1. A Field Visit Report on
School Counselling
Career Guidance
Sex Education
Submitted to:
Dr. Anish K. R.,
School of Social Work,
Marian College, Kuttikkanam.
Submitted by:
Anju Philip,
Vidhya T Mohan,
Bibin George,
Griffy Denny,
Bimal Antony.
1st MSW.
Date of Submission:
29th March 2011.

2. Field Visit Report 2
Introduction
School counselling, career guidance and sex education are three different fields, yet, are
related with each other for the fact that they all have become an essential part of schooling and the
services provided in schools.
School is a place where children from various families come together and form groups or
becomes part of various groups in the school. As the background of each student varies with each
other this may sometimes create various kind problems in the student. To prevent such problems
getting out of control or from destroying the normal expected behaviour pattern of the student,
counselling is provided in schools. Like that students need to be properly guided in the
development of their talents and choosing their career accordingly. For this career guidance is
necessary and thus it too has become an essential part of school. School is also a place where
students from various age groups are present. A lot of developmental changes will be taking place
to each and every student. To make student understand about the developmental changes that
happens to them and to make them aware about the problems that could happen, proper sex
education is necessary and thus, sex education also has become a part of school curriculum.
Objectives of the visits
o To visit places where school counselling, career guidance and sex education
services are provided.
o To interact with the people(s) who are providing these services in schools and other
places.
o To observe the settings for providing these services.
o To understand the methods and techniques those are used in these services.
o To identify the qualifications of the persons who provide these services.
o To understand the problems faced by the persons who provide these services.
o To understand the problems faced by the children at various ages.
o To understand the effectiveness of these services.
o To present a report on the understanding made on these services by the interaction
and observation.
Activities and observations
Ms. Anju Philip, Ms. Vidhya T Mohan, Mr. Bibin George, Ms. Griffy Denny and Mr.
Bimal Antony were assigned with the task of visiting places where school counselling, career
guidance and sex education services are provided, to understand and get a first hand information
on how these three fields are working and are incorporated into the settings of a school. They were
also assigned with the task or submitting a report based on the field visits done on those places
where these services are provided. The trainees conducted a group discussion and prepared a
questionnaire for conducting proper interview with the persons who provide these services.

3. Field Visit Report 3
On Saturday, the 26th of March 2011, Anju Philip, Vidhya T Mohan, Bibin George, Griffy
Denny and Bimal Antony visited St. Pious HSS, Kuttikkanam, Idukki Dist. and St. Antony’s
Public School and Junior College, Anakkal, Kottayam Dist. to collect information and conduct
study regarding School Counselling, Career Guidance and Sex Education.
The trainees visited St. Pious HSS to meet Mr. Siju Thomas MBA, ATP the career
guidance trainer for getting an understanding about career guidance, the methods that are used in it
and about the training programs provided with respect to career guidance.
Mr. Siju Thomas informed the trainees that the main part of career guidance programs in
school children consists of a) awareness creation, b) confidence building, c) decision making and
d) personality development.
The trainees then visited St. Antony’s Public School and Junior College, Anakkal to get an
understanding about career guidance, school counselling and sex education. The trainees met Sr.
Lissi FCC, the counsellor in the school. She is a qualified counsellor with eight years of experience
and has undergone special training in school counselling.
Sr. Lissi explained the details about the school, about the average number of students
seeking counselling in a week, the problems faced by the students, the remedial measures taken,
the follow-ups and about the reporting. She also explained about the physical settings needed for
child counselling and the referral services provided to the students. She also explained about how a
room should be for counselling.
The main problems, she explained, that has been found in students are, underachievement,
exam related depression, love failure, lack of proper guidance, career selection problems, fear of
teachers and home sickness.
Both volunteer counselees and involuntary counselees receive the benefit of the counselling
provided in the school. In voluntary counselling, the details about the counselling will be kept
confidential and interventions given, if any, will be based on the permission of the counselee.
Those who need psychiatric assistance will be referred to psychiatrics. Involuntary cases will be
initiated either by family or teachers. She informed the trainees that in involuntary counselling, the
co-operation from the part of the student will be less and the success rate is low compared to the
voluntary cases.
Reporting and documentation of each case is necessary for further process and is done for
the purpose of reference, evaluation, and improvement of the counselling. These are kept for the
purpose of legal obligations and for the understanding of the counsellor. These are kept
confidential.
The physical settings observed in the place by the trainees were not professional because
the room is congested with lot of almirah and there were lot of shelves. The shelves were full of

