A preliminary investigation of high-school counseling resources on the Cape Peninsula

Adolescence, Summer, 1997 by Raymond M.F. Berard, Elaine F. Pringle, Nazeema Ahmed

RESULTS

The results of the first telephone survey sample comprising 68 schools, 36 from the HOR, 24 from the HOA, and 8 from the DET, are shown in Table 1. These results show that on average, 50 out of the 68 schools (74%) had guidance departments; there was one full-time and two part-time guidance teachers; there was one full-time guidance teacher per 897 pupils.

Of the 33 randomly selected guidance teachers in the second survey, all had a university degree with 88% majoring in psychology; 52% had a Higher Diploma in Education, and 45% a post-graduate degree. The time allocation to counseling and guidance by full-time and/or part-time guidance teachers is shown in Table 2. On average, guidance teachers allocate 6.1 hours per week to counseling and 9.5 hours per [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 1 OMITTED] [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 2 OMITTED] week to guidance. A guidance teacher can therefore allocate a mean of 14.4 minutes of counseling per pupil per school year. When broken down into the three education departments, the results show that: in the HOR, a guidance teacher can assign a mean of 5.6 minutes of counseling per pupil per school year; in the HOA, a guidance teacher can assign a mean of 30 minutes of counseling per pupil per year; in the DET, a guidance teacher can assign a mean of 4.2 minutes of counseling per pupil per school year.

Table 3 shows the mean time allocation of full-time guidance teachers to counseling (23%), guidance (32%), and administration/teaching (45%).

Table 3: Breakdown of average time allocation of full-time guidance
teachers to counselling, guidance, formal teaching/administrative
work across education departments

Educat.     Counselling     Guidance     Teaching/         Average no.
Dept.                                    Administration    of pupils

HOR             14%           39%             47%              959
HOA             37%           31%             32%              630
DET             16%           10%             74%             1433

TOTAL           23%           32%             45%              904
AVE.

(n=22).

Some of the limitations of the present study include the small cell size and the fact that a telephone survey was conducted as opposed to group or individual interviews. The latter could have provided more in-depth data.

The assessment of referrals to the William Slater Adolescent Centre (Berard et al., unpublished data) suggests that educators have an unrecognized but potentially important role to play in psychological assessment. Further research is required into the possible role of the guidance teacher as a primary adolescent mental health care worker. Suggested areas of investigation could include an in-depth analysis of guidance teachers proficiency in areas such as clinical assessment and counseling skills.

The authors would like to thank the following individuals: the Directors of the House of Representatives, House of Assembly, and the Department of Education and Training for granting permission to conduct this study; the schools and the guidance teachers who participated in the surveys. Gary Viljoen, Gerard Drennan, and Gary Read for assistance with the manuscript; and the Chief Medical Superintendent of Groote Schuur Hospital for allowing publication of the data.