Blog Entry 6

Pub Date: 27/06/2007 Pub: ST Page: 1,2Day: WednesdayEdition: FIRSTHeadline: Schools see a difference with full-time counsellorsBy: HO AI LIPage Heading: PRIMEPicture Caption:BACK ON THE RIGHT PATH: (From left) Tanglin Secondary 3 student and formerhabitual truant Tan Wei Liang with his counsellor Michelle Lee and TanglinSecondary teachers Solastri Suyot, Sharon Gan, Lau Yong Zhi and Tan Puay Eng.Subject: POLITICAL/GENERAL NEWS^EDUCATION^SCHOOLSource: SPH

This article discusses the impacts of having a full-time counselor in a school. It is part of MOE’s program to install a counselor in every school in hopes of providing the proper moral and emotional support that was previously lacking in schools.

When I was in primary school, my school did not have any counselors. Instead our form teachers acted as counselors, often addressing our problems the best way they can. However they seem to forget that the role of a counselor is vastly different from that of a teacher, and hence they usually end up telling us what to do. How typically teacher-like. When I moved to secondary school, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the existence of a counselor, although admittedly I have yet to go visit him. However, being a teenager myself, I can identify the need for someone who can guide us along in life, especially since we are in a very unstable stage of our life.

The typical societal stereotype of counselors is that they are people who deal with the deviants of society. They are called in to redress the wrongs in their client’s life. Their job is to make bad people turn good. This is how society typically views counselors, and it was a view I shared for quite a long time. Their real job, however, is to counsel, hence the name counselor. To counsel means to give advice, to help someone sort out his or her feelings. Therefore a counselor’s real job is simply to guide people, to listen to them and give them advice. As more and more students become aware of the existence of counselors in their school, I feel that it is imperative that we as students understand that counselors were put for us, and that it is perfectly fine to visit the counselor once in a while, since I believe the majority hold the same societal stereotype. I therefore applaud the MOE’s efforts to place a counselor in every school to reach out to the school populace.

Given the reasons and benefits of having a counselor in one’s school, the article highlights a couple of problems that the execution of the program might hold. One is that there is a lack of properly trained counselors. As noted by Mr Teo of Hwa Chong Institution, a freshly qualified counselor is required to log 600 supervised counseling hours in order to become a member of the Singapore Association for Counseling. Also since most counselors come out from the line of teaching, it is imperative that they learn to talk less and listen more, and less of telling them what to do, something very typical of teachers. Another obstacle is that the schools themselves may not be supportive of the counselors, since when the effectiveness of counselors is compared to the effectiveness of teachers, the counselors inevitably lose out. Everyone has a different personality and thus requires different amounts of time to resolve their problems. It is impossible to demand of a counselor to resolve a case in a certain number of sessions, because it does not work that way.

Having said the above, I feel that for this counseling program to progress further, it requires more understanding and support on the school’s part. Also since the counselors here are facing students, the training they undergo should cater to understanding the adolescent more, something that the Singapore Association for Counseling should look at. All in all, I laud the MOE’s efforts to cater to the needs of the students, no longer just academically, but developmentally.