Elementary School Counselors Research Articles

Exploring the Experiences of Florida Elementary School Counselors Implementing the Parental Rights in Education Act

Anti-LGBTQ+ school legislation has proliferated across the United States in recent years, with potential consequences for both students and school counselors. Florida’s controversial 2022 Parental Rights in Education Act offers one such example. In this descriptive, phenomenological, qualitative study, we examined the experiences of 10 Florida elementary school counselors regarding the implementation of the Parental Rights in Education Act. We identified three distinct themes from the participants that related to understanding, implementation, and impact of the Act. We discuss these themes and implications for training, practice, and advocacy in the school counseling profession.

School Counselors’ Reflections on Supporting LGBTQ+ Students

Background: Suicide attempts and suicide completion are on the rise for children and adolescents and even more so for LGBTQ+ youth. Despite some social progress, LGBTQ+ individuals still face oppression socially and legally. With much of the restrictive LGBTQ+ legislation occurring within educational settings, school counselors have an important role supporting the mental health of LGBTQ+ youth; however, many school counselors do not feel equipped to do so. Objectives: School counselors often exit their graduate programs and enter the profession with little to no knowledge of or experience working with LGBTQ+ students. The current study sought to better understand school counselors’ experiences supporting LGBTQ+ youth in their school by discussing results of two focus groups with school counselors working with LGBTQ+ students in a southeastern school district. Research Question: What are the experiences of elementary, middle, and high school counselors supporting LGBTQ+ students in a southeastern school district? Methods: Using thematic analysis of two focus group interviews, we gained greater insight into school counselors’ experiences of supporting LGBTQ+ students in their schools. Results: Through the thematic analysis, five themes and two subthemes emerged in the data. Conclusions: Although school counselors often lack time or resources to work with LGBTQ+ youth ( Gonzalez, 2016 ), the current study’s findings reveal additional barriers given less attention in the literature: navigating tension and pressure from legal policies and nonaffirming parents.

Comprehensive School Mental Health Delivery for Elementary School Counselors

Comprehensive School Mental Health Delivery for Elementary School Counselors

Co-Leading Multicultural School Competencies for an Inclusion and Integration Reform in Times of Crisis

ABSTRACT Leading an inclusion and integration reform during COVID-19, educational leaders embraced a multicultural approach responsive to students’ uniqueness. This qualitative study explores how elementary school principals and counselors developed multicultural school competencies (MSC) during the pandemic to promote inclusive multicultural education. Interviews with 25 Israeli educational leaders yielded three main themes: (1) demonstrating multicultural commitment; (2) building relational skills; (3) fostering social-emotional learning. Findings indicate that school counselors played a critical role in developing MSC during the pandemic. We outline a new model that enables multicultural school leaders, principals, and counselors to re-skill and up-skill MSC in a post-pandemic environment.

“You Feel a Lot of Different Emotions:” Examining a Mindfulness-Based Group for Elementary School Students

ABSTRACT In this qualitative study, researchers examined the experience of participating in a mindfulness-based curriculum within an elementary school counseling group. Three small groups were facilitated with fifth grade students. Researchers collected qualitative data through written data addressing participants’ experiences. Data analysis provided evidence that integrating a mindfulness curriculum within an elementary school counseling group setting has the potential to address children’s stress and support the development of their self-regulation, relaxation, and attention skills. The findings, implications, and recommendations of this study support school counselors integrating mindfulness-based interventions with students.

Pre-Service Elementary School Counselors’ Perceptions of the Play Therapy Training in Taiwan

Pre-Service Elementary School Counselors’ Perceptions of the Play Therapy Training in Taiwan

초등학교 교육과정에서의 상담활동 수업 개선 방안

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the operation status of counseling activity classes operatedin the elementary school curriculum (creative experience activities) and to find ways to smoothly operatecounseling activity classes in the curriculum.
 Methods: An online survey was conducted with 144 elementary school counselors in Seoul, andtwo focus group interviews with 17 participants including eight school counselors, four schooladministrators, and five elementary school teachers.
 Results: As a result of the analysis, elementary school counseling activity classes were 1) activitiesthat helped students understand; 2) Counseling activity classes, which are mostly operated aslecture-style classes, put a burden on professional counselors, making it difficult to “consult” theiroriginal work; and 3) In order for counseling activities classes to operate smoothly in the curriculum,institutional supplementation is required, such as improving the treatment of professional counselorsand preparing a school counseling curriculum.
 Conclusion: Based on the results of the study, a proposed policy plan for the smooth operation ofcounseling activities classes in the elementary school curriculum (creative experience activities) wasdetailed.

