Undergraduate Guidance Majors. Where Are They Now? A Five‐Year Follow‐Up

Abstract

Almost a decade has passed since a number of counselor education programs across the country began offering an undergraduate major in guidance. The purpose of these programs is to provide undergraduates with a wide range of limited guidance skills necessary to function under supervision in helping capacities. Descriptive data about the graduates from these programs and evaluation of the training they received is needed. This followup study of 101 alumni, representing five classes of undergraduate guidance majors, provides demographic data, male-female comparisons in selected areas, information on graduate education completed, employment data, and a general evaluation ofthe training program. Implications of the findings for graduate-level counselor education programs are also discussed.The Guidance Associate Program in the Divison of Counselor Education at North Texas State University, established in 1972, was one of the first programs in the nation to offer an undergraduate major in guidance. The two-year program, consisting of twenty-four semester hours, is open to students of junior standing. Student applicants are screened by a selection committee and receive their training in an institute-like format with classes open only to Guidance Associate majors. To encourage growth and personal integration of learning material, students are placed in permanent subgroups for weekly group counseling sessions spanning their first year of training. Although the program was initially conceived and designed to equip students to perform various guidance functions in public schools, well over half (64%) the students selected planned to work in nonpublicschool related occupations.The purpose of this survey, was (a) to provide long-term follow-up data on an innovative program in counselor education and (b) to obtain data that could be used in curriculum and program modification.

A Follow‐Up Study of School Counseling Graduates Specializing in Work with Hearing Impaired Clients

“…The respondents' desire for additional knowledge in substance abuse, assessment, marriage and family counseling, and other special topics illustrates not only that problems covered by these areas occur among hearing impared populatons (with whom almost all of the respondents were working), but also that school counselors are asked to respond to a wide variety of situations within their job settings. Berg and Landreth (1980) made a similar observation in their study of undergraduate guidance majors.…”

Baccalaureate Programs in Counseling: Follow‐up and Implications

“…As suggested by this article and by Berg & Landreth (1980), a substantial number of graduates of baccalaureate programs in counseling are finding their skills and competencies to be marketable in the broad area-of human services occupations. The conclusion that counselor education programs "would be well advised to broaden the scope of their curricula to accommodate students who want to work in a variety of agency settings" (Berg & Landreth, 1980, p. 181) seems logical.…”

“…Since 1973, the department of Counseling and Personnel Services of the College of Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC) has been involved, like several institutions, most notably North Texas State University (Berg & Landreth, 1980), in the training and preparation of helping professionals at the undergraduate level.…”