AN INVESTIGATION OF SCHOOL COUNSELING ROLES, PRACTICES, CHALLENGES, AND DEMANDS IN BARBADOS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAMS IN BARBADOS
Open Access
- Author:
- Griffin, Dominiqua Monica
- Graduate Program:
- Counselor Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- July 12, 2018
- Committee Members:
- Julia A Green Bryan, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Julia A Green Bryan, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Nicole Sheree Webster, Committee Member
Seriashia Joyce Chatters, Committee Member
Ashley Nichol Patterson, Outside Member - Keywords:
- Barbados
School Counseling
Guidance Counselling
International Education
International School Counseling
Caribbean - Abstract:
- This study examines school counseling programs in Barbados with a focus on the roles, practices, challenges, and demands of school counselors in Barbados. The study also seeks to identify factors that influence school counseling, by testing the 11 themes derived from Martin, Lauterbach and Carey (2015). The 11 factors are “1) cultural factors, 2) national needs, 3) larger societal movements, 4) models of school counseling, 5) laws and educational policy, 6) characteristics of the public education system, 7) the counseling profession, 8) research and evaluation, 9) related professions, 10) community organizations or NGO coalitions, and 11) local stakeholder perceptions” (Martin, Lauterbach, & Carey, 2015). In the 30 years since the inception of counseling in Barbados’ secondary schools, the roles, practices, challenges and demands of school counselors have expanded, and limited documentation exists to capture the work of the school counselors. This study uses an ethnographic approach to explore these aspects of school counseling, following five school counselors at four public secondary schools across the island. The study challenges the Western-centric paradigm and centers around the experiences of counselors in a small state. The study examines the literature in other small states and in the African Diaspora to situate Barbadian school counseling in an international context. The study uses an ecological framework of school counseling to gain an understanding of the work that counselors are engaged in. The findings are discussed as themes that emerged from the data, and the data are analyzed comparatively, using a thematic analysis. The three overarching themes that emerged regarding the roles, practices, challenges and demands are the 3R’s (Roles, Responsibilities and Requirements); Problematizing the Policies, Politics and Culture; and School Family Community Contexts. The factors that influence school counseling in Barbados mostly align with the 11 factors identified by Martin, Lauterbach and Carey (2015) except that one additional factor emerged as well as a slight adjustment to one factor as a different way to discuss the theme on relationships between counselors and stakeholders. This study has implications for practice, policy, and training for Barbados and other small states as they develop and implement counseling programs within schools. This study can be used to support professional advocacy for promoting and informing the role of the counselor, and form the basis for developing an international model for school counseling in small states and the African Diaspora.