Guidance and Counselling
The unit tests the guidance–counselling distinction, types and approaches, counselling steps, and the qualities of an effective counsellor.
Guidance versus counselling
Guidance is a broad, organised service helping individuals understand themselves and their environment so they can make sound decisions; it is largely preventive and informational. Counselling is a face-to-face, confidential relationship with a trained professional, deeper and more personal, remedial as well as developmental. Guidance is the umbrella; counselling is one of its techniques.
Types of guidance
Educational (subject choice, study skills, examinations), vocational (career choice, occupational information, placement, follow-up), personal/social (adjustment, emotional problems), health, and avocational. Guidance may be individual or group-based.
Approaches and steps
Directive or trait-factor (Williamson) - counsellor-centred and information-giving. Non-directive or client-centred (Rogers) - the client leads; core conditions are empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard. Eclectic (Thorne) - selects according to the case.
Steps: establishing rapport, exploring the problem, developing understanding, planning alternatives, acting, then termination and follow-up.
Techniques
Interview, case study, cumulative record card, anecdotal record, sociometry, psychological tests (aptitude, interest, personality), occupational information, placement and follow-up.
Worked example
A science student is strong in mathematics, unsure between engineering and B.Com, and anxious about family pressure. Reasoning: begin with rapport; administer an aptitude test and interest inventory; supply occupational information on both routes; discuss family expectations; reach a plan in which the student, not the counsellor, decides. This combines educational, vocational and personal guidance and is not advice-giving.
Traps that cost marks
Treating guidance as advice; breaching confidentiality; using directive technique when the question specifies Rogers; omitting follow-up as the final step.