Study On College And University Counselors' Competencies And Development In The Process Of Specialization

In the initial stage of our country, there emerged a new occupation named college counselor who provides various of guidance for the college students. In the past fifty years, with the transformation of internal political situation and strengthening of socialist spiritual civilization construction as well as continuous development of education there witnessed dynamic changes of college counselors in working nature, position, function and quality, which is developing towards a specialized direction. This thesis focuses on the competencies of college counselors and the development of those competencies. There are five chapters altogether as follows:Chapter I is introduction. The paper first analyzes the changes of working environment, working objective and working manner for the college counselors under the new trend in such a new era, illustrating the necessity and importance of competencies of college counselors and its development. The concepts of "College Counselor", "Competencies of College Counselors", "Development" or any other relevant concepts are defined in this chapter. Further more, it provides much enlightenment with insight and footing for this research through reviewing the latest literatures on competencies and competency developments.The tendency of college counselors' specialization development is explained in Chapter II. Via retrospect and summary of the formation and development of college counselor system which has undergone four historical periods: its infancy, paralysis, recovery and reform phase, which is still to come. The paper reveals the tendency of college counselors' specialization development on the basis of historical accumulation and practical demands. And finally the theoretical and practical significance of the study can be concluded.Chapter III constructs a competency model of college counselors. Their competency requirements can be deduced from analysis on their roles and responsibilities from three dimensions such as national policy requirements, working analysis as well as social roles. In the end the paper proposes a competency model for college counselors containing four modules namely, knowledge, skills, ability and attitude, as a reference ground of the research.The analysis of current college counselors' competencies and competency development is focused in Chapter IV. The advantages and disadvantages of college counselors' competencies and development can be explored in a more comprehensive way via questioning and interviewing in several colleges in the area of Shanghai. Some disadvantages can be found such as unstability of vocational consciousness, incomplete knowledge structure and lack of strong learning awareness etc. And it provides the first-hand information for the research and offers empirical basis for definite development priorities.In Chapter V, some suggestions on development concerning about current issues in college counselors' competency and its development can be made , in line with the new established competency model from three perspectives namely, construction of college counselors' team, training development and self-development. Among these suggestions, the emphasis ones are to set up a major for college counselor in normal universities , which are in a more favorable condition , and to list this new major in specialty catalogue. In the end it is clearly pointed out that more attention must be paid on the vocational consciousness training, the skill of psychological counseling and career counseling.