Counselling, Definition and Scope
Counselling, the Encyclopaedia of Education tells us, is the process of helping
people to change their behaviour in the direction they choose. In any educational system
today the focus is on the learner. As such, every institution must direct its efforts
towards providing the best mix of objectives, methods and evaluative systems for the
learner. However, very often the learner's reasons for enrolling in the course, her level
of personal attainment, ambitions and the requirements of the course, work at
cross-purposes creating a sense of insecurity. On such occasions counselling or guidance
can be of direct help in understanding lessons, making a choice of subjects for social
adjustment and for meeting the requirements of the course. In Distance Education, the term
'counselling' and the concept cannot be described as neatly or as succintly. The reasons
are many. The teaching learning situations are different and so are the teachers and
learners in these systems. The field and its processes are at an evolutionary stage and a
certain degree of ambiguity attaches to them. Thus the 'counselling' of psychotherapy,
vocational guidance cells and academic tutoring are all subsumed under the cover term
'counselling' as it is used in distance teaching institutions.
Distance Education and Counselling
Distance Education made its formal appearance in India in the early sixties but the
idea of an Open University which provides greater opportunities for using various types of
instructional modes, is of more recent origin. Within the latter system, there are
different ways of reaching out to the learners—through printed course materials which
are specially prepared in the self-instructional format, through radio-broadcasts, audio
and video lessons; through letters and telephone calls; and by providing select occasions
for direct communication with the Tutors, Counsellors or Co-ordinators at a study centre.
Distance education is a conceptually different form of study from conventional or
formal education. Intended primarily for those who have not entered the conventional
system, it must cater to a different set of learners. The differences are social,
psychological and academic. Learners in this system are those who have been branded as
'socially disadvantaged' in having missed the opportunity for a formal education. These
learners face many hurdles in restarting their educational ventures and need constant
support both moral and academic. Furthermore, the educational network in a distance
teaching institution is such that it tends to look extremely complex to one who is not
initiated into its working. This complexity of the system adds to the learners'
bewilderment. Bureaucratic processes baffle the learner who is isolated from the
institution and her peers and is unsure of herself. In response to felt needs arising from
such an environment the university needs to make use of 'counselling' sessions. The
institution thus renders a service to the learner to help her clarify her objectives,
overcome difficulties of various sorts, and accept life in its many facets.
Education and Women
When we examine the role of education and women's relationship with it certain crucial
issues are raised. Education has long been a means of exploitation of certain classes of
society and on account of socio-cultural attitudes, women have been deprived of the
opportunity for education. Whether it be in providing access to education or transfer of
technology, the gender bias has prevailed and women have had a raw deal in India as in
other countries, suffering from the impact of negative conditioning. Thompson (1983)
speaking of women and adult education, shows how in the planning, design and production of
courses, the focus has been on what is traditionally recognized as women's work i.e.
childcare, beauty-care, household, food and nutrition, interior decoration and management
of the house. The language used in courses for women has further reinforced such thinking.
As a result, the traditional myths about women's roles and responsibilities have continued
to weigh down upon them despite their exposure to higher education and development. Such
conditioning causes latent complexes to surface when the learner experiences problems and
has to take recourse to counselling.
Distance Education and Women
The distance learner in India, particularly the woman distance learner is no privileged
student devoting her time to her study or her career interests only. She is surrounded by
a multitude of academic and non-academic concerns. At the centre of the figure above is
the woman learner surrounded in the immediate environment by such difficulties as are
study-related. She may find the concepts difficult to understand and the language
unintelligible. A gap in her educational background may also have created a certain degree
of anxiety and reticence. She may lack the requisite study skills. Then she may experience
more specific problems such as not knowing how to answer an assignment or feeling tense
and worried before an examination. But, surrounding this area of the academic environment
is the sphere of non-academic concerns. In addition to personal demotivating forces and
lack of concentration, the student must face institutional problems such as delays in the
receipt of materials and communication (gaps, physical problems such as not having a
suitable place to study in; problems related to her cultural ethos such as having to bear
the burden of household responsibilities, the problems of the family, such as a child's
ill-health etc. She may also not have the economic freedom to decide to start or continue
tertiary education, official or career-related work and a generally non-supportive
attitude around her might make the woman distance learner's task more difficult than that
of her male counterpart.
The socio-cultural environment around her is such that she labours under a complex if
she takes time off for study. We can explain that this is on account of her unconscious
acceptance of her roles in society as a woman and in her home as a parent as primary.
Study is seen against such responsibilities as only a secondary priority which draws her
away from her main task in life. Faith (1988) affirms this when she mentions that we need
to "appreciate that many female students including those who are employed have
primary or sole responsibility as parents" (p. 78). The state of affairs in India is
graver since the socio-cultural environment is much more traditional and the woman more
"homebound" than women in the west.
Wherever there is a certain degree of liberation from traditional statues regarding
women and education, education is seen as a lesser evil and a safe diversion for women.
