Upgrading Counselor’s Critical Thinking Skills for High School Counselors in Surabaya to Improve Student Problem Solving Readiness during The Pandemic

Abstract

The optimization of counselors in high school during the pandemic must be carried out properly based on the fact that students experience many problems both academic and non-academic during online learning. the transition process from face-to-face learning to online learning requires students to adapt quickly to the situation. Differences in student adaptability create problems for certain students, such as lack of motivation to attend classes which result in decreased academic achievement. In dealing with this problem, counselors are required to have critical thinking skills so that they can analyze the root of the problem and provide appropriate alternative solutions for students as their counselors. Therefore, the workshop is carried out to improve the critical thinking skills of counselors in Surabaya with the hope that they will be able to optimize their role in overcoming student problems. The workshop was followed by a focus group discussion to directly practice critical thinking skills in mapping problems and solutions for students.