The Need for Guidance and Counseling Training for Teachers: Insights from Pre-service Teachers in Sri Lanka

Abstract

In contemporary education, teachers are increasingly expected to undertake diverse responsibilities beyond traditional subject teaching, notably in the realms of guidance and counselling. Globally, there has been a shift from a primarily remedial approach to a more preventive and developmental strategy in providing guidance and counselling services. multifaceted roles, Given teachers their must demonstrate competence in supporting students both academically and personally, inside and outside the classroom. The objectives of the paper were to discuss the critical importance of guidance and counseling training for teachers, and secondly, to explore these training needs through a qualitative analysis of pre-service teacher education students' reflections. The study was conducted with Bachelor of Education in English Language Teaching students at the University of Vocational Technology, Ratmalana, Sri Lanka, who participated in an innovative guidance and counselling component as part of their undergraduate program. Informed consent was obtained from all participants before data collection. The study employed a qualitative research design to explore the Guidance and Counselling training needs of pre-service teachers. Data were collected using a combining mixed-methods questionnaires approach, and semi structured interviews. The qualitative data from the open-ended questionnaire responses and interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Through qualitative analysis of students’ reflections, valuable insights were obtained that contribute to the teachers' training needs in guidance and counselling. The findings underscored the necessity of designing teacher education programs that incorporate experiential, reflective, and interactive training approaches, which align with teachers’ needs and enhance their motivation and engagement in training. The study highlighted the need for further research involving larger samples of teachers from diverse backgrounds to comprehensively assess training needs in guidance and counselling. Future research should investigate these needs concerning teachers' various roles, experiences, and competency levels. Additionally, evaluating the effectiveness of different training programs and their alignment with participants’ needs remains a vital area for exploration. The insights gained from this study offer significant implications for developing robust teacher training programs that adequately prepare educators to meet the guidance and counselling needs of their students.