Counselling Services During
Distance Education Tutorials
INTRODUCTION:
This paper is written with the knowledge that the distance education learners need
counselling not only academic counselling but also vocational counselling and socio
personal counselling. This writer is also aware that most of those who will be available
to tender some assistance in this regard during tutorials or residential sessions or study
weekends are not trained as modern counsellors. What these people can do is called
guidance and not counselling. This paper tries to explain some pertinent key words, lays
emphasis on problems which distance education students may present, who can adequately
assist them and how this can be done.
Guidance refers to a very open and directive or prescriptive form of systematic
assistance in which the client is given advise or instruction, apart from lectures, on
what to do, it can be given to an individual or a very large number of individuals,
openly, at the same time. It is assistance given to learners to help them to acquire
knowledge and wisdom. It is calculated to lead to self direction. Many people who are
interested or have knowledge about something can do this. Many Lecturers should be able to
do this.
On the other hand, counselling could be said to refer to a number of procedures used in
assisting an individual in solving problems which arise in various aspects of his life or
in assisting him to maximize his overall personal development so that he could be more
effective, satisfied and more useful to the society in which he lives (Bakare, 1984).
Durojanje (1987) described counselling as involving. "The development of interaction
through the relationship between a trained therapist, who is called a counsellor, and a
troubled person, who is called a counsellor or client, the latter is usually a perceived
temporary state of indecision, confusion, malfunction, habit disorder, distress or
despair".
A typical counselling session consists of five sequential stages: referral,
diagnosis, treatment, termination and follow up. The processes of counselling lasts more
than one session between the counsellor and counsellor (s) successful counselling usually
assists the counsellor to make his own decision and choices realistically to resolve his
own confusion, to correct his behaviour disorders, to evolve new habits and to overcome
distress or despair in a meaningful way.
For convenience, counselling is usually classified into three types namely:
- Academic (educational)
- Vocational and,
- Socio-personal Counselling
Educational (Academic) Counselling:
This assists with problems of learning, teaching and of education generally. It
involves activities designed to assist all categories of leaners whether regular or
distance education students from primary to tertiary levels. Its purpose is to assist the
learners to utilise the most of his educational opportunities. This means educating him
towards becoming a cultivated individual and at the same time preparing him for
participation in a life activity which will be socially useful and personally satisfying.
Vocational Counselling:
This deals with problems of job selection, training for and adjustment to occupations.
It deals with assisting an individual in making wise decisions about job selection, job
maintenance and making progress in a chosen career.
Personal-Psychological (Personality) Counselling:
This deals with personal problems of the mind, interpersonal problems and problems of
overall life's adjustment. It refers to counselling people along the lines of problems
other than educational and vocational ones. It deals with emotional problems, for
instance, students may be poorly adjusted to a new school (University) environment, new
room or course mates or neighbours. Such people may not have sufficient confidence in
their personnel worth or abilities to face their new experiences. Some who are far from
home may lack concentration or interest or they may worry much about the situation at home
(as it is often the case with distance education students).
Characteristics of those who can counsel learners:
A Counsellor is the professional trained to carry out educational, vocational and
personal/psychological counselling. Other helpers, at best, give guidance. The trained
psychological help given (Counsellor) is expected to be endowed with some of the following
characteristics and he is expected to acquire the rest through training. They include
warmth. patience, confidentiality, empathy, above average intelligence, relative freedom
from emotional problems and being good listeners. Some people such as Carl Rogers mentions
other similar counsellor traits such as genuiness and unconditional positive regard.
During tutorials ( or Lecturer - student contact period or period of tuition by a tutor
or face to face with the teacher and the taught), the students' traditional helpers such
as spouses, children, parents or significant others might not be available. Also, the
professional traditional helpers such as nature medicine practitioners and religious
leaders might not be available. However, para-counsellors such as concerned Lecturers may
be available. The trained counsellor is the best option wherever he is available.