진로전환 경험이 있는 상담교사의 성장에 관한 내러티브 탐구

This study aims to investigate the story about the force in career transition of school counselors and about the growth as school counselors after career transition. For this purpose, three elementary school counselors with experience as part-time subject teachers participated, the data were collected by semi-structured interview, cellphone, text message, and e-mail for about 5 months. The stories were presented in order of experience over time. This study adopted the stage of ‘being in the field, from field to field text, composing field text, from field text to research text, composing research text’. And the career transition process and occupational adaptation process as a school counselors were analyzed according to the narrative inquiry procedure. These stories consisted of the experiences before career transition, and the occupational experiences and the growth after transition. First, the story about the force in career transition showed participants expeirenced the limitations in reality and the needs to become a meaninful person. Their desire to help the students triggered the career transition, and there were the happenstances leading to their positive choices. Second, the living stories as school counselors were composed of the confusion and the struggling in new culture and system owing to career transition. They experienced the emotional exhaustion and difficulties due to unfamiliar school culture, confusion due to ambiguous roles, and lack of awareness of counseling. Third, in the stories of their growth, a lot of efforts to establish the identity by using the previous experiences before transition, forming a cooperative relationship with the educational community, and expanding themselves and professionalism were embroidered. I discussed these stories in the context of personal, practical, and social legitimacy to expand the meaning of these narrative.

Collaboration between Guidance and Counseling Teachers and Indonesian Language Teachers to Improve Reading Motivation of Students through the CORI Program

One of the goals of guidance and counseling in elementary schools is to develop and improve students' academic abilities to achieve maximum learning abilities. Collaborative guidance to increase motivation to read is very rare in schools, especially in elementary schools where class teachers handle many subjects. Guidance services in elementary schools can be integrated into thematic learning activities. The research objective was to determine the effectiveness of collaborative guidance services between Guidance and Counseling teachers and Indonesian Language teachers to increase students' reading motivation. This research uses a quantitative approach with an experimental method with a quasi-experimental research design with the CORI (Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction) program. The results of the study showed that collaborative guidance between counseling teachers and Indonesian teachers was effective in increasing elementary school students' reading motivation. Research is suggested for elementary school guidance and counseling teachers to collaborate with subject teachers as an effort to optimize guidance and counseling services. Indonesian teachers can provide input for guidance and counseling services in the classroom. For future researchers, it can increase reading variety, reading exploration time and the application of collaborative guidance to increase reading motivation.

저경력 초등학교 전문상담교사의 소진 경험 및 소진에 영향을 미치는 요인에 대한 개념도 연구

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of low-career elementary schoolcounseling teachers on burnout experience and burnout factors through concept map method. Methods: From interviews with 10 low-career elementary school counselors, 25 statements on burnoutexperiences, 27 statements on factors affecting burnout were derived. Later, 20 low-career elementaryschool counselors including interview participants participated in the classification of statement similarity. The researcher used SPSS 29.0 to conduct multidimensional scale analysis and hierarchical clusteranalysis, and drew two conceptual diagrams by evaluating the similarity of each statement. Results: As a result, the experience of burnout turned out to be 5 clusters. Cluster 1 was found to be‘low efficacy and devotion in counseling’, Cluster 2 was ‘physical symptom’, Cluster 3 was ‘maximizationof negative emotions’, Cluster 4 was ‘difficulty in handling work’, and Cluster 5 was ‘depression-relatedpsychopathological symptoms’. The factors that promoted burnout were derived into 6 clusters. Cluster1 was found to be ‘lack of awareness of fellow teachers’, Cluster 2 was ‘lack of parental awareness’,Cluster 3 was ‘lack of awareness of school administrators’, Cluster 4 was found to be ‘lack of expertiseand competence’, Cluster 5 was ‘unestablished school counseling system’, and Cluster 6 was ‘schoolcounseling difficulty factors’. Conclusion: This study is meaningful in that it first studied the burnout of low-career professionalcounseling teachers in elementary schools and derived implications suitable for elementary school counselingthat have recently begun to activate. Based on the research contents, the limitations of this study andsuggestions for follow-up studies were discussed.

