Standards for the Preparation of Elementary School Counselors

Abstract

It would seem best, in this paper, to outline the basis upon which a professional program should be developed, describe the work of our committee, and include from our report only those parts in which our committee made the most changes in adapting the Standards for the Preparation of Secondary School Counselors (ACES, 1967) for our use.Basic requirements for every professional preparation program are carefully selected students, a well-qualified staff, a stimulating intellectual climate, and adequate laboratories, library, and teaching materials. Furthermore, everyone involved in professional education should evaluate the impact of his program upon his students. It is not sufficient to demonstrate that they have mastered the professional knowledge and skills that were taught; those who prepare professional workers also must be able to demonstrate that their students have defined for themselves an appropriate professional role which they can implement. Merton, Reader, and Kendall (1967) found that opportunities for social interaction and the degree of staff involvement with students as well as staff expectations, didactic experiences, and professional interaction influenced students' professional way of life. Goode and Cornish (1964) concluded that reinforcement by on-the-job affiliations also were important in helping beginners develop a professional image.Olsen (1963) made the point that counselors must not merely learn to play the counselor's role, they must learn to live it. To fulfill this expectation requires more than good didactic instruction and supervised experiences in counseling. When counselor educators ask prospective counselors to give up certain attitudes and behaviors which were satisfying to them as teachers, they must help them recognize and learn to cope with the reinforcers of old behaviors and attitudes. When prospective counselors have defined a meaningful professional role (and one which they believe they can implement on the job), and when they obtain specific assistance in implementing their role during professional education, their group nonns and the accompanying pressure from their peers enMerle M. Ohisen is Professor of Education, University of Missouri at Kansas City. 172Counselor Education and Supervision VII hance their chances of implementing their professional role. The chances of them implementing this role can be further enhanced by placement in a school system with one of these peers (Hasting et. al., 1961) or by the practicum supervisor helping them get acquainted with another counselor in that system, or in a neighboring system, who is trying to implement a similar role. Follow-up visits also can help a beginning counselor face and resolve the problems that he meets during his early efforts to establish his professional role and help him discover reinforcers for his professional role ( Ohlsen, 1967). Obviously even these activities cannot replace good supervision by a well-qualified specialist. Without good supervision and the known support of other counselors, beginning c...

Differentiation In Elementary School Counselor Preparation Programs Among ACES Regions

“…Our national professional organization has suggested a common body of professional knowledge and skills through the proposed standards for the preparation of elementary school counselors (Ohlsen, 1968). This present study indicates recognition that such a common body of knowledge and skills exists but points to a lack of agreement among Summer, 1971 regions as to the necessity of moving the study of this common body of lmowledge from the realm of elective to required study.…”

“…Much of the study was concerned with comparing the topics offered and required in the elementary counselor preparation programs with those topics recommended by the ACES task force in the proposed standards for elementary school counselor preparation (Ohlsen, 1968). The topics were from Part B, Program of Studies, and Part C, Supervised Experiences, of the proposed standards and were summarized under these four areas: Professional Studies in Elementary School Counseling, the Educational Setting.…”

“…Such national recognition came so abruptly that counselor education programs were not ready to furnish adequately prepared specialists in the numbers demanded by the public schools. Among the many counselor educators voicing conoem over the adequacy of elementary school counselor preparation were: Aubrey (1967), Dinkmeyer (1968), Faust (1968), Gum (1967), Meeks (1967Meeks ( ,1968, Moore (1969), Mum and Oelke (1967), Nitzschke (1965), Ohlsen (1968Ohlsen ( , 1969aOhlsen ( , 1969b, Phillips (1969), and Van Hoose ( 1968). Representative of the host of professionals voicing such concern was Van Hoose (1968, pp.…”

“…The Spring, 1968 issue of Counselor Education and Supervision presented the Proposed Standards for Preparation of the Elementary School Counselor (Ohlsen, 1968). The ACES task force which had developed these standards had enlisted the help of a hundred outstand-ing elementary school counselors to identify and rank their most important services, to appraise their own professional preparation, and to assist in revising and adapting the standards for the preparation of the secondary school counselors for use with elementary counselors (Mendelson, 1967).…”

“…Two major objectives of the study were to: (a) ascertain the degree to which counselor education programs were differentiating their programs of study and supervised experiences for elementary school counselor candidates, and (b) compare the data from these programs of elementary counselor preparation with the standards proposed for elementary school counselor preparation programs by the ACES task force (Ohlsen, 1968).…”