4. Field Visit Report 4
materials and there is no proper ventilation for the room. The shape of the room is also not
efficient for proper counselling. There is no washbasin or toilet facility.
She mentioned about how to interact with the students, how to build a rapport with the
students and the methods she uses for it.
Sex education is also provided in the school setting. For giving proper sex education,
school is giving separate classes for boys and girls. These classes are given according to the
developmental stages of the children. These classes are taken by social workers or priests or nuns.
Sex education in school is provided from the fifth standard onwards.
School Counselling
School counselors, referred to as “guidance counsellors” in the past, help every student
improve academic achievement, personal and social development, and career planning. School
counsellors in the 21st century are highly trained educators who uphold ethical and professional
standards to design, implement and manage comprehensive, developmental, results-based school
counselling programs that promote and enhance student success.
School counselling programs exhibit the following characteristics:
Foundational mission and goals. School counsellors design, implement, and maintain guidance
programs that align with the educational mission and philosophies of their schools and school
districts. These programs help every student develop competencies in academic achievement,
personal and social development, and career planning.
Delivery methods. School counsellors follow a comprehensive guidance curriculum to work with
students in individual, small group and classroom settings. School counsellor’s help students create
an academic plan for their education to prepare for successful careers after graduation and help
students develop the necessary skills, such as organizational, time management, and study skills.
They also help students overcome obstacles that may form barriers to learning by helping students
respond to issues such as divorce or death in their family, as well as developmental issues typical
in childhood and adolescence.
Program management. School counsellors collaborate with administrators and other educators to
ensure that the school counselling program helps fulfil the mission of the school by setting annual
goals and putting mechanisms in place to facilitate the successful and effective delivery of the
school counselling program.
Accountability. School counsellors hold their programs accountable for student achievement by
monitoring student progress to ensure that the school counselling program meets its desired goals
and objectives. School counsellors collect, analyze and present statistics about grades, test scores,
attendance and disciplinary records, and other information to make databased and data-driven
decisions about the school counselling program.

5. Field Visit Report 5
School counsellors impact on student achievement
Numerous research studies show that school counsellors, implementing a comprehensive
school counselling program, can serve a vital role in maximizing student achievement. A research
study of Florida students in 5th through 9th grades found that students in schools with a
comprehensive guidance program scored significantly better on state’s standardized test for
reading and math.
School counsellors provide solutions to help curb rates of school failure and dropout by
addressing broader contexts that include personal, social, emotional, and career development.
In working with at-risk youth, a 2004 study of middle school students in Baltimore County
showed that school counsellors helped increase academic achievement, raise career awareness, and
improve overall student self-efficacy.
The school counsellor is an integral system support for the school-family community
relationship that meet the personal/social, academic, and career needs of a large number of
students through collaboration, coordination, and consultation with school and community
stakeholders.
Scope of school counsellors
Education and training are the first contributing factors to creating a school counsellor's
scope of practice. Counsellor education programs prepare school counsellors in a number of core
areas including: professional identity; social and cultural diversity; human growth and
development; career development; helping relationships; group work; assessment; research and
program, evaluation; foundations of school counselling; and knowledge and skill requirements for
school counsellors. All these will help the counsellor to provide his service in varied fields of
expertise.
In India, school counselling is still in its childhood stages. A large number of educational
institutions, especially schools are present in our country without having a counsellor.
Challenges of school counsellor
School counsellors are faced with a difficult job and often times ones duties are dictated by
principals or other administrators with little or no school counselling experience or other factors
unrelated to a school counsellors' preparation and training.
The challenges can be classified into Organisational, Institutional and Political. The
organisational challenges are status quo of the profession, inefficiency and random acts of
guidance. The institutional challenges can be said as the lack of institutionalized norms, routines,
policies, procedures etc. and the lack of knowledge regarding the standards or model. No
legitimate voice in programs or policies and getting sidelined are also part of the institutional

6. Field Visit Report 6
challenges that are faced by the school counsellors. The political challenge consists of the
reduction in the number of persons wanted for the profession, undervaluing profession and the
assignment of non-school counselling responsibilities.
Career guidance
The definition below was adopted by the Institute of Career Guidance after it was used in
international reviews conducted by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development), the European Commission and the World Bank.
'Career guidance refers to services and activities intended to assist individuals of any age
and at any point throughout their lives, to make educational, training and occupational choices and
to manage their careers. Such services may be found in schools, universities and colleges, in
training institutions, in public employment services, in the workplace, in the voluntary or
community sector and in the private sector. The activities may take place on an individual or group
basis and may be face-face or at a distance (including help lines and web based services). They
include career information provision (in print, ICT-based and other forms), assessment and self-
assessment tools, counselling interviews, career education programmes (to help individuals
develop their self awareness, opportunity awareness, and career management skills), taster
programmes (to sample options before choosing them), work search programmes, and transition
services.'
Scope of career guidance
The scope for career guidance is not as that vast as that for a school counsellor. Yet, it has
got its own scope in the field. A large number of courses and a large number of various kinds of
jobs are available for starting and building ones career. Often students choose a course or
profession not by their own interests and skills but by the choice made by their parents or by
following the trends of their friends. This later leads to problems in their lives. Here comes the
need for career guidance and a career guru. Proper guidance must be provided from the school
level which will help in the focused development of the individual. It also helps individuals to take
wise choices based on their understanding about their knowledge and skills.
In India career guidance is an emerging field. A lot of persons and institutions are
providing career guidance facilities and programs.
Challenges for career guidance
Today with the development of the information technology people (students) are aware
about the opportunities that are available for them. Career guidance is not treated as a separate
field instead it is often carried out by the school counsellors. Updated knowledge on the merits and
demerits of each and every field/profession is necessary for providing proper career guidance.
Besides this the skill to assess the skills and qualities of the individual plays a vital role.