Most Universities in this zone have Counselling Centres, each of such centres usually
has a team of counsellors some of whom are specialists. For instance, some are mental
Health Counsellors, or clinical psychologists, counselling psychologists, rehabilitation
psychologists or psychological testing specialists.
Lecturers should refer the distance education students to the appropriate personnel or
the counselling centre as they deem fit.
Problems Of Distance Education Students:
The Distance Education Students are expected to be mature. However, being so does not
insulate them from myriads of educationally related problems and other responsibilities
which may worry them. There are three general sources of tress for this category of
students. These are educational, social and emotional types of stress.
Educational Stress:
The typical student is expected to take more responsibility for his learning since the
programme gives him a greeter degree of control or freedom over his learning. This in
itself is a problem for many. Other sources of educational stress include:
- meeting deadlines for submission of term papers or writing tests examinations and
assignments.
- doing group work co-operatively
- not knowing how to acquire good study habits
- not knowing how to use the library
- not knowing how to prepare for and take examinations
- not knowing how to adjust to different course lecturers
- not locating specialist rooms with ease
- not knowing how to relate to the campus environment
- not knowing how to cope with University level work or poor academic performance
- not knowing how to cope with new forms of distance learning strategies apart from the
printed material packages they are familiar with e.g. a combination of
- interactive audio or video tape materials
- television aided learning
- overhead projector
- computer-assisted instruction programmes which may include internet and computer
referencing. The variety and novelty of these forms may create problems for many distance
education learners.
- the student may need counselling on the type of course or subject he has been enrolled
for. He may query whether he can cope or he should continue the course.
Social Stress:
Social stress on the other hand, could arise from problem of relationships with
coursemates, roommates, lecturers, administrators and other workers in the institution. It
could also arise from difficulties of living conditions such as sleeping with others (they
are not familiar with) in hostels, sharing many social facilities with a number much
larger than they are accustomed to at their homes. If the student holds an office. there
could be role stress or role conflict which can further increase his difficulties.
During tutorials, there is usually a high ratio of students to Lecturers. The
implication of this is that there is normally less frequent help available from many
Lecturers. The student who had probably thought the Lecturers would be available to attend
to only his problems may be disappointed. This reasoning may create stress for such
learners. Such a student should be referred to the counselling centre.
Emotional Stress:
Emotional Stress is another type of tress which the student could be exposed to. such
stress could arise from illness (e.g. Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) such as Aids).
Worries about spouses and children at home and what is happening to them may also cause
emotional stress. other problems include poor self concept, norm violating behaviour such
as lack of discipline, drunkenness, smoking, drug abuse, truancy and more serious cases of
personality disorders such as neurosis and psychosis.
Overall effect of the types of stress is the taxing of the learners coping mechanisms
to their very utmost. Often their coping mechanisms may breakdown. If there are no
immediate sources of help, the above problems may manifest. The problems may make the
students seek counselling. Whoever is going to render counselling services should know
what the specific problem is, its epidemiology, its prevention, its treatment or control.
He should be able to do all these with a touch of professionalism or better still, the
student should be referred to the counselling centre.
Counselling Services:
The counsellor or counselling psychologist performs during the course of his work a
combination of the following counselling services. Orientation, Information, Diagnosis,
Testing Record keeping, Placement, Referral, Follow up, Drop out and Drop in, Research and
Evaluation, Continuous Assessment and In-Service Programmes Services.
