By ‘Guidance’ we mean “assistance to a student in making his own choice, in connection with critical situations in his life in such a way as to ensure continual growth in ability for self direction”.
Thus guidance means helping students to know himself and his environment and to prosecute his studies in such a way that he may be benefitted in later life. A commerce student be given necessary guidance specially vocational guidance. For vocational guidance to be effective it must be related to students’ educational, emotional, health physical, moral, financial and personal needs.
Although guidance implies services for the whole field of youth’s problems, more emphasis should be placed on vocational and educational guidance for commerce students.
Need and importance of guidance for the commerce students
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At present our Colleges and universities which prepare the students are not giving due consideration to achieving the vocational efficiency in the students. Some steps were taken in this direction with the introduction of Higher Secondary System of Education. This systems provides an opportunity for developing vocational skills among students
Due to this change in outwork it became essential to start guidance services and such services were started by most of the higher secondary schools in our country. Though we need trained persons for providing guidance but in the absence of such persons the teachers are expected to play an important role and help the students for making a right choice of courses keeping in view the future career that the student wish to undertake. It clearly brings about the need of guidance services which are so important for the students.
Importance of Guidance
Emphasizing the importance of guidance the Secondary Education Commission observed, ‘The provision of diversified courses of instructions impose on teachers and school administrators the additional responsibility of giving proper guidance to pupils in their choice of courses and careers. The secret of good educations consists in enabling the student to realise what are his talents and aptitudes and what manner and to what extent he can best develop then so as to achieve proper social adjustment and seek right types of employments.” The subject of ‘guidance’ has gained much importance in America and majority of schools in that country have provided for such services.
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It is essential to make clear that educational and vocational guidance is not to be considered as a mechanical process by which advisers and teachers sort out boys and girls just in the same fashion as is done by a grading machine for sorting out apples.
Guidance is really speaking, helping the boys and girls to plan their future wisely after giving a thoughtful consideration to various factors. Guidance in not at all confined to the vocational field only rather it covers that whole gamut of problems of youth. Guidance is needed by the youth at every stage and for this he can be helped by his parents, teachers school administrators, guidance officers etc.
Principles of guidance
For efficient running of guidance services for commerce students it is essential that commerce teachers are fully acquainted with some basic principles of guidance. He should keep these principles in mind while working with his students. Some of these are as follows:
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Principles of Self- direction: It implies that it is the student who makes the decision and not the other way round (i.e. the teacher makes the decision). It limits the role of teacher just to provide data, information and courage to the student so as to help him in taking a decision.
Principle of Time Factor: A students needs a lot of time for taking a decision.
Principle of Identification: It requires that the guidance teacher makes a thorough study of every aspect of the individual student and gives due recognition to his personal qualities.
Principles of Social Contact: For a successful guidance officer, it is essential that he keeps himself in sufficient social contact with business community, other sources capable of providing for enrichment of vocational skills of his students. He must also have contacts with educational institutions of higher learning and the various options available at such institutes.
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Principle of Adjustment: It requires the guidance teacher to provide guidance services by adjusting to school programme especially for those students whose first section of streams appears to be unsatisfactory.
Principles of Effective Use: It requires the guidance teacher to teach the students, to make a critical study of the resources available as also various positions available, keeping in view the students attitude and ability.
Principles of Continuity: It requires that the guidance teacher maintains a contact with his students even after they have left the institution.
Thus we can conclude that following points be borne in mind in connection with educational and vocational guidance:
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(i) Personal differences of pupils be recognised, understood and given due consideration.
(ii) Accurate, comprehensive and continuous information about occupation and institutions of higher study should be collected and made available to the students.
(iii) Vocational and educational guidance should be made available to the individual pupil at different stages.
(iv) Care is taken to see that students do not decide upon a vocation too early.
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Scope of Guidance
According to Crow and Crow, guidance is not direction. It is not making decision for other individual. “Guidance is assistance made available by competent counselors to an individual of any stage to help him direct his own life, develop his own point of view, make his own decisions and carry on his own burdens.”
According to Jones, ‘The focus of guidance is that individual, not his problem, its purpose is to promote the growth of the individual in self-direction”.
It can be said that “All guidance is education but all education is not guidance”.
Clarifying the relationship between guidance and education, Trawler says, “Ideally conceived guidance enables each individual to understand his abilities and interests to develop them as well as possible, to relate them to life goals and finally to reach a state of complete and mature self-guidance as a desirable citizen of a democratic social order.”
In school guidance teacher is more concerned to help the students in choosing a course of study, choosing a career and in solving certain problems relating to personal and social adjustment. For this purpose various types of tests and inventories are used. Guidance becomes a sub-process of education “Which distributes responsibilities among teachers, counselors, specialists, pupils & parents and which encourages close working relationships among them”.
Role of teacher in guidance
To get maximum benefit from the guidance service in the schools the role of teacher is very important. For starting the guidance services the commerce teacher should adopt the following points:
(i) He should collect information about jobs available for students who can apply as and when they become eligible.
(ii) He should make a list of these jobs along with the conditions and other information about the jobs for prospects of the students.
(iii) He should make a thorough survey of the community for use in guidance section.
(iv) He should make job analysis which should contain minimum requirements, promotional patterns, the qualities and qualifications required for each type of the job.
(v) He should make formal contacts with the employers, business houses, Government offices, etc.
(vi) He should collect detailed information’s regarding different types of institutions of higher education in commerce.
(vii) He should supply the information’s to students and their parents through proper channels.
The commerce teacher who is acting as guidance officer could be successful only if he has with him much information about his students. Such information is helpful to the teacher in understanding the needs and problems of his students. In this way he will be able to act as a good guidance officer.
Qualities of Good Guidance Officer
Before going to discuss qualities of guidance officer it is appropriate to familiarize ourselves with the objectives of guidance services.
From the individuals point of view these aims and objectives are as follows:
(i) To help the individual to acquire up to his own capacity and to gain satisfaction in as many aspects of his life as possible.
(ii) To help the individual in solving his problems.
(iii) To enable the individual to make wise choices and adjustments after making correct interpretation of the tact’s available.
(iv) To assist the individual to live a well-balanced life in all respects-physical, intellectual, emotional, mental and social.
Keeping in view the objectives to be attained a good guidance officer is expected to possess the following qualities:
(i) He must have as understanding of young people and their problems.
(ii) He should have a special training in good counselling methods, mental hygiene and indiscriminating use of tests and school records.
(iii) For providing successful vocational guidance he should have an accurate knowledge of occupational opportunities and requirements.
(iv) He should find ample time for conferences with pupils, parents and employers.
(v) He should be familiar with the programmes of the school.
(vi) He should have the capacity to work in close cooperation with other teachers.