Counselling for students

Social problems can be classified as inferiority complex, eccentricism, overdependency,

asocial behavior or delinquency, deviant sexual behavior, amoral behavior and social
outbursts.

The first thing that demands attention in social guidance programme is the improvement of
faculty’s climate. The head of the institution and the heads of the departments should
encourage freedom of expression in students and faculty as a whole should nourish free
interpersonal interaction among the students.

Another crucial role of the faculty who are actively involved in social guidance activity is
inculcating a philosophy of life among students. The development of such life philosophy
should be in accord with democratic ideas. To achieve this objective, classes in human
relations, moral education may be organized. Conducting group counselling sessions are also
helpful for this purpose.

Students have a variety of interest. Provision for different cocurricular activities can meet
their interests. The cocurricular activities may include sports and games both indoor and
outdoor, drama, debates, seminar, musical activities, visit to places, art and sculpture, social
services and the like. The physical education teacher is responsible for organizing sports and
games activities. But, other teachers can help him in organizing such activities.

For cultural activities, the teacher can form a team who will be responsible for organizing
such activities. Students from different classes must be represented in the team. A few
students may neither be interested in sports and games nor in cultural activities. Books and
journals on mental health, sex and moral education, adventure, political and social histories
should be available in the library.

Glasser developed a strategy known as Classroom Meeting Model for solving social
problems. The objectives of this model are: to reduce loneliness in the students and to
promote self-identity in students. It has six phases. These are as follows:

Phase 1: Establishing a climate of involvement.

Phase 2: Exposing the problem for discussion.

Phase 3: Making a Personal Value judgement.

Phase 4: Identify Alternative Courses of Action.

Phase 5: Make Public Commitment.

Phase 6: Behavioral Follow-up.

The teacher behavior is controlled by three principles: Involvement; Non-evaluate attitude

and Alternative courses of action. Several strategies may be used in developing interpersonal
relationship. One such strategy is Sensitivity Training. The objective of sensitivity training is
for individuals to understand (1) how they function in a group situation (2) how a group
functions.

(1) The teacher can also incorporate social problem-solving instruction in other subject
areas:

Literature instruction: have students decide how a book character could solve a problem

Writing: have students write about problems they encounter, solutions they brainstormed,
how they enacted the solution and the outcomes

(2) Further, teachers often have students who

-Maintain academic standards and set goals for academic success
-Develop skills to improve organization, study habits and time management
-Work through personal problems that may affect academics or relationships
-Improve social skills
-Cope with schools or community-related violence accidents and trauma
(3) In conclusion, teaching students to solve a social problem is similar to solving other
types of problems such as in Maths. The teacher should start by teaching explicitly,
each step of the problem-solving process to students and reviews the process often.