Community Education Counsellors

Abstract

In every conceivable comparison, the Aborigines and Islanders…stand in stark contrast to the general Australian society, and also to the other ‘ethnic’ groups…They probably have the highest birthrate, the highest death rate, the worst health and housing, and the lowest educational, occupational, economic, social and legal status of any identifiable section of the Australian population.(National Population Inquiry, Vol.11, 1975, p.455)The status of Aborigines described above has been considered to be the result of a cycle of causation whereby poor educational standards lead to low-paying occupations resulting in poor housing, poor health and feelings of helplessness and defeat which lead again to poor educational advancement. More recently it has been recognized that the institutions of the dominant white Australian culture play a very important part in perpetuating this cycle and the education system is no exception (McConnochie, 1973). Thus, if the status of Aborigines is to be improved and the cycle broken, institutional changes must occur.One attempt at bringing about positive change within the education system is the employment of Aboriginal counsellors to work with school personnel, including guidance officers. While guidance officers are in a unique position to positively influence the personal, educational and vocational development of students, the cross-cultural counselling situation poses many problems for guidance officers. These include the tendency for minority groups not to utilize such specialist services, accepting different world views, appropriateness of techniques and tests and establishment of rapport between counsellor and counsellee (Sue, 1977).