School counseling history

The history of school counseling varies in how countries and schools provide academic, career, college access, and personal/social competencies to elementary, middle, and high school children and adolescents based on economic and social capital resources in a school counseling program 

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Canada

In Canada, most provinces ^[6] have adapted K-12 comprehensive school counseling programs similar to those initiated by ^[7] and adapted in the ASCA National Model^[8]. Various school counselors reported in 2004 at the Canadian Counseling Association (CCA) conference in Winnipeg on issues such as budget cuts, lack of clarity about school counselor roles, high student to school counselor ratios, especially in elementary schools, and how using a comprehensive school counseling model helped to clarify school counselor roles with teachers and administrators and strengthen the profession ^[9].

China

In China,^[10] discussed the main influences on school counseling as being Chinese philosophers Confucius and Lao-Tsu, who provided early models of child and adult development ^[11] that later influenced the work of Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers ^[12]. China also developed mental testing over 3,000 years ago, which was used for civil service examinations initially and eventually adopted by the British in the mid-1800s ^[13] and later in the USA. Currently only 15% of high school students are admitted to college in China, so the entrance exams are fiercely competitive and those who do enter university graduate at a rate of 99% ^[14].

Much pressure is put on children and adolescents to study and be able to attend college and this pressure is a central school counseling focus in China. An additional stressor is that there are not enough places for students to attend college, and over 1/3 of college graduates cannot find jobs ^[15], so career and employment counseling and development are central in school counseling. There is a strong stigma related to personal or emotional problems and even though most universities and many schools now have counselors, there is a strong reluctance of many students to seek counseling for issues such as anxiety and depression. There is no national system of certifying school counselors. Most are trained in Western-developed cognitive methods including REBT, Rogerian, Family Systems, Behavior Modification, and Object Relations ^[16] and also recommend Chinese methods such as qi-gong (deep breathing), acupuncture, and music therapy^[17].^[10] shared that Chinese school counselors always work within a traditional Chinese world view of a community and family-based system that lessens the primacy of focus on the individual. In Hong Kong, Hui (2000) discussed work on moving toward comprehensive whole-school counseling programs and away from a remediation-style model ^[18].

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Finland

In Finland, specific legislation has been passed in terms of the school counseling system. The Basic Education Act of 1998 states that every student must receive school counseling services. All Finnish school counselors must have a teaching certificate as well as master's degree in a specific subject and a specialized certificate in school counseling.

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Ireland

In Ireland, school counseling began in County Dublin in the 1960s and went countrywide in the 1970s. However, legislation in the early 1980s severely curtailed the movement due to budget constraints. The main organization for school counseling profession is the IGE or Institute of Guidance Counsellors, which has a code of ethics ^[19].

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Israel

In Israel, a 2005 study by Erhard & Harel of 600 elementary, middle, and high school counselors found that a third of school counselors were delivering primarily traditional individual counseling services, about a third were delivering preventive classroom counseling curriculum lessons, and a third were delivering both individual counseling services and school counseling curriculum lessons in a more balanced or comprehensive developmental school counseling program; school counselor roles varied due to three elements: the school counselor's personal preferences, school level, and the principal's expectations.^[20] Erhard & Harel stated that the profession in Israel, like many other countries, is transforming from various marginal and ancillary services to a comprehensive school counseling approach integral in the total school's education program.^[20].

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Japan

In Japan, school counseling is a very recent phenomenon with school counselors being introduced only in the mid-1990s and then often only part-time with a strong emphasis on assisting with behavioral issues ^[21].

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Korea

In Korea, school counselors must teach a subject besides counseling, and not all school counselors are appointed to counseling positions, even though Korean law has required school counselors in all middle and high schools ^[22].

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Malta

In Malta, school counseling services were begun in 1968 within the Department of Education based on recommendations from a UNESCO consultant and the titles: Education Officer, School Counsellor, and Guidance Teacher and through the 1990s they included school counselor positions in primary and trade schools in addition to secondary schools. Guidance teachers are mandated at a 1:300 teacher to student ratio.

