Comprehensive Guidance Programs in an International Context.

A picture of comprehensive guidance programs in schools around the world could be of value in stimulating reflection on the different systems and cultures that currently exist. It may even be of value in informing the development of guidance, as it responds to a range of issues in the changing world. The task of creating an international picture clearly presents challenges of language, of selection, and of simplification. This account uses personal contacts and literature reflecting the author's restriction to the English language. It uses accounts which are self-selected, in that the authors cited have worked hard to write and publish. They may create a picture others in the same context do not fully recognize. The risk of creating over-- simple national pictures is also evident. Practice varies significantly both within and between countries, and it is not always clear how this should best be explained. National systems cannot be regarded as fully self-contained, since the amount of "educational borrowing" which goes on around the globe is considerable and, some would say, increasing. But it is not a simple process of exporting or transferring or applying ideas from one place to another. The social life of educational ideas as they travel between countries is worthy of greater study. Diversity in terminology also needs to be recognized. The term comprehensive guidance program derives from the United States. What may be called personal-- social education in England and Wales may be remarkably similar to what is called life skills elsewhere, guidance in another context, or civic education in a fourth. And in the secondary schools of England and Wales the term pastoral care is used: This has no link with sheep or priests, but refers to the systems of tutoring and curricular provision led by teacher colleagues who in the United States would be called homeroom teachers. Across these varying terminologies, I have focused on planned educational programs for school pupils that raise and explore personal-social dimensions of their current and future lives. I have ordered the comments to move from large scale to smaller scale-from national differences and differences in education systems to school differences-and have then proposed some areas for development. National Differences The Christian liberal democratic culture, to which English-speaking nations often attribute the growth of schooling in centuries past, is not the norm around the globe. Notwithstanding the fact that educators in other countries may seek to present their systems as though they were similar to that history, differences in economic condition, social structure, religion, culture, and approach to identity are soon evident. Where levels of wealth are both high and equitably distributed, nations are more likely to have a number of years of schooling for all, and their guidance systems may have come to operate preventatively rather than reactively. Nations where wealth is high but inequitably distributed may operate guidance systems whose primary role is to maintain privilege for the elite (e.g., through selective access to higher education). Liberal and Judaeo-Christian nations are more likely to espouse a view of individual determination and choice for their young people, although those with education systems still reflecting their historical roots in the monastery may claim they do this through the "ethos" rather than through explicit guidance provision. Nations whose religion and culture emphasize paternalism and duty may give comparatively little emphasis to guidance as seen by Western eyes. Although the United States may emphasize selfregard, Japan may emphasis self-criticism (Heine, Lehman, Markus, & Kitayama, 1999) Larger than nations, regional differences exist and sometimes reflect contemporary issues and changes in economic and political conditions. For example, countries of Eastern Europe since the changes of 1989 have shown great interest in an individual liberal approach to curriculum, contrasting with the state-dominated control of their past. …

[1]  E. Hui,et al.  Guidance as a whole school approach in Hong Kong: From remediation to student development , 2000 .

[2]  C. Husbands,et al.  Integrating Pastoral and Academic Work in Comprehensive Schools: A German model , 2000 .

[3]  Chris Watkins,et al.  ‘Now just compose yourselves’ - personal development and integrity in changing times , 2000 .

[4]  C. Watkins The Case for Restructuring the UK Secondary School , 1999 .

[5]  G. MacDonald,et al.  A qualitative developmental analysis of comprehensive guidance programmes in schools in the United States , 1999 .

[6]  D. Reynolds,et al.  Improving Schools: Performance and Potential , 1999 .

[7]  C. Watkins Personal-social education: Beyond the national curriculum , 1999 .

[8]  D. R. Lehman,et al.  Is there a universal need for positive self-regard? , 1999, Psychological review.

[9]  C. Dweck Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development. Essays in Social Psychology. , 1999 .

[10]  G. MacDonald,et al.  The Status of Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling in the United States , 1998 .

[11]  E. Hui Guidance in Hong Kong schools: Students' and teachers' beliefs , 1998 .

[12]  E. Hui,et al.  Stress, Suppport and Psychological Symptoms Among Guidance and Non-Guidance Secondary School Teachers in Hong Kong , 1998 .

[13]  D. Maluwa-Banda School counsellors' perceptions of a guidance and counselling programme in Malawi's secondary schools , 1998 .

[14]  R. Esbroeck The changing role of guidance counsellors in Flanders , 1998 .

[15]  E. Hui,et al.  A Whole-School Approach to Guidance: A Hong Kong Experience , 1997 .

[16]  D. Kwok THE MANAGEMENT STYLE OF DISCIPLINE TEACHERS IN HONG KONG SECONDARY SCHOOLS , 1997 .

[17]  E. Hui,et al.  Teacher stress and guidance work in Hong Kong secondary school teachers , 1996 .

[18]  S. Semple,et al.  Guidance in Secondary Schools. , 1996 .

[19]  Kathleen E. Metz Reassessment of Developmental Constraints on Children’s Science Instruction , 1995 .

[20]  C. Watkins Whole-school guidance? , 1994 .

[21]  Lothar R. Martin Guidance and counselling in various societies: Structures and developments, problems and solutions , 1993 .

[22]  M. Gallagher,et al.  Surveying Adolescent Worries: Development of the ‘Things I Worry About’ Scale , 1993 .

[23]  A. Watts Careers guidance services in a changing Europe , 1992 .

[24]  O. Hargie,et al.  The personal and social worries of adolescents in Northern Ireland: report of a survey , 1992 .

[25]  David Thompson,et al.  Sources of Stress , 1992 .

[26]  R. Sultana Personal and Social Education: Curriculum Innovation and School Bureaucracies in Malta , 1992 .

[27]  T. Eskelinen Guidance counsellor and student perceptions of counselling lessons in Finnish comprehensive school , 1991 .

[28]  A. Watts The impact of the ‘New Right’: Policy challenges confronting careers guidance in England and Wales , 1991 .

[29]  Kenneth J. Gergen,et al.  The Saturated Self , 1991 .

[30]  S. Sarason The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform , 1990 .

[31]  Kazuyuki Hashisako Personal and Social Education in Japan: recent curriculum changes in context , 1990 .

[32]  M. Poole,et al.  Life Skills: Adolescents’ Perceptions of Importance and Competence , 1988 .

[33]  R. Säljö Learning about learning , 1979 .

[34]  D. Hamblin The teacher and counselling , 1974 .

[35]  W. D. Wall The Adolescent Child , 2022 .