Characteristics of students who require elementary school counselors’ support owing to developmental disorders

Awareness and support for developmental disorders are increasing in Japan. In the education field, support from school counselors for students with developmental disorders and their roles and responsibilities in elementary schools are on the rise. However, identifying and addressing specific conditions and developmental disorders that require school counselors' attention are not clearly planned. Therefore, this study explored the characteristics of students who require elementary school counselors' support owing to developmental disorders. The participants included 17 school counselors who were experienced in working at elementary schools. Through semi-structured interviews, 30 cases were discussed, examined, and categorized based on “case characteristics,” “classification of the main complaint,” “basic information on the diagnosis,” and “type of support.” The analysis included detailed viewpoints of 13 school counselors, a code frequency table, and contrast tables, focusing on the main complaint and diagnosis. Regarding the children whose main complaint was “school refusal,” eight out of nine cases were in the fourth grade or above, with several cases of suspected developmental disorders or autism spectrum disorder. The number of children with comorbid attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, including suspected cases, seemed to be higher, especially in Grades 3–5. The study highlighted the importance of assessing students’ developmental characteristics related to the main complaint in the background of a secondary problem. Furthermore, early detection and interventions should be conducted in the first and second grades.

Elementary School Counselors’ Experiences Working With Children Affected by Parental Substance Use

Despite widespread effects of parental substance use on children, little is known about the experiences of school counselors working with this student population. We examine the experiences of elementary school counselors working with school-aged children affected by parental substance use. Eight school counselors participated in semistructured interviews, which we analyzed using consensual qualitative research. Participants described significant contact with the population in question. Findings suggest that elementary school counselors utilize multitiered interventions but need additional training and job support to meet the prevalent needs of this student population. We provide implications for school counseling practice, research, and counselor training.

The effectiveness of study group guidance to improve learning motivation of elementary school students

Guidance and counseling in elementary schools are intended to help students develop various potentials within themselves so that they are able to have good adjustments to assignments and learning activities, so as to achieve high academic achievement. Tutoring for school students one of which is oriented to develop student learning motivation. High learning motivation encourages students to achieve optimal learning achievement. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of the use of group guidance to increase student motivation in elementary schools. This study uses pre-experimental study with one-group pre-test-posttest design. The research subjects were elementary school students with a sample of 40 students. The research data was collected through a learning motivation questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out descriptively and hypothesis testing through paired sample t-test. The results of descriptive data analysis showed that students learning motivation increased from before participating in group guidance learning which was in the medium category to high after participating in group guidance learning. These results are also supported by the results of the t-test analysis which shows that there are significant differences in learning motivation between before and after following group guidance. This shows that tutoring with group guidance techniques is effective in increasing the learning motivation of elementary school students. The implication of this results research to elementary school guidance and counseling program were discussed.

학교상담 역량에 대한 초등 전문상담교사와 중등 전문상담교사의 요구도 차이 비교 연구

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze the needs of the school counseling competency of elementary and secondary school counselors in order to ascertain whether there is a difference in the required competencies of school counselors depending on the school level. Methods: An online survey was carried out with 211 school counselors across the country, and 209 responses were utilized for analysis. The competency needs were then analyzed and the priority was determined using the overlap of the Borich’s formula and the The Locus for Focus model. Results: In common with elementary and secondary school counselors, the first priority competency needs were ‘understanding students’ and ‘improvement of professionalism’. ‘professional attitude’ was identified as the first priority competency need in elementary school and identified as the second priority competency need in secondary school. In addition, the ‘theory and technique of counseling’ was the second priority competency need for both elementary and secondary school counselors. On the other hand, ‘parent and teacher consultation’, ‘utilization of community resource’ and ‘communication and cooperation’ were identified as the second priority competencies only for elementary school counselors. For secondary school counselors, ‘role harmonization’ and ‘adaptation to school organization’ were classified as the second priority competencies. Conclusion: Based on the research results, this study was able to derive implications for improving the training curriculum and education for school counselors in areas such as supporting supervision and case study groups for the development of school counselors’ professionalism.

Exploring COVID-19-Related Educational Disruption of Early Elementary Students and Their Families: A School Counselor Case Example

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused myriad issues for early elementary students and their families. Those early in their educational careers, particularly pre-K–2 students, are especially vulnerable developmentally to abrupt disruptions. School counselors, in turn, are being called upon to respond to crises and provide trauma-informed care for these students and their families, often virtually. This article explores COVID-19-related educational disruption of early elementary students, their families, and school counselors through the use of a case example.

