Aarushi Global School counselors are vital members of the  AGS education team. They help all students in the areas of academic achievement, personal/social development, and career development to ensure our students become the productive, well-adjusted adults of tomorrow.

Need for School Counselling

We live in a world that is changing constantly. These changes create complex challenges for students as they anticipate their future. A rapidly changing work world and labor force; violence in homes, schools, and communities; divorce; teenage suicide; substance abuse; and sexual experimentation are just a few examples of the complex challenges students face today. They are not abstract aberrations. They are real and have and will continue to have substantial impact on the personal/social, career, and academic development of students.

As these and other changes are taking place in society, our Ags counseling programs and services help students deal effectively with these complex challenges.

Aarushi Global School have made important strides in class-size reduction, higher academic standards, greater accountability and improved teacher preparation. The important missing link in these initiatives to improve student learning is the need for more school counselors and other student support services, such as school psychologists, school social workers, special educators, and school nurses. In many schools, students’ access to counselors varies by grade level, and many have no counseling programs at all. When counseling programs exist, counselors are often asked to add administrative duties such as testing, supervising and class scheduling, or teach subjects such as general knowledge and social studies.

AGS counseling are in three domains: academic, career and personal/social. These services and programs help students resolve emotional, social or behavioral problems and help them develop a clearer focus or sense of direction.

Effective counseling programs are important to the school climate and a crucial element in improving student achievement.

A more accurate description is to describe them as professionally trained people with a mental health perspective who help students, parents, and teachers solve problems. They understand and respond to the challenges presented by today’s diverse student population. Professional school counselors serve a vital role in maximizing student achievement.

Benefit of AGS Counseling Centre

• Academic support, including organizational, study, and test-taking skills
• Goal setting and decision-making
• Career awareness, exploration and planning
• Education on understanding self and others
• Peer relationships, coping strategies, and effective social skills
• Communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution
• Substance abuse education
• Sex education
• Individual and small-group counseling
• Individual/family/school crisis intervention
• Conflict resolution
• Consultation/collaboration
• Referrals
• Professional development
• Consultation, collaboration and teaming
• Program management and operation

AGS Counselors collaborate with**:

• Parents

  • Parent education
  • Communication/networking
  • Academic planning
  • Behaviour management
  • College/career awareness programs
  • One-on-one parent conferencing
  • Interpretation of assessment results

• Teachers

  • Classroom guidance activities
  • Behavioral management plans
  • At-risk student identification and implementation of interventions to enhance success
  • Administrators
  • School climate
  • Behavioral management plans
  • School-wide needs assessments
  • Student data and results
  • Student assistance team building

• Students

  • Peer education
  • Life skills education
  • Peer support
  • Academic support
  • Leadership development
  • Crisis interventions
  • Referrals
  • Support groups
  • Career education

Appropriate Activities

• individual student academic program planning
• interpreting cognitive, aptitude and achievement tests
• counseling students who are tardy or absent
• counseling students who have disciplinary problems
• counseling students as to appropriate school dress
• collaborating with teachers to present guidance, life skills, and sex education curriculum lessons
• providing teachers with suggestions for better classroom management
• assisting the school principal with identifying and resolving student issues, needs and problems
• working with students to provide small- and large group counseling services
• advocating for students, particularly those with special needs

Inappropriate Activities 

• registration and scheduling of all new students
• administering cognitive, aptitude, and achievement tests
• responsibility for signing excuses for students who are tardy or absent
• performing disciplinary actions
• sending students home who are late or are not appropriately dressed
• duties of an assistant class teacher
• teaching classes when teachers are absent (substitution work)
• examination – related duties
• undertake duties relating to school trips, sports and cultural meets, etc.
• maintaining student records
• supervising classrooms, dining halls, study halls, etc.
• clerical record keeping
• assisting with duties in the principal’s office
• preparation of remedial or special educational programs for those with special needs

Conclusion

A vision for guidance and counseling in the 21st Century is fully implemented comprehensive guidance and counseling programs in AGS , serving all students and their parents, staffed by active, involved school counselors. When guidance and counseling is conceptualized, organized, and implemented as a program, it places school counselors conceptually and structurally in the center of education and makes it possible for them to be active and involved. As a result, guidance and counseling becomes an integral and transformative program, not a marginal and supplemental activity. It provides AGS school counselors with the structure, time, and resources to fully use their expertise.