Teachers are known to impart knowledge and valuable insights to students, guiding them through school years towards success in life. In today's modern world, guiding students to choose their career paths and giving advice for making sound decisions have become more critical than ever. Although career counsellors play a vital role in sorting students’ interest and preference, teachers interact with students’ everyday and have a special bond of respect and homeliness, so teachers are positioned to offer career guidance and valuable information to students. However, teachers are not formally trained in this area to provide career guidance in place of career counsellors. This is when career counselling for teachers becomes necessary, providing with required skills, information, techniques, and resources to efficiently support students in their decision-making journeys.
Benefits of Career Counselling
Career Counselling offers multiple benefits for teachers, professional growth, effectiveness in teaching, positive influence on students, career opportunities, etc. The main reason for participating in career counselling training is to provide enhanced guidance to students. Career counselling trains teachers for providing career guidance to students, imparting knowledge about industry trends and educational requirement for a particular field. The training provides skills and assessments tools to interpret psychometric tests, to give more personalized career recommendations based on student’s interest, aptitude and strengths. With right career counselling training, teachers can also assist students in their holistic development, teaching life-skills like problem-solving, decision-making and communication skills.
Career counselling training also adds to the professional growth of teachers as well, opening door to new career opportunities. It adds valuable skill set to teacher’s resume, making them a versatile and trained educator. A certified teacher cum counsellor is in high demand in schools due to awareness for counselling. It can also be a stepping stone for teachers who are transitioning from teaching to career counselling, either in a school setup or private practice.
Career counselling can also strengthen the teacher-student relationship, when teachers help students with their future aspirations; this can also improve student participation and classroom dynamics. With effective communication skills, teachers can communicate to student’s parents about their ward’s potential and possible interests, creating a supportive ecosystem for students as well as parents. A teacher with counselling skills, can ease the tension and stress, a student may feel while choosing the right career path for themselves, by providing a structured approach to career planning.
By incorporating counselling with teaching, the teachers can make the class session more relevant to the outer world, motivating and inspiring students and making the lesson more effective and meaningful. With career counselling training, teachers also take up the role of mentors, guiding students in their academic journey and finding possibly the best career for themselves, aligning with their interests and potential.
Key Focus of Career Counselling Training
The primary topics covered in the training program are:
Counselling is a branch of psychology, so basic lessons on psychology are taught along with explaining the essential skills needed while counselling, i.e. listening and communication skills. Teachers are introduced to the fundamentals of career guidance, as it is the major part of career counselling. Teachers learn about the latest trends, emerging career options and skills and educational qualifications required for a particular career. The focus is not only on the students but on their parents as well, teachers learn how to meet the expectations of the parents, effectively communicating with them and involving them in the career guidance counselling process. They also learn about psychometric tests and how to score and interpret the results of the students. A part of the training also focuses on different competitive exams and the admission process for universities in India as well as abroad. Teachers also learn about action plans, how students should create an action plan describing their short-term and long-term goals, for achieving their intended goal. Some programs also provide practical experience through mock counselling sessions, live projects and case study presentations.
By teaching these topics, career counselling training empowers teachers to become trusted mentors and helping students through the complex phase of career choices.
How to find a training program?
Many academic institutions provide such counselling training programs. Online platforms are also good source to find and join a training program; websites like Mindler, FutureLearn, Fundaspring, SetMyCareer, etc provide structured and highly rated training programs. Academic institution like IITM Pravartak, in collaborations with other associations, provides a certification training program.
FAQs
Q1. Can career counselling be a second career for teachers?
Ans. Career counselling training also gives teachers a chance to switch a professional career counsellor, working in an institution or doing private practice.
Q2. How teachers can become career counsellors?
Ans. Teachers can do a certification training program in career counselling. The certificate will prove their eligibility to become a career counsellor in a professional setup.
Q3. Why career counselling is a natural next step for teachers?
Ans. It is a natural next step for teachers for the student’s benefit and for their own professional growth. Career counselling can become a good career for teachers who wish to change careers and try something new. Teachers who are certified career counsellors can provide better guidance to students in choosing their career paths.
Q4. Is there any career path beyond the classroom for teachers?
Ans. Career counselling can be the right answer to this question, as it not only enhances teacher’s lessons effectively and gives knowledge about counselling, but also provides a new career option for teachers.
Q5. What are some skills teachers bring to career counselling?
Ans. Teachers bring listening and communication skills in a career counselling session, as these two skills are essential for becoming a good teacher as well as for having a successful counselling session.