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Nigeria

In Nigeria, school counseling began in 1959 and it exists in some high schools but not all and little at the elementary school level. Where there are federally funded secondary schools, there are some professionally trained school counselors but in many cases there are only teachers who function as career masters/mistresses. School counselors often have teaching and other responsibilities that take time away from their school counseling tasks. The Counseling Association of Nigeria (CASSON) was formed in 1976 to promote the profession, but there is not yet a code of ethics. However, a certification/licensure board has been formed. Aluede, Adomeh, & Afen-Akpaida (2004) discussed the overreliance on textbooks from the USA and the need for school counselors in Nigeria to take a whole-school approach and lessen the focus on individual approaches and honor the traditional African world view that values the family and community's roles in decision-making as a paramount for effective decision-making in schools.^[23].

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Philippines

In the Philippines, the Congress of the Philippines passed the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004, with a very specific focus Professional Practice, Ethics, National Certification, and the creation of a Regulatory Body, and specialists in school counseling are subject to this law ^[24].

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Taiwan

In Taiwan, school counseling traditionally was done by "guidance teachers." Recent advocacy on the part of the Chinese Guidance and Counseling Association pushed for licensure for school counselors in Taiwan's public schools. Prior to this time, the focus had been primarily on individual and group counseling with a focus on play therapy,^[25] career counseling and development ^[26], and stress related to national university examinations.

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United States

In the United States, the school counseling profession began with the vocational guidance movement at the beginning of the 20th century, now known as career development. Jesse B. Davis was the first to provide a systematic school guidance program. In 1907, he became the principal of a high school and encouraged the school English teachers to use compositions and lessons to relate career interests, develop character, and avoid behavioral problems. Many others during this time did the same. For example, in 1908, Frank Parsons, "Father of Vocational Guidance" established the Bureau of Vocational Guidance to assist young people in making the transition from school to work. From the 1920s to the 1930s, school counseling and guidance grew because of the rise of progressive education in schools. This movement emphasized personal, social, moral development. Many schools reacted to this movement as anti-educational, saying that schools should teach only the fundamentals of education. This, combined with the economic hardship of the Great Depression, led to a decline in school counseling and guidance. In the 1940s, psychologists and counselorsselected, recruited, and trained military personnel. This propelled the counseling movement in schools by providing ways to test students and meet their needs. Schools accepted these military tests openly. Also, Carl Rogers' emphasis on helping relationships during this time influenced the profession of school counseling. In the 1950s the government established the Guidance and Personnel Services Section in the Division of State and Local School Systems. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I. Out of concern that the Russians were winning the space race and that there were not enough scientists and mathematicians, the government passed the National Defense Education Act, spurring growth in vocational guidance through larger funding. In the 1960s, new legislation and professional developments refined the profession (Schmidt^[27], 2003).

The 1960s was also a time of great federal funding for land grant colleges and universities in establishing Counselor Education programs ^[28]. School counseling shifted from an exclusive focus on career development to add personal and social issues paralleling the rise of social justice and civil rights movements. In the early 1970s, Dr. Norm Gysbers began shifting the profession from school counselors as solitary professionals into having a comprehensive developmental school counseling program for all students K-12 ^[8]. He and his colleagues' research evidenced strong correlations between fully implemented school counseling programs and student academic success; a critical part of the evidence base for the profession based on their work in the state of Missouri ^[29].

But school counseling in the 1980s and early 1990s was absent from educational reform efforts ^[30]. The profession was facing irrelevance as the standards-based educational movement gained strength with little evidence of systemic effectiveness for school counselors. In response,^[31] consulted with elementary, middle, and high school counselors and created the ASCA National Standards for School Counseling with three core domains (Academic, Career, Personal/Social), nine standards, and specific competencies and indicators for K-12 students ^[8]. A year later, the first systemic meta-analysis of school counseling was published and gave a wake-up call to focus on outcome research in academic, career, and personal/social domains ^[32].

Also in the late 1990s, a former mathematics teacher, school counselor, and administrator, Pat Martin, was hired by The Education Trust ^[33] to focus the school counseling profession on closing the achievement gap that harmed children and adolescents of color, poor and working class children and adolescents, bilingual children and adolescents and children and adolescents with disabilities. Martin developed focus groups of K-12 students, parents, guardians, teachers, building leaders, and superintendents, and interviewed professors of School Counselor Education. She hired a school counselor educator from Oregon State University, Dr. Reese House, and they co-created what emerged in 2003 as the National Center for Transforming School Counseling (NCTSC) ^[34].

