Comparative Research on the School Counseling Competency Needs of Elementary and Secondary School Counselors

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze the needs of the school counseling competency of elementary and secondary school counselors in order to ascertain whether there is a difference in the required competencies of school counselors depending on the school level. Methods: An online survey was carried out with 211 school counselors across the country, and 209 responses were utilized for analysis. The competency needs were then analyzed and the priority was determined using the overlap of the Borich’s formula and the The Locus for Focus model. Results: In common with elementary and secondary school counselors, the first priority competency needs were ‘understanding students’ and ‘improvement of professionalism’. ‘professional attitude’ was identified as the first priority competency need in elementary school and identified as the second priority competency need in secondary school. In addition, the ‘theory and technique of counseling’ was the second priority competency need for both elementary and secondary school counselors. On the other hand, ‘parent and teacher consultation’, ‘utilization of community resource’ and ‘communication and cooperation’ were identified as the second priority competencies only for elementary school counselors. For secondary school counselors, ‘role harmonization’ and ‘adaptation to school organization’ were classified as the second priority competencies. Conclusion: Based on the research results, this study was able to derive implications for improving the training curriculum and education for school counselors in areas such as supporting supervision and case study groups for the development of school counselors’ professionalism.