An Occupation in Search of Identity—What Is School Counseling?

Abstract

This study will focus on the professional identity of school counseling, which is a key function in Israeli schools. Forming a professional identity is part of the process of professional development that begins with academic training and continues throughout one’s professional career. Professional identity distinguishes between different occupations and provides practitioners with a safe base that lets them better understand their work and form a team spirit within their field of occupation. The research literature indicates an association between one’s professional identity and her professional functioning and success, sense of stability, confidence, and pride in practicing the occupation. The professional identity of school counseling is related to gender. This is a predominantly female occupation and most of its practitioners in Israel are women.
 
 Few studies have been conducted on the professional identity of school counselors (Note 1) and its impact on the quality of their work. It appears that the definition of the school counselor’s role is neither clear nor unambiguous, both in Israel and elsewhere, and this affects the professional identity of counselors and the quality of their work. The current study included semi-structured interviews with 15 school counselors, in which they spoke about the structure of their work, their professional vision, satisfaction, and sense of self-fulfillment as a result of their job, as well as their professional self-efficacy.
 
 The research findings show that the structure of the counselor’s work, her role definition and workload, are related to her professional identity, including how she perceives the counseling occupation, her satisfaction and sense of self-fulfillment. Based on the interviews, no differences were found between the narratives of counselors with different levels of seniority in the profession with regard to professional identity, satisfaction, and self-fulfillment. The research findings indicate the need to define the school counseling occupation and its place in the school in order to help school counselors establish a clearer professional identity, with the aim of adapting the role to the challenges of the school system in the 21st century, in the world in general and in Israel in particular.

Personal and Group Professional Identity in the 21st Century Case Study: The School Counseling Profession

“…Therefore, the research findings reinforce previous studies showing that the definition of the school counseling profession and its recognition in the educational world have a critical effect on the personal professional identity of school counselors (for instance : Heled & Davidovich, 2020;LaFleur, 2007).…”

“…Hence, it is evident that personal professional identity is influenced by group identity (Heled & Davidovich, 2020). The current study will examine how this affects the counseling profession.…”

“…As detailed above, school counselors currently perform diverse roles that are not uniform (Gale & Austin, 2003) and therefore it is distinctly necessary for counselors to define themselves as united and as having a distinct and unique profession (Gazzola & Smith, 2007). A study conducted recently that examined the group and personal professional identity of school counselors in Israel (Heled & Davidovich, 2020) showed that since the role definition of counseling is unclear, in addition to the intricate, bureaucratic, and internally politicized educational system, counselors in the system have tough feelings. The professional identity of counselors is found to be poorer the higher the dissatisfaction with the role definition.…”

“…Studies and papers published over the years in Israel and elsewhere include a recurring discussion of the uniqueness of school counseling and the distinctness of this profession compared to other roles in the educational system. Indeed, in light of the literature review, it appears that school counseling as a profession involves endless difficulties, both in its role definition and in the actual job, and this has an effect on the professional identity of practitioners (Heled & Davidovich, 2020;Heled & Davidovitch, 2019).…”

On the Association between Academic Studies and Professional Training – The Case of School Counseling Do Academic Studies Train School Counselors for Their Work, as Perceived by Them Retrospectively?

“…A study conducted by Heled and Davidovich (2020) noticed confusion concerning the definition of the counselor's role in the Israeli educational system. As stated, the role definition according to the Israeli Ministry of Education is unclear.…”