EDUCATIONAL GUIDANCE

Educational guidance is a process of assisting the individual student to

reach optimum educational development. It is a sort of guidance that is
only rendered to the student community.

Educational Guidance helps the students to make right choices, as well as

make adjustments in relation to schools, curriculum, courses and school
life which is contribute to the all-round development

Educational guidance, in short, answers the following questions:

 What is a student best suited for?

 What type of education will reveal his inborn capacities and help him to develop
them?
 What is the purpose of his learning and study?

Definitions of Educational Guidance

1. In the words of Brewer, “Educational guidance is a Conscious effort to assist in

the intellectual growth of an individual.”
2. Arthur A. Jones defined Educational Guidance “as the assistance given to
pupils in their choices and adjustment with relation to schools, curriculum, courses
and school life.”
3. Ruth Strang regards Educational Guidance “as something intended to aid the
individual in choosing an appropriate program and in making progress in it.”
4. According to Myers, “Educational Guidance is a process concerned with
bringing about between a pupil with his distinctive characteristics on the one hand,
and different opportunities and requirements on the other, a favourable setting for
the pupil’s development or education.”
5. For Dunsmoor and Miller, Educational Guidance is primarily concerned with
the student’s success in his educational career. It relates to the student’s adjustment
to school and to the preparation and carrying out of suitable educational plans in
keeping with his educational needs, abilities and career interests.”
 Need of Educational Guidance

The need of educational guidance can be properly

discussed in the light of above discussion. However,
we can summarize the reasons for the justification of
such guidance at the present Juncture in the
following way :

1. Individual Differences.  Had there been no individual

differences among the students, the need of guidance services
would have never arisen. Guidance is needed because of
individuals differ in intellectual abilities, interests, motivation
and also in their levels of aspirations. To cater to the needs of
individual students, educational guidance is needed to be
imparted in schools .

2. Need of Checking the Wastage and Stagnation in

Education: We find that there is a huge wastage and stagnation in
education. Many students fail repeatedly and remain in the same
class for a number of years. They feel difficulty in learning or
acquiring some or the other piece of knowledge and skill. It leads to
the wastage of human as well as national resources. Such wastage
and stagnation can only be checked through a suitable program of
educational guidance.

3. The Need of Making Right Educational

Choices :  Almost every system of education is based on two
assumptions. The first is that every student should strive for
 maximum self-development and the other is that every student
should make his place in the society as its useful member. These
two assumptions imply that the school and community activities
of a child should be based on some definite pattern. Educational
guidance services must assist the child to achieve this end by way
of making correct choices.  The students, while taking education,
are, often, confronted with the problem of making selection or
choice. There are diversified courses where they have to make
selection of the subjects or activities. The wrong choice of a
subject or activity may doom their career and future. Therefore,
they should be helped by guidance in making right choice with
regard to subjects or courses of study, co-curricular activities,
methods of learning style of speaking, writing and reading and
books and other literature for study etc .

4. The Need of Proper Educational

Adjustment: Adjustment to prevailing educational environment
is essential for the proper educational growth and well being of
children. The child enters the school directly from his home
environment. Here he finds a formal environment of education and gets
experiences that are quite novel and strange to him. He needs to be
adjusted to these educational situations and environmental conditions.
He has to read, write, speak and participate in the learning process-Drill
work and home assignments have to be completed. Participation in co-
curricular activities is required. Regularity and punctuality in
educational process is to be observed. Sometimes he has to derive
benefit from the new techniques and devices of teaching. He has to
prepare himself for the desired tests and evaluation. In this way the
child faces so many adjustment problems with regard to his educational
environment and therefore needs proper educational
5. Decision of Further Education: Students in the
present system of education rush to colleges or universities for
high education irrespective of their aptitude for higher studies.
Many of them do so because they do not have appropriate
knowledge of other professional courses or training.
There is a great need to provide proper guidance with regards to
the suitability of the individual to pursue higher education.
6. Making the Grade. Another important area where
educational guidance is needed is the area of giving students
help to progress satisfactorily in the course chosen. In our
country, a large number of student fail in schools, colleges
and universities because of lack of educational guidance.
7. Education of Exceptional Children. Generally
in our schools, the teacher proceeds with the average
student in mind with the result that gifted, slow learner, deaf
and mentally and physically handicapped, are not benefitted
by classroom teaching. Educational guidance is most
essential for different categories of exceptional children, if
we are interested in the welfare of the individual and
society.
 8. How to Impart Educational Guidance
to Pupils
The guidance worker by means of the various tests, personal
interviews etc., tries to find out the students mental capacities,
interests aptitudes, etc., and thus suggest courses that he or she is
capable of pursuing. The process of educational guidance, like the
general pattern of guidance process, involves three important
phases:

A)Collecting Information or Data: In

the first phase it is required to
collect the full information or data regarding the people. The
information like the following can be collected for this purpose:

 Details concerning his health and physique

 His intelligence and other cognitive abilities
 Details concerning his scholastic attainments
 His interests, aptitudes, attitudes and other personality
characteristics
 Family history and background
 Details regarding his social and emotional development
 Details regarding the previous school attended.
 Details regarding his company and friendships.

Various techniques like personality tests, achievement tests,
intelligence tests, aptitude tests, attitude scales, interviews,
questionnaires, rating scales, inventories, observations etc. can
be employed for collecting these information or data.

b) Rendering Guidance: The next phase concerns with the

work of actual guidance imparted to the needed one. It is rather
a difficult task. It requires the complete analysis of the
information gathered about an individual. On these bases certain
conclusions are derived about his personality makeup and
 adjustment. These conclusions further provide a base for making
decisions about the nature of guidance to be given to the
individual in question. For example he is guided to select a
course on a method of learning or a mode of study that suits his
individuality as well as his peculiar environment.

c) Follow up Program: The work of guidance worker does not

stop with the rendering of guidance but it requires some more
efforts on his part in the form of some follow-up program. Under
this program the progress made by the child is evaluated. On this
basis, required steps if necessary are taken for giving him any
further guidance or necessary changes are introduced in the
previous guidance program. Under every situation, it is to be seen
that the child becomes able to solve his educational problem-
development or adjustment. It happens, then and only then we can
think about the success of a guidance program.
Hayat Ul Islam Girls Degree
College

NAME: SYEDA HADIA HASSAN

CLASS: 2ND YEAR ARTS
SUBJECT: EDUCATION

ASSIGNMENT