Women, the men feel, are better occupied in study than in other recreations. Thompson
(1983) discusses the idea that educational involvement is permitted for a woman only as a
recreational avenue. It is only after attending to her housework, her husband and her
children that she is permitted to turn to study, so much so that the advent of a guest is
an immediate occasion for her to return to household work from which she had temporarily
drawn herself away to attend tutorial sessions at the college.
Counselling for Women Distance Learners
Counselling in the educational context has been defined as the advice, help and support
given to students to enable them to make satisfactory progress in this system. We shall
relate this broad definition to the difficulties and pressures experienced by women
distance learners and try to see how counselling can help them to progress satisfactorily
towards their goals or at least arrive at a reconciliation between the complex roles in
their lives.
In the Open University system counselling is of two types, group counselling and
individual counselling. Group counselling could be organised both for academic and
non-academic purposes:
- Study sills
- Clarification of doubts
- Discussion of salient points in lessons
- Study patterns
- Planning time
Academic Counselling
Weekend contact opportunities are provided to distance learners, in the Open
Universities. These are primarily intended to be occasions for the clarifications of
doubts and for interacting with one's counsellors and peers. The most common complaint of
the counsellors who 'teach' at these sessions is that their learners do not ask for
clarifications of doubts. The expectations of the learners are very different from those
of the counsellors or academic tutors. There is a tendency on the part of learners to
expect lectures on the subject rather than to make a prior reading of the text and to go
to the counselling sessions to get particular points discussed. Women learners,
particularly, are unable to take time off from their chores and read the lessons before
attending counselling sessions. The need to critically read the lessons is also not felt.
The main reason for this appears to be a lack of proper orientation to the role of the
learner in this system. An assurance that the counselling session is a session where
individual responses will be acceptable and welcome, needs to be made by the organiser of
the session such that gradually preconceived notions of teacher and taught give way to a
counseller-learner relationship where sharing and caring are the key words. In the case of
women, group tutorial sessions for academic support are marked by similar issues as had
been mentioned above:
- inhibitions regarding attending such sessions arise due to reasons which are often
non-academic e.g. age, shyness or account of gap in study;
- fear, diffidence regarding one's own abilities;
- lack of means of expression often because of reduced exposure to such environments;
- feeling, of disorientation in the strange surroundings, lack of a sense of belonging.
Such attitudes often come in the way of study patterns and need careful and discrete
handling. Once the counsellor establishes a rapport with the learners and helps them face
their problems squarely, they can become quite competent at individualized study.
Non-academic Group Counselling
In the experiences recounted by Carl Rogers (1983) the group counselling mode is used
for establishing better links with learners and helping them in overcoming their personal
problems. Rogers (1983) describes the strategies employed in non-academic group
counselling "encounter" sessions. Such sessions, however, may not be suitable
for the conditions prevailing among women distance learners in India. Here individual
counselling would be more appropriate particularly in view of socio-cultural attitudes and
the unconsciously developed biases. Socio-cultural taboos prevent learners from meeting in
a group and discussing matters which are personal. Thus a group encounter is very uncommon
for non-academic counselling or guidance. Women learners do not externalise their personal
concerns or even admit them to themselves. Cases such as the ones cited by Kamala (1989)
where the women distance learners are under pressure from members of their family to
discontinue their studies are not uncommon. It is however quite rare for a counsellor to
get an opportunity to approach and counsel members of the students' family. Thus group
counselling for more or less generalisable concerns and individual counselling for
personal problems would seem to be the most appropriate.
Case Studies
In order to illustrate exactly how women learners with either general or specific
problems reach out to the institution or its representative and vice versa, at this stage,
I propose to recount some case studies.
Case study—1
Mrs. Jasbir: "I was brought up in a very conservative atmosphere. We were
practically kept 'underground'. Our house had large basements where women, particularly
unmarried women, had to stay all the time. We were not allowed to speak loudly or walk
with a hasty step. The bangles we wore had to be tight so that the jingling sound could
not be heard by the men outside. For eighteen years I lived in such conditions in my
father's house learning only the 'womanly' qualities—cooking and feeding the men and
looking after the house. I came to this city when I was twenty (that too by chance—I
had to help my sister during her delivery because my mother could not leave the house and
go to attend on her)."
Mrs. Jasbir is a fifty-two year old student of the undergraduate course. She is an
excellent cook and makes pickles and chutneys most effortlessly. Five years ago, her
children (three of them, one a manager in a reputed firm, the other an engineer and the
third, a daughter studying for M.D.) persuaded her to join the Open University. But her
confidence had been eroded by her upbringing and her environment. She says "I can't
go on! I'm far too old to study. I just can't remember anything. After all, I don't want
to take up a job or anything. Maybe I should just give up studies or limp through them
taking one exam at a time".
Case study—2
Mrs. Meena is a young and energetic lady. She had enrolled herself in a conventional
college but could not attend classes regularly because she had to stay at home to look
after her three-month old son. This year her mother has enrolled herself in the BA
Programme of the Open University through the non-formal stream, Mrs. Meena wonders if she
too can join this 'new' type of University where attendance is not compulsory and she can
do other things.
