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by Nihal Cooray-Director General, National Authority on Teacher Education

I am concerned in this article with the central role of counselling in training, the training particularly of teachers. I wish to argue, in particular that while in the trainer-trainee partnership the trainer lends an important form of support to the student-trainees in a training course he or she also acts as a constraint which can undermine the value of training activities for the processes of trainee development.

The trainer-trainee model has the following inherent weakness.

(a) The over powering influence of the trainer on the trainee very often stifles freedom and creativity of the trainee.

(b) The theoretical constructs provided by the knowledge and understanding of a particular subject trainer may not always reflect in its entirety in the students - trainee's performance in the classroom.

(c) The student trainee's inability to get spontaneous advice, guidance and support from the trainer. This would very often leave the trainee with frustration and disappointment.

(d) The absence of the trainer who is required to assess and monitor the professional skills of the trainee for the purpose of continuous improvement of some key aspects of his professional growth.

(c) The inability of the trainee to make decisions and choices of his own in certain critical stages of a series of lessons of a subject.

Vital element

On a teacher training course, the teacher trainer or teacher educator may provide all the essential theoretical knowledge of the subject content and its associated methodology. But counselling or supervision forms a vital element in all kinds of job-related training. However difficult it may be to design and implement theoretical training programs for various jobs, it is still our conviction that the greatest challenge in this area is to achieve an appropriate program for helping trainees put into practice their theoretical knowledge and their acquired skills in the actual job situation. In too many training programs, theoretical and practical training tend to live independent lives, and it is more or less let to the student to bridge the gap between the two. Counselling is supposed to assist the student in doing so, but in our system there is a long way to go yet before appropriate standards have been reached.

Why is counselling preferred to supervision or mentoring? Supervision or mentoring implies a distinct superior/subordinate relationship which may reflect the situation in some parts of pre-service training programs adequately, but not at all when it comes to in-service training. Counselling on the other hand, carries a meaning of a psychological perspective, which is not our prime concern. However we have chosen this term to denote the process of facilitating the professional development of teachers, whether they are teacher-training students, teachers at various levels of the educational system or instructors outside the formal education system.

Counselling is an activity within the wider framework of the process of qualifying for a profession or a specific job, through training or vocational practice. In fact counselling is an ancient method of introducing a novice into a trade and passing on the skills from one generation to the other. For a long time it was the only way to train craftsmen. It is still a teaching method of high reputation, although sophisticated modern training programs contain a wider variety of learning processes and teaching methods.

Judging from current practices, little training and few guidelines are apparently required to counsel students under training.

It is only quite recently that special training has been required for people taking on such a function. Normally a skilled person is considered competent to supervise or counsel as long as he knows the job.

While teaching in so many cases takes the form of transmitting information, with the teacher occupying the leading role, counselling is a form of training in which the learner is placed in focus. The counsellor cannot limit his task to the transmission of his own understanding but must take the skills, knowledge and values of the learner as the point of departure.

Counselling is also characterised by close and direct contact between supervisor and learner. In this respect, it provides a favourable learning environment for learning. At the same time it implies that those taking part get fairly close to each other in matters of personal significance. Counselling therefore, requires a specific strategy and particular skills compared to other teaching methods.

empathy and skills

It would be extremely useful to know what skills need to be developed by counsellors and how they should be used. I shall here deal only with the skills. Everyone has a wide range of communication skills. When these skills are put together they make up a counselling style. People may have a variety of styles they can adopt, but tend to have a preferred style for use in interaction with others. Discovering one's own counselling skill helps explain how we interact with others and conduct relationships at work. Listening in addition to talking is a key counselling skill and one of the aspects valued by most people. Much of our time with people is spent in understanding them and this involves a listening or what is sometimes called a "receiving" mode of communication.

Combining empathy with probing is a strong formula for helping people to find the courage to tackle their problems at work. Empathy with probing tells people that we really care about them but we are not going to accept the situation at its face value. Empathy is the communication that understands the other person's thoughts, behaviour and feelings from their viewpoint, not our own. It is a counselling skill that you will need for the effective freeing of human resources. Combining empathy with probing permits counsellors to be both caring and critical. All the literature on the process of counselling affirms the view that counselling is a 'person centred activity'. The outcome goals of counselling must not simply be defined by what to do. More primarily, we should be counselling in terms of what is being brought about as a result of working with others.

One of the main purposes of counselling is to know how well a person is doing. We know how well a person is doing by what they say about themselves, what others say, and our perception of them as people. All of this is further strengthened and is put into perspective when we keep appropriate records. The records provide us with objective information to balance up our subjective impressions of others.

Everybody has a point of view but not everyone has the same viewpoint on a problem and how it might be solved. Learning to appreciate each other's point of view gives us the basic for valid action. It is important both to see and hear another person's viewpoint. It is no good saying 'I see what you mean' or 'I hear what you say' unless you genuinely understand the other person and they know you understand them. If it is a training group the participants have to listen to and understand the individual's point of view. This should be done even though you might think the individuals' point of view needs to be challenged. It is essential to hear the other person's point of view accurately.

Practical theory

'Practical theory' refers to a person's private, integrated but ever changing system of knowledge, experience and values which is relevant to teaching practice at any particular time.

This means, first of all, that 'theory' in this sense is a personal construct which is continuously established in the individual through a series of diverse events (such as practical experience, reading, listening, looking at other peoples' practice) which are mixed together or integrated with the changing perspective provided by the individuals' values and ideals. It is a complex 'bundle' of all these elements. It is indeed a 'practical' theory primarily functioning as a basis or background against which action must be seen, and not as a theoretical and logical 'construct' aimed at the scientific purpose of explanation, understanding or prediction. Personal experiences in practical teaching situations (as teacher or as pupil) will differ from person to person, even though the same general kind of experience is common to many individuals. The books read or the lectures listened to may be identical for many students at a Teachers' College. Nevertheless, the knowledge gain, an the meaning and the consequences extracted from these sources, will vary among them. We use the term 'practical theory' to refer to the indefinite number of 'bundles' of knowledge, experiences and values which have been and are continuously established in people related to teaching (or to educational practice generally).

In education, a role perspective can often be a powerful analytical tool. It may have strong implications for understanding the interplay between teachers and pupils, teachers and parents, etc. and - which is our concern here - between counsellors and teachers.

Some of the roles that may be identified in education are complementary ones: defining one implies at least partly the definition of the other. If a teacher more or less deliberately divides on the way she wants to act as teacher, she is not only defining her own role but is prescribing roles of her pupils as well. Understanding roles implies, among other things, familiarity with the situation in which role behaviour takes place.

When analysing a teaching session, it is useful to distinguish between what the teacher has planned to occur and what the teaching actually turns out to be. Teacher intentions are seldom expressed clearly.

Teaching situations differ as to how much the teacher can decide for herself and how much is left to others to decide. In most cases a lot of decisions are self made. An important way through which we, as teachers, gain experience is by comparing and reflecting upon disparities between pre-made intentions and teaching realities.

It must be added that rather different opinions exist as to how thoroughly teaching sessions ought to be planned. There are dangers involved in thorough planning (rigidity, inflexible teacher behaviour, scarce allowance for student influence) as there are when planning is deficient or completely absent. Even minimum planning may be advantageous, giving opportunities for creativity, commitment and involvement.

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