Outline and Discuss the Major Roles and Functions of the Guidane Counsellor

Within our Jamaican schools the guidance counseling programmes are designed to implement core principles as stated by the Jamaican school curriculum. Guidance counsellors are the ones who play the role of effectively analyzing and implementing these programmes which ensure that all students are well prepared to manage these “exciting times”; every student needs support and guidance. This is imperative as they embark upon the academic, social, spiritual and developmental challenges of adolescence; a time of rapid growth and change. Our guidance and counselling programmes offer students the opportunity to develop these characteristics necessary to become successful adults in a fast changing world. The primary goal of guidance and counselling and guidance counsellors is to guide and support overall student development and well-being in three broad areas of student life; while keeping in mind the central tasks of adolescence such as acquiring and assimilating self-knowledge, developing future goals and purposefulness, building strategies to accomplish goals, developing decision-making skills, coping with outcomes of decisions and exploring social relationships. The guidance counsellor is charged with the responsibility of being the one who facilitates positive change in the lives of those in their care especially in the three broad areas. These include ‘Personal/Social Goals’ which entails helping students acquire the inter personal and communication skills to increase their understanding and respect of self and others. ‘Academic Goals’, which helps students develop a wide range of academic skills and become effective agents of their learning, ‘Post Secondary-College Planning Goals’ achieved through information sessions and by making resources available to research and apply to college, students are able to plan and make decisions about their future.
John is a fifteen year old student who has recently returned to Jamaica to live with his father. John had left