The counseling profession entered the U.S. schoolhouse in the early twentieth century. Up to that time, classroom teachers provided whatever social, personal or career assistance students needed. The school counseling profession began as a vocational guidance movement that emerged from the industrial Revolution at the beginning of the twentieth century. Some negative by-products of the tremendous industrial growth of the period were city slums, ethnic ghettos and apparent neglect of individual rights and integrity. In response to these conditions, proponents of the Progressive Movement, a reaction to the negative effects of industrial growth, advocated for social reform. Vocational guidance was one aspect of this response. For example, in 1895 George Merrill began experimental efforts in vocational guidance at the California School of Mechanical Arts in San Francisco (Miller, 1968). Merrill’s program offered exploratory experiences for students in the occupational trades taught at the California School, and these experiences were accompanied by counseling, job placement, and follow-up services.
Generally, the guidance movement of this period instructed school children, adolescents, and young adults about their moral development, interpersonal relationships, and the world of work. Jesse B. Davis is thought to be the first person to implement a systematic guidance program in the public schools (Gladding, 2000). From 1898 to 1907, he was a class counselor at Central High School in Detroit, Michigan, and was responsible for educational and vocational counseling with eleventh- grade boys and girls. Davis became Principal of a high school in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1907 and at that time began a school wide guidance program. He encouraged his English teachers to include guidance lessons in their composition classes to help students develop character, avoid problem behaviors, and relate vocational interests to curriculum subjects.
Frank Parsons is often mentioned as the ‘’Father of Guidance’’ and is credited by most historians as the person who began the guidance movement in the United States. In 1908, Parsons organized the Boston Vocational Bureau to provide assistance for young people. The bureau was based on Parson’s ideas and plans for vocational guidance, which stressed a scientific approach to Selecting a career (Gysbers and Henderson, 2000). Parsons’ attention to vocational development was framed by his concern about society’s failure to develop resources and services for human growth and development. At the same time, he was concerned about helping young men make the transition from their school years into the world of work. In his book “Choosing a Vocation”, which was published after his death, Parsons (1909) highlighted three essential factors for choosing an appropriate vocation:
(1) Clear self-understanding of one’s aptitudes, abilities, interest, resources and limitations;
(2) Knowledge of the requirements, advantages, disadvantages and compensation for different types of employment; and
(3) An understanding of the relationship between these two groups of facts. This conceptualization of successful career development still holds credence today. Self- understanding and knowledge of one’s career interests go hand in hand for a person to be successful in life.
Parson’s plan also includes training counselors to help young students with vocational development. Nine months after establishing the vocational bureau, he began a program designed to train young men to become vocational counselors and managers of vocational bureaus for YMCAs, few years later, the School Committee of Boston created the first counselor certification program. Requirements for this school counselor’s certificate included study of educational and experience in a vocational school or vocational service. This certification program was eventually adopted by Harvard University as the first college-based counselor education program. Frank Parsons’ work had a significant impact on the vocational guidance Movement. In Boston, the superintendent of schools designated over 100elementary and secondary teachers to become vocational counselors (Nugent, 2000).
Early developments in the guidance movement were complemented by the creation of the National Vocational Guidance Association (NVGA) in 1913.This organization began publishing the National Vocational Guidance Bulletin on a regular basis in 1921. Over the next several decades this publication underwent several name changes, eventually becoming the Career Development Quarterly. In 1952, when NVGA joined with the American Personnel and Guidance Association
(APGA), the personnel and guidance journal became the major publication of this national association of counselor. Later, this publication was renamed the journal of counseling and development of the American Association for Counseling and Development (AACD). The creation of the NVGA is significant because it began the unification and identification of what has become the counseling professional of today. This is especially true for the school counseling profession.
francis1897 answered the question on March 15, 2023 at 12:57