FACTORS AFFECTING THE INVOLVEMENT OF TEACHERS IN GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING AS A WHOLE-SCHOOL APPROACH

1. Title of Article Factors affecting the involvement of teacher in guidance and counselling as a whole-
school approach
Name of the journal British Journal of Guidance and Counselling
Issue 2
Volume 38
Page number 219-234
Year Publish May 2010
Overview
This is an article of Sarah K.Y Lam and Eadaoin K.P Hui 2010, which investigate Factors Affecting the
Involvement of Teacher in Guidance and Counselling as a Whole- School Approach.This article was published in
British Journal of Guidance and Counselling. Few studied has been conducted on teacher’ voice and concern on how
regular teacher perceive in student guidance. Hui (1994, 2002) and Watkins (2001) found that studies in guidance as a
whole-school approach confirm teachers’ involvement as a salient component. According to Singer (1990), without
training in legal and ethical awareness, psychological and sociological knowledge about human issue and counselling
skills, some teachers do not know what to do when students disclose intimate information to them.
There are many factors that contribute to teacher ambivalence towards their roles towards their roles in student
guidance and counselling. This research was one, to examining regular teacher’ understanding and involvement in
student guidance and to explore the reality facing regular teacher in sharing the work of guidance and counselling.
Description of Methodology
This study utilized qualitative approach. It was conducted by interviewing 12 secondary teachers in Hong Kong
that include seven female and five males .They were selected from three different schools with four of them from a
Band 1 school, four from Band 2 School and four from Band 3 School. Their age distribution is as follow: four aged
25-29; one aged 30-34;three aged 35-39 one aged 40-44 and three aged 45-49.
The semi structured interview was used with pre-designed question posed to all interviewees and probing
question for clarification and elaboration. The interview guide that included is (1) Building upon priors studies on
teachers involvement in whole-school guidance and regular teacher’ belief, (2) Regular teacher beliefs about their
roles and actual practices in education, guidance and counseling, (3) Interviewee’s experience and training in
guidance and counseling and (4) Interviewee’s perception of the organization of guidance and counseling and also
demographic questionnaire on their gender, age, teaching experiences, number of years teaching and training specific
to guidance and counseling. All interviews were conducted in Chinese and lasted about 40 minutes for each
interview. The interview was audio-taped and transcribed into text. Information gathered was coded into themes and
presented in an aggregate manner without disclosing interviewees’ personal identity or the school’ identity.

2. Evaluation
Based on this article, the author adequately establishes the significance of the research question stated in this
study. The author has succeeded in dismantling the issue and factors affecting the involvement of teacher in guidance
and counseling as a whole-school approach.
In my opinion this research is very useful for a teacher nowadays. This is an eye –opener for the teacher and
school administrator to understand the important of guidance and counseling as a whole-school approach. It is
because studies on school guidance and counseling usually involve those who are officially responsible for guidance
and counseling such as school counselor or guidance teacher but not regular teacher .So through the interview that
has been conducted , we can know what is the regular’ teacher perception, beliefs and ownership of responsibility
towards this whole-school approach. Other than that, this study also shows conflicting factors such as dichotomous
view about guidance and counseling approaches did not seem to affect the teacher. This is totally different with
previous research of same research question that indicated involvement in student’s social and emotional
development is outside their scope of practice (Hornby &Atkinson).
The data collected by interviewing selected participant and due to the qualitative design of this study the
information gathered and theme uncovered only reflected of twelve teacher’s experiences. This is the weakness and
disadvantages of using this method as for me the findings are not representative of the whole teacher population.
Other than that, 40-60 minutes of interview might have been confounded by cognitive corner such as their perception
and memory. In my opinion, in future, they can use quantitative approach instead of qualitative such as survey to
identify patterns of teacher across a larger teacher population. Despite of this limitation, overall for me this
researcher had done the study very well.
Discussion and implication
Guidance and counseling as a whole-school approach is a global trends. The increasing number of secondary
school students worldwide also increased the challenges and problems as indicated by occurrences of campus
violence, behavioral problems, bullying, drugs, truancy, sexuality and emotional issues such as low self-esteem,
attitude problems and disabilities such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Dyslexia. This also
includes living in distressed families, where parents are divorced or separated, where family conflict occurs. Arising
of the social and disciplinary problems among students worldwide caused governments across the globe to impose
guidance and counseling in school that hold schools and every school personnel to be responsible for the positive of
student as well as risky students. For example, The No Child Left Behind Act in the United State in 2002 fuels the
momentum for school to implement comprehensive developmental guidance and counseling programs back in 1960S
( Aluede ,Imonikhe and Afen-Akpaida ,2007).
This article brought my attention on the important of guidance and counseling as a whole-school approach
because I am a guidance teacher in my school. For me guidance and counseling is very important to foster student
development. As a guidance teacher, the whole –school approach is essential because the need of the entire student

3. population cannot be met by small group of people. For example, in my school where we had more than 1000
students and only two teacher assigned to guidance and counseling. Even with the adequate training, teachers have to
overcome obstacle such as time constraints and stressor from multiple sources. This is why the involvement of
regular teacher is very important. Regular teacher form the largest group of professional who interact with student on
a daily basis. Without their help, guidance and counseling service will be limited to a small group of student.
Even though some of them not really sure toward their roles in student guidance and counseling. I really hope
that this study’ finding will help them to understand the significance of system support for teachers in schools’
provision of comprehensive guidance and counseling.