Ms. Meena: "Madam, do you think that I can join your University? I am just not
able to attend classes at the college, I'm falling short of attendance ... and then, I
want to join my husband in the States in another two years. I want to learn computer
languages and typing also in that time. And, I may even have to leave at short notice and
come to take the examination later ... Can you help me, please?"
Case study—3
Counselling through correspondence: Learner to Counsellor
Dear Madam,
I'm sorry to trouble you, but, do you mind if I write to you from time to time? I stay
so far away and we don't get any news of developments there. Sometimes I don't even
receive letters from the University in time!
My examination registration form, for example. I could only barely manage to send in
the registration form before the last date. When I wrote to the Examination Branch they
told me I should have watched out for the newspaper notifications. How can I? I stay in
another State and don't get the local newspapers so, please, can I write to you or speak
to you over the phone?
Case study—4
Counselling through correspondence: Counsellor to Learner:
Dear Ms. Lakshmi,
I have gone through your second assignment and am glad that you have made considerable
improvement. Congratulations, Your elaboration of the points on page 4 and your examples
to illustrate them are also good. The only suggestion I have to make is that you could
have organized your ideas more carefully mentioning the general ones first and then gone
on to the detailed elaboration of each. Had you done so you could have secured a higher
grade. For the present, I can only award you a 'B' grade. I do hope you will bear my
suggestions in mind the next time. Wishing you all the best.
Case study—5
Mrs. Rashmi is a fairly confident-looking lady who has bravely shouldered the
responsibilities of her family of three after an unfortunate separation from her husband.
She has painstakingly gone through the undergraduate course and has successfully completed
her postgraduate teacher-training programme. For advice in her personal, professional and
academic concerns she turns to the counsellor in whom she hopes to find not just a guide
and mentor but also a friend to share her joys and sorrows.
"I want your prayers, Madam, I have to undergo an emergency operation" she
pleads. "I wanted you to be the first to know—I've got a new job".
Hello,
Madam, I called to ask you for some advice. Do you think I should enroll as an external
student for the P.G. Programme of the University? Do you think it will improve my career
prospects?
Identifying Areas for Counselling:
If we analyse these cases to identify the problems faced by the students and their need
for counselling we would come up with a set of lists of the kind given below:
Case study—1
- Low self-esteem
- Lack of confidence because of advancing age and a reduced academic exposure
- Anxiety regarding examinations
- Conditioning about failing memory
- Inadequate or improper study skills
The counsellor here would have to function mainly as a psychotherapist does. She would
have to revise the learner's opinion of her own abilities, and suggest ways of improving
her study skills such as making notes, using non-textual means for retention of details
etc. Some counselling about time-planning and pacing of study could also help. A
relationship of friendly concern and guidance about prioritizing her concerns will help
the learner overcome her pre-conceived notions of age and failing memory.
Case study—2
- Non-formal type of education is attractive because it has fewer restrictions in terms of
time and place of study.
- Desire to be a part-time learner because of social, domestic and other commitments.
- Desire to use the system at her own convenience, take examinations when she wants to.
Here, the subject is a prospective distance learner who is attracted to the idea of an
education which does not place restrictions of time and place. The counsellor's function
in this case will be largely one of a representative of the institution who familiarizes
the entrant with the scheme of operations. A clear knowledge of rules and regulations and
the ability to communicate them is what would be required of the counsellor.
Case study—3
- The learner is far away from the institution, and faces the isolation of a distance
learner.
- Desire to feel part of a system and institution.
- Bureaucratic set-up baffles the individual.
- Inability to cope with normal delays in a large organisation.
- A non-urgent contact is desired for a reassuring and encouraging feeling.
This learner experiences some of the common problems of distance learners. She needs
the reassurance that the institution cares for her and will assist her in her study. The
bureaucratic machinery which expects her to follow the rules to the letter could
demotivate her. The counsellor would have to play the role of a friend and guide who is
approachable and who will if need be, protect the interests of her subject representing
her case sympathetically to the institution.
Case study—4
This is the comment received by the learner on an assignment response. Here the
counsellor has done the following things:
- Acknowledged the positive features of the work.
- Established a personal communication.
- Explained the grade given.
- Evaluated the work in terms of other such responses.
- Graded the answer.
Here the counsellor's comment on an assignment response establishes the conditions for
a personal dialogue. At the same time she provides the learner an insight into the
specific requirements of the assignment. She provides the "bench marks" (Sewart,
l987) for the learner to assess herself and offers encouragement for the positive features
of the work done.
Case study—5
- A case of post-programme counselling where guidance is desired
- Need for a friendly word of assurance
- Desire to share her moments of joy or tribulation
Here, again, the counsellor plays the role of advisor and friend but also provides the
learner an opportunity to unburden herself in moments of grief. Though she may not be able
to provide solutions or remedies, the counsellor can show concern by listening to the
learner patiently and expressing warmth and sympathy. |
