This document discusses current issues and trends in guidance and counseling in the Philippines. It outlines several challenges, including a shortage of guidance counselors compared to the recommended student-counselor ratio. Counselor education programs need reforms to better prepare counselors for emerging roles in areas like online counseling, disaster response, and helping students transition under the K-12 educational reform. The Philippines also recently passed a mental health act to strengthen protections for individuals seeking mental health services. Overall, the document analyzes how counselor education must adapt to changing needs and contexts in the Philippines.

1. Current Issues/Challenges
and Trends in
Guidance and Counseling

2. Guidance and counseling services and
programs promote the personal/social,
educational, and career development
of students (UNESCO, n.d.).

3. 3
A guidance counselor is a natural person who has been
registered and issued a valid Certificate of Registration
and a valid Professional Identification Card by the
Professional Regulatory Board of Guidance and
Counseling and the Professional Regulatory Commission
(PRC) in accordance with this Act and by virtue of
specialized training performs for a fee, salary or other
forms of compensation, the functions of guidance and
counseling under Section 3 (a) of this Act.
TITLE

4. 4
PROFESSION
EMERGING CONCERNS AND CHALLENGES
OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING IN THE
PHIL.
PROFESSION
K to 12 Education Reform and School
Counseling
Great Demands for Counselors and Counseling
Paraprofessionals
Counseling Beyond School
SERVICE
Responding to the Need for Mental Health
Services in Disaster Situation
Employment and Employability in the Ever-
Changing Job Market
Clients’ Varied Issues

5. K TO 12 EDUCATION REFORM AND SCHOOL COUNSELING
- The government is currently implementing the K to 12 educational reform to replace the existing
10 year basic education program in the country. Under the K to 12 program, the public school system
will have one year in kindergarten, six years in elementary, four years in junior high school, and
two more senior high school (Luistro, 2011)
- The role of the counselors is critical in facilitating the successful transition of students from school to
work – one of the key goals of the reform.
- Counselor educators need to rethink the approach used and the content covered in the courses
directly relevant to school counseling.
-Theories and techniques used in counseling should be contextualized in counseling children and
adolescents.
- School teaching counseling courses should facilitate a more thorough and critical discussion how
counselor education programs can respond to the challenges of the K to 12 curriculum.

6. GREAT DEMAND FOR COUNSELORS AND COUNSELING
PARAPROFESSIONALS
As of May 2020, the Department of Education (DepEd) only has 1,096 active
counselors.
Education Undersecretary Jesus Mateo told Rappler on Thursday, September 3,
that there are a total of 5,398 "authorized" positions for the profession, but only
20% have been filled due to the low salary.
"The problem is limited supply given the low salary grade (SG) of 11," Mateo said.
SG 11 is equivalent to P22,316.
With 20 million public school students, it is next to impossible to meet the
recommended ratio of one guidance counselor for every 500 students, as
mandated by the agency.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/shortage-guidance-counselors-how-students-cope-pandemic

7. GREAT DEMAND FOR COUNSELORS AND COUNSELING
PARAPROFESSIONALS IN PANDEMIC TIMES
-Acknowledging the need for guidance counselors during the pandemic, Mateo
said that DepEd has partnered with different organizations to help them address
the need for psychosocial support among students and teachers.
-Mateo said that DepEd is also training teachers to provide counseling to students
-As mental health professionals, guidance counselors are trained to ensure the
development of students by offering both psychological and educational support
THROUGH ONLINE.
- But they may struggle to fulfill this role even more this year, especially for
students with no access to the internet or those who cannot enroll due to lack of
finances.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/shortage-guidance-counselors-how-students-cope-pandemic

8. COUNSELING BEYOND SCHOOL
-There is a need to create counselor education programs that respond to
the needs of underserved sectors as well.
-Rehabilitation, community, pastoral and family centers; public employment
services offices; and human resource development departments
-Counselor educators must continuously pursue advanced specialized
trainings to help prepare counselor-trainees to work across settings.
- Likewise, counselor education institutions can consider offering
advanced training for counseling specialties based on the strengths and
thrust of their counselor education programs.

