Educational counseling refers to the informed guidance and professional assistance provided by proficient counselors to students in making the correct selections in their academic plans, studies, career aspirations, or the most suitable college/university selection as per their preferences and interests.
Who Are Educational Counselors?
Educational Counselors are well-trained and well-informed academic personnel who work in schools, colleges, and universities. Counselors assist students by providing comprehensive guidance on courses, degrees, and present and future employment possibilities. Also, they resolve various other issues within institutions, such as interaction with guardians or teachers to aid them in deducing the best solutions for students’ problems.
Kinds of Educational Counseling
There are three basic styles of educational counseling:
- Educational Advice and Counseling
- Career Counselling
- Vocational Counseling
Advice and Counselling
Whether it is choosing the best degree courses or finding the perfectly matched academic institutions, educational advice and counseling are critical for students. Such services focus on delivering the proper direction to students as per their academic requirements.
Most schools have educational counselors, but if it is not the case, students can find academic counseling services outside their schools/colleges in order to get assistance and mentorship for their academic-related issues.
Career Recommendation/Counseling
It is more of an exhaustive blend of vocational and educational counseling. Career counselors assist both working professionals and students and offer them the best-matched mentorships.
Numerous academic institutions provide career counseling for their students as it is interactive channel to acclimatize students to a professional environment. Also, students can easily access such services on various online portals for free of cost!
Vocational Counseling
It is relatively similar to career guidance but mainly centers around discovering the right job opportunity or occupation for students or other individuals as per their demands and interests in a specific industry or sector.
Educational Counselors’ Working Scope
Other than academic and vocational assistance, educational counselors handle the following concerns:
- Puberty-related counseling
- Provide support on familial issues
- Guidance on career choices
- Fighting or Bullying related problems
- Commute related issues
- Assistance in grading cases
- Offer classroom management strategies to teachers to improve the class learning experience
Academic counselors also provide free-of-cost support to students who seek psychological assistance but cannot afford mental health sessions.
Benefits of Educational Counselling Services
Many students often get confused when deciding on academic and career opportunities and end up making the wrong choice when it comes to degrees, courses, or career selection. This choice has long lasting effects and is quite difficult to roll back.
Therefore, professional educational counseling services could be beneficial for aspiring students with various concerns, such as:
- Understanding their key strengths
- Capitalizing on their innate talents
- Professional assistance
- The best course selection after comparative analysis and matching with their skills and personal preferences
- Professional development, and many more.
Educational counselors offer both personal and group counseling depending upon the needs of students. To solve problems at an interpersonal or personal level, counselors opt for individual support. However, counselors often prefer small group counseling sessions for various social issues and campus problems.
Why Is It Necessary for Students to Get Educational Counseling?
At some point in the educational journey, every student requires advice and counseling to improve their shortcomings. Consequently, all students must get educational guidance and career counseling as early as possible to improve their odds of success in their personal and professional life. Some benefits include of such services include:
- Selecting the right career
- Direction to various apt resources
- Get personality insights
- Attain confidence
- Stability of thoughts
- Self-awareness
- Establish career plans and many more
Thus, students must get counseling sessions at their academic institutions get personality insights and learn how to tackle their problems constructively. Counseling encourages students to ask questions and think analytically to get better solutions for their problems.
Effects of Quality Education Counseling
When it comes to the advantages of professional educational counseling, best-fit academic and career options are the most prominent benefits. Well-trained professional counselors not only assist their students but prepare them for upcoming challenges of academics, careers, and social life. Other valuable quality education counseling effects on students include:
- Highly motivated and confident students
- Willing to explore and learn new skills
- The highly focused approach in professional lives
- Well-groomed behaviors in daily life routines
- More organized and well-managed lifestyle
- Improved problem-solving skills
Wrapping Up
Counselors are well-trained experts who provide knowledgeable advice to students in every matter, be it related to academia, daily life, social issues, or psychological aspects. Other than academic direction, various online counseling services are also available for students at zero or minimum cost.
Counselors bridge the communication gap between educators and students to resolve various problems and improve interpersonal relations at the academic level. Students should avail themselves of counseling services as they are easily accessible in most educational institutions and can effectively help transform their lives.
Author Bio:
Maliha Safiullah is a Former Correspondent for 60 Minutes, Channel Nine Australia and is a published writer having worked as a Feature Writer for Dawn News, Pakistan.