"Counsellors Daily Recipe" Ingredients include:
- Cups and heaped spoons of PATIENCE
- A bocol of positive REGARD
- A bucket of UNDERSTANDING
- A cup of SENSE OF HUMOUR
- Ten glasses of EMPATHY method
- Mix all ingredients GENUINELY
- Stir gently with CHEERFULNESS
- For twenty four hours, sprinkle with a SMILE
A typical counsellor is guided by the above 'daily recipe' in carrying out his
services.Some of these are described below:
Orientation Service:
Orientation service is a guidance service the counsellors provide to individual (s) so
that the latter can adjust faster and better to a new school, place of work or
neighbourhood. A 'fresher' or a distance education University student would need a well
packaged orientation programme, on the history, geography, social and academic matters in
his new place. For instance, a new student would need orientation as to what courses to
enrol for and how to register fully and properly. He would need to be familiar with
important facilities and personalities. These may include his lecture rooms, department,
library, laboratories, administrative blocks. The key officers to know may include the
Dean, Director, Head of Department or Unit, subject Co-ordinators, course lecturers and
supportive staff. Orientation will help the individual to feel emotionally and mentally
secure. It will help him to adapt to the academic, social and psychological conditions of
his new academic environment.
Information Service:
Information Service is one of the major services rendered by the counsellor. It is one
in which the learner can benefit. Informational Service refers to the totality of date
gathering and presentation to the client by the counsellor to facilitate awareness,
knowledge, appraisal, decision-making and evaluation. It involves clarification of his
goals and his guidance in the direction he wants. Learners may need educational,
occupational and personality information. Educational Information is valid and useable
data about all types of present and probable future educational or training opportunities,
programmes and requirements which can assist the student in making realistic choices or
decisions. Such information can include available curricular, characteristics of different
tertiary educational programmes, correspondence schools, cost of part-time tertiary
education or alternative sources of finding ones education such as grants and
scholarships, loans or leave with or without pay.
Occupational Information:
Occupational Information includes valid, current and useable data about jobs such as
work requirement, work conditions, reward system, supply and demand for each kind of jobs.
Examples include the prestige each job is assigned or each level of qualification, methods
of entering occupation, job hazards and even criteria for evaluating jobs and possibility
of changing jobs/careers.
Personal-Social Information:
This type of information may include how to acquire acceptable social or inter-personal
skills, planning ones leisure time activities. how to achieve positive self concept and
reasonable financial planning,
Referral Services:
The Counsellor must be skilled enough to know at what point and where to refer a client
to another helper. He too should be ready to help whoever is referred to him. Health
problems should be referred to medical practitioners; emotionally deep-roofed problems
such as nenrosis or psychosis must be referred to psychotherapists or psychiatrists while
educationally related problems should be referred to specialist lecturers or even
academically better coursemates. Referral may be lateral (to ones colleagues) or vertical
(to ones superiors).
Placement Services:
Placement may be in educational, vocational or sociopersonal areas. Academic placement
for instance may involve the use by the counsellor, of continuous assessment records,
interest inventories, observations and interview with students and lecturers. A particular
student may need to be moved to another course concentration before he can perform well. A
wrongly placed student may find it difficult to do as well as he would have done if he is
correctly placed.
Record Keeping:
The counsellor is trained to keep and use records adequately. The most relevant record
keeping device used by counsellors is Cumulative Record folder or the Computer Disks. Here
a comprehensive data on each learner containing biography, educational, health and social
information is kept. The counsellor can use this to partly assist the learner in many of
his needs.
Counselling Services:
Counselling service is a dynamic service that incorporates all the above services and
more. In it, the counsellor uses his specialized skilled to assist his clients to become
more realistic, responsible for his personal decision and more efficient in his
performances. The counsellor depends on multimodal theoretical framework to do his work.
However, he uses techniques from theories that he feels most comfortable with and which he
believes are relevant to each problem. Also he is guided by certain professional ethics
such as privacy and confidentiality of the counselling relationships with clients.
In a nutshell, this paper has outlined the concept of counselling and related this to
distance education learners. Characteristics of those who can counsel them and where they
can be counselled were indicated. A list of problems which any of them may present during
tutorials was given, Finally, some of the counselling services were described concisely.
Bibliography
Akinade, E.A, Sokan, B.0 and Osarenren, M (1996) An Introduction to Guidance and
Counselling. Ibadan Caltop Publications (Nigeria) Ltd.
Human Resources Committee - (1998) Distance Education in South Africa |
