‘I was just like, Wow!’: Students’ perceptions of how counselling benefitted their academic experience

Abstract

AbstractBackground and Aims: This research explored students’ perceptions of how university counselling benefitted their academic experience. Materials & Methods: A purposeful sampling strategy was employed, selecting students who, in postcounselling questionnaires, identified counselling as supporting their academic work. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with seven current students; four men and three women. Six were undergraduates and one a postgraduate student. Interviews were analysed using grounded theory (Charmaz, ) and the results theorised using Sfard's (1983) acquisition and participation metaphors for learning. Results: A split was established between students who sought counselling to acquire skills and techniques and those who used the counselling relationship to develop abilities to reflect and question aspects of themselves. All students reported that counselling helped them engage more fully in academic activities and perceived counselling as enhancing their academic attainment. Discussion: The research suggests students may seek different sorts of learning experiences from therapy and these appear to benefit students’ perceptions of their academic attainment. Conclusion: This potentially widens the conception of university counselling as a complementary learning experience alongside formal academic teaching.