The NCTSC focused on both changing School Counselor Education at the graduate level and changing school counselor practice in local districts to teach school counselors how to prevent, intervene with, and close achievement and opportunity gaps. In the focus groups, they found what Hart & Jacobi ^[35] had indicated—-too many school counselors were gatekeepers for the status quo instead of advocates for the academic success of every child and adolescent. Too many school counselors used inequitable practices, supported inequitable school policies, and were unwilling to change. This professional behavior kept many students from non-dominant backgrounds (i.e., students of color, poor and working class students, students with disabilities, and bilingual students) from getting the rigorous coursework and academic, career, and college access skills needed to successfully graduate from high school and pursue post-secondary options including college. They funded six $500,000 grants for six different Counselor Education/School Counseling programs, with a special focus on rural and urban settings, to transform their school counseling programs to include a focus on teaching school counselor candidates advocacy, leadership, teaming and collaboration, equity assessment using data, and culturally competent program counseling and coordination in 1998 (Indiana State University, University of Georgia, University of West Georgia, University of California-Northridge, University of North Florida, and Lewis & Clark University) and then over 25 other Counselor Education/School Counseling programs joined as companion institutions in the following decade ^[33]. By 2008, NCTSC consultants had worked in over 100 school districts and major cities and rural areas to transform the work of school counselors.

In 2002, the American School Counselor Association released the ASCA National Model: A framework for school counseling programs, written by Dr. Trish Hatch and Dr. Judy Bowers, comprising key school counseling components into one model—the work of Drs. Norm Gysbers, Curly & Sharon Johnson, Robert Myrick, Carol Dahir & Cheri Campbell's ASCA National Standards, and the skill-based focus for closing gaps from the Education Trust's Pat Martin and Dr. Reese House into one document ^[8]. In 2003, the Center for School Counseling Outcome Research ^[36] was developed as a clearinghouse for evidence-based practice with regular research briefs disseminated and original research projects developed and implemented with founding director Dr. Jay Carey. One of the research fellows, Dr. Tim Poynton, developed the EZAnalyze ^[37] software program for all school counselors to use as free-ware to assist in using data-based interventions and decision-making.

In 2004, the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors was revised to focus on issues of equity, closing gaps, and ensuring all K-12 students received access to a school counseling program^[38]. Also in 2004, Pat Martin moved to the College Board and hired School Counselor Educator Dr. Vivian Lee. They developed an equity-focused entity on school counselors' role in college counseling, the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA) ^[39]. NOSCA has developed research scholarships for research on college counseling by K-12 school counselors and how it is taught in School Counselor Education programs. On January 1, 2006, the USA Congress declared the first week of February National School Counseling Week, which grew out of advocacy from ASCA members.

In 2008, The first NOSCA study was released by Dr. Jay Carey and colleagues focused on innovations in selected College Board "Inspiration Award" schools where school counselors collaborated inside and outside their schools for high college-going rates and strong college-going cultures in schools with large numbers of students of non-dominant backgrounds ^[40]. In 2008, ASCA releasedSchool Counseling Competencies focused on assisting school counseling programs to effectively implement the ASCA Model ^[38]. Also in 2008, in support of the ASCA Model and new vision^[41]school counseling, Dr. Rita Schellenberg introduced standards blending as a cross-walking approach to align school counseling with the academic achievement mission of schools as well as two data-based reporting systems, SCORE and SCOPE.^[42][43][44].

In 2009, NOSCA released a national study under the leadership of Dr. Vicki Brooks-McNamara addressing the school counselor/principal connection with specific recommendations for best practices in collaborative leadership in school counseling. In 2010, the Center for Excellence in School Counseling and Leadership (CESCAL) co-sponsored the first school counseling conference devoted to the needs of lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgendered students in San Diego, California,^[45].

The history of the school counseling profession internationally shifts as more parents, guardians, teachers, building and district leaders, and government officials support the changes in roles, expectations, and skills of current and future school counselor candidates and as the evidence base and equity-building skills of school counselors develop school counseling programs delivering academic, career, college access, and personal/social competencies for every child and adolescent. Both the IAEVG and the Vanguard of Counsellors have been active in promoting school counseling internationally.^[2].