Teacher perceptions of the professional school counselor role: a national study.(Report)

In a national survey, teachers were asked about their perceptions of the professional school counselor role as defined by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA, 2005). Teachers were questioned about the extent that they believed that school counselors should engage in and were engaged in a variety of tasks endorsed as appropriate or inappropriate by ASCA. This research revealed that teachers agreed that school counselors should engage in 13 and were engaged in 12 of the 16 appropriate responsibilities.

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In the past several years, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) has redefined the profession of school counseling with the new professional school counselor role statement (ASCA, 2004), the ASCA National Standards for School Counseling Programs (Campbell & Dahir, 1997), and the ASCA National Model[R] (2005). The ASCA National Model represents a comprehensive counseling program that focuses on program foundation, delivery, management, and accountability, while supporting students holistically in the academic, career, and personal/social domains.

According to Jackson et al. (2002), teachers have a vital role as members of the counseling team and a successful counseling program could not be implemented without their support. ASCA (2005) echoed that message by stating that successful implementation of the ASCA National Model requires the support of teachers. There seems to be consensus that teacher support is important to the success of the counseling program. Examining teachers' perceptions of school counselors may be helpful for ascertaining teachers' support of the ASCA-defined school counselor role.

TEACHER PERCEPTIONS OF SCHOOL COUNSELORS

Only a few studies have been conducted on teacher perceptions of school counselors, and most of those studies focused on school counselor-teacher collaboration, not on teachers' perceptions about school counselors' engagement in specific duties. While collaboration is a school counselor task, it is only a fraction of the school counselor's role. Remley and Albright (1988) conducted a study that focused specifically on teachers' opinions about a variety of school counselor duties. In their study, which predates the ASCA National Model, Remley and Albright found that teachers appreciated the role of school counselors but they believed that the delivery of counseling services needed to be improved.

Clark and Amatea (2004) indicated that teacher expectations and knowledge of counselor performance also impact the counseling program, as teachers influence the perceptions of principals, students, and parents. They conducted a qualitative study involving 23 teachers that focused on teacher expectations and knowledge of school counselor contributions. They found that participants believed that communication and collaboration between school counselors and teachers were the most important tasks for school counselors, followed by large-group counseling. Fewer than half of teachers believed that individual or small-group counseling was important.