Guidance Counselor—outdated term still in use by some persons unaware of the language change in NYC and still used by UFT and UFT contract language Angela Reformato-Solomon, the UFT chapter leader, produced a collaborative brochure using SCHOOL Guidance Counselor in 2007, so change is slowly occurring).  Preferred term around the USA, for New York state, the state certification and places in NY where folks have a strong professional identity:  SCHOOL COUNSELOR.

There are multiple definitions of guidance that are not helpful in today’s current environment:

·            A. DIRECTING which students should get the best courses, best teachers, and who receives college-prep coursework and career/college information and who does not.  Professional school counseling programs are about ensuring that all students get what they need in terms of access and success.

·                    B. Guidance counselors and guidance programs have too often ignored the needs of poor and working class students, students of color, students with disabilities, and English-language learners.

·                    C. To guide means to direct and professional school counselors and programs offer education, counseling, information, advocacy, collaboration, and choice-making, which are all non-directive.  There are times, however, when a directive approach may be indicated, depending on the cultural identities of the student/client/parent/family/educator involved.

·                    D. Guidance originated with career education and career counseling and career development. This is only one-third of what school counselors should do (and in most schools much less than one third of their work) and so the “G-word” is not accurate as a reference.

·                    E. In an era of budget-cutting in schools, school counselors and school counseling programs need to show evidence that hey have state-of-the art programs for students that show demonstrable results and use current language and methods However, one place where many people in the profession still use guidance is in reference to school counseling curriculum lessons, or guidance lessons.  Better to update language to refer to school counseling curriculum lessons as some current authors do (Schmidt, Stone & Dahir, Lewis, Chen-Hayes, & Jackson).

·                    F. School counselors work with every student and the entire school.  Many “guidance” counselors traditionally only worked with students who came into the office or whom they sought out on their own.

·                    G. Have you ever heard of a guidance social worker or a guidance psychologist? From the start school social workers and school psychologists’ titles and roles have been seen as working system-wide in a school and school counselors and school counseling program language shares the same school-wide focus for all students.

·                    H. Guidance has often referred, incorrectly, to college counseling and college development for high school students, and has often meant that students who weren’t seen as “college-bound” or “college material” received no counseling, development, or assistance, so it has been used in exclusionary ways and still is in some places.

·                    I. Pupil personnel services is a phrase that originated in the late 1950s and while newer than guidance, is much less clear than school counseling program. Student support services, a newer term than either guidance or pupil personnel services, but still problematic, implies that school counseling is merely a supportive function as opposed to an essential part of the school’s academic mission.

Chen-Hayes, S.F. (2008) Lecture notes packet, EDG 700. Bronx, NY: Lehman College/ CUNY