9. RESPONDING TO THE NEED FOR MENTAL HEALTH
SERVICES IN DISASTER SITUATION
-Natural and human-induced disasters batter the Philippines regularly. The
country sits on both the typhoon and the Pacific seismic belts, making it
prone to typhoons, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, fires.
-On the other hand, in some areas in the country which are targets of terrorist
attacks and armed conflict, communities barely receive psychosocial support
to help them cope with displacement and trauma.
-There is a growing need for psychosocial interventions to help communities
prepare for, recover, and cope with disasters. As such, counselors need to be
prepared to actively and systematically contribute to community- and school-
based mental health interventions related to grief and trauma work related to
natural and human-induced disasters.

10. EMPLOYMENT AND EMPLOYABILITY IN THE EVER- CHANGING JOB
MARKET
-Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority say that of the 5.3% unemployment
rate in October 2018, 24.0 percent of these were college graduates, 16.0 percent
were college undergraduates, and 27.5 percent have completed junior high school.
-As recently as May, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said that only 10 out
of 1,000 Filipino applicants are getting hired because many lack the skills
needed for available jobs. https://www.rappler.com/business/edukasyon-ph-k12-labor-mismatch
"The worst statistic to my mind is that half of the students who do graduate
from college cannot find a job because the skills they picked up are not
relevant to the marketplace," Motte-Muñoz said. https://www.rappler.com/business/edukasyon-ph-k12-
labor-mismatch
-Career guidance help solve job-skill mismatch – TESDA 2014

11. A growing trend in the field of counseling in the focus on prevention instead
of remediation. The schools, community, and families are requesting
assistance in preventing students for being involved with many difficulties
such as:

12. CLIENTS’ VARIED ISSUES

13. MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING
a type of counseling where the therapist addresses the struggles of a
client whose race, gender, socioeconomic background, religion, or
any other part of their identity doesn't fit in with the majority.
Minorities have a history of dealing with racism and oppression,
and in this lens, a counselor that doesn't take that information
into account isn't able to effectively counsel. In the therapy
session, the sociocultural environment of the individual and
issues of power and privilege are given attention. This is a
strengths based approach; counselors focus on positive change in
both the process and the outcome.

14. “
“The greatest distance between
people is not space, the greatest
distance between people is
culture.”
Jamake Highwater
14

15. THE MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING PARADIGM
Counselor Client
Distinct Cultural Differences (e.g.)
* Race/Ethnicity/Culture
*Gender
* Ability Status
* Religion/Spirituality
* Age
*Language

16. CYBERCOUNSELING/WEB
COUNSELING/ONLINE COUNSELING
Occurs when clients and counselors are in separate or remote
locations and utilized electronic means to communicate over
the internet

17. 17
- An Act Establishing a National Mental Health Policy for the Purpose of
Enhancing the Delivery of Integrated Mental Health Services, Promoting
and Protecting the Rights of Persons Utilizing Psychosocial Health
Services, Appropriating Funds Therefor and Other Purposes.
- It mandates for the provision of psychiatric, psychosocial and
neurological services in all hospitals, and basic mental health services in
community settings. Compulsory treatment is limited to hospital settings,
and the Act does not provide for compulsory community treatment.
The Philippine Mental Health Act (Republic Act no. 11036)

18. 18
Under its provisions, the Philippine Mental Health Act protects the rights
of patients as follows: ‘a right to freedom from discrimination, right to
protection from torture, cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment; right
to aftercare and rehabilitation; right to be adequately informed about
psychosocial and clinical assessments; right to participate in the
treatment plan to be implemented; right to evidence-based or informed
consent; right to confidentiality; and right to counsel, among others’.
The Philippine Mental Health Act (Republic Act no. 11036)

19. The Act also incorporates rights for ‘concerned
individuals’, incorporating patient relatives and mental
health professionals. In this context, a mental health
professional refers to a medical doctor, psychologist,
nurse, social worker or any other appropriately-trained and
qualified person with specific skills relevant to the provision
of mental health services (section 4 of the Act).

20. School Counselor: What Does the
Future Hold?
A school counselor occupies an important role during the global pandemic. That
role is to listen to students, help students transform their goals into actions and
support students’ mental health during challenging times.
School counselors are on the frontline of supporting our nation’s young people as
they move through their educational journey in times of new normal.
Counselors need further training s in handling the after effects of the pandemic as
they guide students/parents/guardians in facing the inevitabilities of the new normal.

21. THANK YOU!

22. REFERENCES
❧ https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2004/ra_9258_2004.html
❧ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342575860_Charting_Directions_for_Coun
selor_Education_in_the_Philippines
❧ https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1074716
❧ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6646847/
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