Counselor Role as Perceived by Counselors and Principals.

Abstract

The emergence of the middle school as an institution designed to meet the needs of the developing adolescent has created a need for qualified professionals who demonstrate an interest and expertise in working with this age group. The counselor's role in the school has been discussed widely in the literature, but there has been no agreement on appropriate functions (Keating, 1975). Research and discussion has focused on the secondary and elementary school counselor. To be effective, the counselor must mold from this confusion an identity that can be described by the functions performed. This research focused on the ideal counselor role as perceived by Kansas middle and junior high school counselors and principals, that is, the activities that counselors and principals identified as appropriate for counselors. Differences between counselors and principals on 15 counselor tasks were studied as well as the differences on four subscales: counseling, consulting, coordinating, and problem areas. Problem areas included tasks such as supervision of the lunchroom, scheduling and making class changes, administration of disciplinary action, and teaching of nonguidance classes.