Intention to intervene in weight-related bullying in elementary school: A qualitative study of the perspectives of teachers and school counselors

This qualitative study explores school personnel's intentions to intervene in weight-related bullying using the Theory of Planned Behaviors. Twenty-three elementary teachers and school counselors were individually interviewed. Key common themes were extracted and synthesized. Results show the intention to intervene was motivated by beliefs about the consequences of bullying. While teachers' motivators to intervene were focused on preventing negative impacts on academics, school counselors were preoccupied with positive psychosocial and interpersonal impacts. Providing information and training to school personnel about weight issues and the psychosocial difficulties associated with weight-related bullying could help reduce such bullying in schools.

다문화아동과 일반아동의 학교생활화(KSD) 반응특성에 관한 연구

This study attempted to study the response characteristics through the KSD picture of elementary school students, focusing on multicultural children and general children. The participants were 130 multicultural children and 130 general children in elementary schools located in Busan. As for the research data, paintings were collected with the help of cultural students and elementary school counselors and teachers in charge of the researcher's training course between 2012 and 2019, and additional recruitment was collected in 2020. As for the measurement tool, the satisfaction of school life and adaptation with friends were examined through KSD, a diagnostic tool for art therapy. As a result of this study, first, multicultural children expressed "sadiology", "non-academic", and "physiology" more than general children, and multicultural boys showed higher self-image than girls, and general girls showed the most interaction with "self-love". Second, as for the response characteristics of the questionnaire, general female children had the highest satisfaction with their teachers in school, and multicultural male children had the lowest. Third, as a result of comparing and analyzing the school life of multicultural children and general children, general female children had the highest satisfaction and general male children had the highest relationship with friends. Therefore, general male and female children had higher overall satisfaction than multicultural male and female children. As a result of this study, it is meaningful that KSD is a useful tool to identify children's adaptation and psychological problems from school life, and it will be a reference guide for teachers. Based on the above conclusions, research on standards that can objectively analyze and compare comparisons according to the development stage of each grade will be needed.

THE ROLE OF THE EDUCATIONAL COUNSELOR IN THE INCLUSION AND INTEGRATION PROCESSES

<p>The current study examined the attitudes and perceptions of educational counselors with respect to the inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream classrooms (mandated by the Israeli Special Education law), along with assessing their sense of self-efficacy, job satisfaction and stress.<strong> </strong>101<strong> </strong>elementary and middle school educational counselors filled out questionnaires on self-efficacy, job satisfaction, stress and mainstreaming perceptions. In addition, 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to gain a deeper understanding of the ways they cope with inclusion. Significant differences were found between elementary school and middle school educational counselors in their attitudes toward inclusion, where elementary school counselors were more favorable, had a higher sense of self-efficacy and expressed more positive attitudes towards inclusion. Self-efficacy and job satisfaction were correlated. In general, educational counselors deal with a wide variety of stress factors and are aware of the difficulties inherent to social inclusion as compared to academic inclusion.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0939/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Driving Forces in Elementary School Counseling Advocacy: A Phenomenological Investigation of Advocates’ Experiences

Although the literature contains many recommendations for professional advocacy for school counseling, there is a dearth of research providing clear and contemporary evidence of effective strategies for advocating for elementary school counseling. In response to this gap in the literature, we conducted a phenomenological qualitative study of 13 professionals who successfully advocated for elementary school counseling positions or roles. We outline research-informed elementary school counseling advocacy strategies identified by participants, centering around three themes: (a) looking inward and developing one’s advocacy skills, (b) working with stakeholders, and (c) using data to advocate. We include implications for practice and research.

Ecosystemic Advocacy for Elementary Mental Health

Systemic inequity in education compels school counselors to widen their scope of advocacy beyond their local school environment. Fortunately, the tools of evidence-based, data-driven school counseling can be scaled up to influence change in larger systems. We present an advocacy project undertaken by an elementary school counselor who was alarmed by a significant increase in children’s mental health concerns. She initiated a state-wide survey of school counselors that revealed a dire need for mental health support at the elementary level. Using an ecological framework, we report on the data-driven advocacy actions she pursued to raise awareness of the serious concerns of young students across her state.