Stakeholders’ Perceptions of School Counselling in Singapore

Abstract

This article reports on a qualitative study that set out to understand stakeholders' perception of the school counselling service in Singapore. Using semistructured interviews, this study explored the perceptions of three main stakeholder groups, namely teachers and counsellors working within the schools and those working in the communities. Altogether, 19 interviews were conducted. Two key theme areas were uncovered. First, the stakeholders observed and expected differing levels of confidentiality for information obtained during counselling. This presented a barrier for cooperation between the stakeholders. Second, stakeholders, while keen to ensure students' families were served appropriately, held different ideas of how that could happen. No clear model of collaboration seemed to exist at the time of the study. Implications for practice were discussed.

An elicitation study to identify students’ salient beliefs towards school counselling

“…Fostering greater collaboration between parents and school counsellors may facilitate students’ behaviour to seek school counsellor’s help. The same sentiment was also observed by Low (2015b) where a collaborative effort between teachers, parents and counsellors creates a positive outlook towards school counselling.…”

“…Lee, 2014). There were also varying opinions on the need to have onsite school counselling (Low, 2015b). Some teachers felt that it was not necessary for the students to see a school counsellor since they were able to manage their problems in the past.…”

“…Hence, teachers could play an important role in influencing students' help-seeking behaviour, particularly in the manner they display their approval or disapproval of school counselling. Encouragingly, the majority of teachers who participated in research on school counselling in Singapore displayed a positive attitude in the support they provided to the school community (Low, 2015a(Low, , 2015b. Positive attitude, however, may not guarantee the approval of school counselling.…”

Exploring novice Indian school counsellors’ experiences collaborating with teachers and administrators

“…The counsellors in the present study felt that teachers were sometimes roadblocks more than they were collaborators. Studies have shown that teachers’ perceptions of a counsellor’s role influence the overall success of the counselling services (Jackson et al, 2002; Low, 2015). A recent study by Atli (2020) highlights how novice school counsellors have to fight the misconceptions and some prejudices that teachers hold about their role.…”

A Peer Related Factors Affecting the Provision of Psychosocial Support to Vulnerable Learners: A Case of Selected Secondary Schools in Amathole District in South Africa

“…To curb this challenge Besley (2002) in Chireshe (2006) advocates for the employment of full-time school peer support groups in schools who should be paid as full-time practitioners so that they can only focus on their work to overcome the shortage of time that is currently being experienced in a majority of schools. This worked well in Singapore and Zimbabwean schools where most of the peer support groups worked as full-time school peer supporters (Low, 2018;Chidarikire, 2017) hence they had more time for the learners.…”