GROUP COUNSELLING, ROLE PERCEPTIONS, AND CAREER PLANS

Abstract

Young women enrolled in teacher education and about to enter their first teaching positions generally face a number of questions concerning their roles as teachers and their commitments to the profession. As they approach applying for their first positions, they are likely to wonder about their self-confidence and teaching skills, become dubious of their preparedness, and ponder the importance of the profession to them as persons and as women.

With this as background, researchers in the McGill Faculty of Education invited selected students in their second year of the two year Diploma program to participate in group counselling sessions to discuss their present interests and concerns as well as their plans for the future. Late in 1968, counsellors attempted to help experimental subjects in small groups develop an atmosphere that would encourage them to think about and discuss their interests, concerns and aspirations.

The project had two objectives. The first was to discover the major topics of interest and concern expressed by these women students in counselling groups. The second objective was to evaluate the effects of the group counselling in terms of the participants' changes in their concepts of the role of the teacher and in terms of their plans for employment and/or education after completing the program.