Although the practitioner questionnaire did not specifically ask about counselling or counselling services, several practitioners mentioned how important it was to have access to “a professional counsellor familiar with all the training programs in the region to ensure correct referral.”

Access to counselling is a problem for some LBS programs, “We used to have career counsellors who could meet with students, assess skills and interests and advise.” Lack of counselling services seems particularly problematic for smaller programs and campuses. This is sometimes offset by smaller classes where faculty are able to work more closely with individual learners. In some instances, a practitioner will take on ‘counselling’ responsibilities. Some campuses may have an ‘agreement’ with the main campus to provide certain counselling services. The Internet offers alternatives as well.

The following website provides a variety of self-assessment tools, tips for occupational research, help with decision-making and suggestions for employment contacts. http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infocecs/CRC/manual-home.html

Areas of Responsibility

Another practitioner wondered who should be responsible for redirecting learners:

Who is to oversee this process? