Group_Counseling

Chandra C. Bradley EDU 665 March 4, 2001 Citation: Stein, D.M. and DeBerard, S. (2010). Does holding a teacher education degree make a Difference in school counselor’s job performance' Journal of School Counseling. 8(25). Five Major Points: 1. Are teachers with prior teaching experience more knowledgeable about the structure, dynamics, and politics of schools than non-teacher counselors' 2. Does having a degree in Education verse a degree in liberals art make you a more effective counselor than non-education degree counselors' 3. Are School Personnel Offices and Administrators bias in the hiring of non-teacher school counselors and competency levels' 4. Evaluation of teacher and non-teacher school counselors in relation to gender and school category elementary middle, and high. 5. There needs to be more study on this topic. The purpose of this article is to determine whether those entering into the profession of school counselor from different undergraduate studies are less competent than a teacher who has years of experience or someone who has undergraduate studies in the field of education. The author looks at the hiring practices of by school districts and the evaluations of interns and newly hired school counselors within both backgrounds of study. The results showed that there were very little differences in the performance of teaching and non-teaching counselors due to the proper preparations that non-teacher counselors received in their training programs. But the study did show that when it comes to the hiring of non-teacher counselors that school officials and administration were bias towards hiring school counselors who had not had prior teaching experience. I enjoyed reading this article because it spoke to me applying to the school counselor programs at Freed-Hardeman and the concern that the admission committee had regarding me and not having any prior classroom experience. I also agreed with the author that non-teacher experience does not determine if you will or will not be an effective school counselor. I think that through proper training and determination anyone can succeed in the profession of choice. I also would hate to think that after I have completed my program of study and apply to a school district that I may not be chosen for employment do to me not having prior teaching experience. I would like to think that based on my performance and content knowledge that I obtain through my formal training and internship would fully equipment to perform the duties of an effective school counselor.