance. Our effort should be directed toward utilizing for guidance purposes the materials and activities that are organized for the aims of general education. Thus, in the elementary school, the chief problem is to utilize the 1 Jones, Arthur J., op. cit., pp. 287-289. various occupational elements now present in the curriculum or which should be introduced and which, when introduced, will make the elementary-school curriculum richer and more efficient for general education purposes.1 It is all too common to think of guidance as beginning with the high school. This is largely the result of limiting the concept of guidance to vocational guidance. Guidance is needed in all parts of the schooL but in some respects it is most necessary in the elementary school. The transition from home life to actual life frequently causes maladjustments, undesirable attitudes, and emotional disturbances. --oOo-'. Latest in: SPORTS EQUIP1l1ENTS Manufactured by THE EDUCATIONAL DISTRIBUTORS 1818 Pedro Guevara Manila