7. Field Visit Report 7
Sex Education
Sex education, which is sometimes called sexuality education or sex and relationships
education, is the process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex,
sexual identity, relationships and intimacy. It is also about developing young people's skills so that
they make informed choices about their behaviour, and feel confident and competent about acting
on these choices. It is widely accepted that young people have a right to sex education, partly
because it is a means by which they are helped to protect themselves against abuse, exploitation,
unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.
Morality of Sex Education
One approach to sex education is to view it as necessary to reduce risk behaviours such as
unprotected sex, and equip individuals to make informed decisions about their personal sexual
activity. Another viewpoint on sex education, historically inspired by sexologists like Wilhelm
Reich and psychologists like Sigmund Freud and James W. Prescott, holds that what is at stake in
sex education is control over the body and liberation from social control.
To another group in the sex education debate, the political question is whether the state or
the family should teach sexual mores. They believe that sexual mores should be left to the family,
and sex-education represents state interference. They claim that some sex education curricula
break down pre-existing notions of modesty and encourage acceptance of practices that those
advocating this viewpoint deem immoral, such as homosexuality and premarital sex. They cite web
sites such as that of the Coalition for Positive Sexuality as examples. Naturally, those that believe
that homosexuality and premarital sex are a normal part of the range of human sexuality disagree
with them.
Many religious conservatives believe that sexuality is a subject that should not be taught at
all. They believe that the longer a teenager is kept unaware of sexuality, the less likely they will
become involved in sexual behaviour. Conservative religions believe that sexual behaviour outside
of marriage is immoral. Other religious conservatives believe that sexual knowledge is
unavoidable, and so desire to teach curricula based on abstinence.
Challenges of sex education
The social stigma associated with sex is the greatest challenge to sex education especially
in the Indian context. Lack of a proper system to design an appropriate methodology for sex
education is another challenge. There is no proper monitoring or reporting authority with regard to
the matter of sex education is schools.

8. Field Visit Report 8
Findings
The trainees found out that school counselling, career guidance and sex education are very
much necessary for the proper development of the students. The counselling services at schools
increases the coping ability in the students, helps in rooting out their mental traumas, problems,
helps in establishing healthy relationships with family members, teachers and friends. School
counselling also helps in the early detection and prevention of problems that may cause problems
to the student and all those who are in relation to him.
Career guidance must not be limited to the setting of one major program but it must be
followed up to maintain the level of change that is created in the students by the main program.
Development of skills and skill enabled guidance is more effective.
Sex education helps the students in understanding the changes that is happening to them
with the age and thus helps them in adapting to it. It also helps in the development of behaviour
and character. Providing sex education will be helpful in the upbringing of mature persons.
References
Does Implementing a Research-based School Counseling Curriculum Enhance Student
Achievement? (Center for School Counseling Outcome Research, 2004)
M. Scheel and J. Gonzalez. An Investigation of a Model of Academic Motivation for School
Counseling. Professional School Counseling, October 2007.
H.L. Legum, and C. Hoare. Impact of Career Intervention on At-Risk Middle School Students’
Career Maturity Levels, Academic Achievement, and Self-Esteem. Professional School
Counseling, December 2004.
J. Bryan, C. Holcomb-McCoy. An Examination of School Counselor Involvement in School-
Family- Community Partnerships. Professional School Counseling, June 2007.
McCurdy, Kenneth G (2003). School Counselling: A Scope of Practice for the 21st Century.
American Counselling Association.
What is Career Guidance? http://www.icg-uk.org/career_guidance_definition.html
James A. Athanasou, Raoul Van Esbroeck (2008). International Handbook of Career Guidance.
Springer
What is Sex Education? http://www.karmayog.org/sexeducation/sexeducation_1950.htm
Morality of Sex Education http://www.karmayog.org/sexeducation/sexeducation_2045.htm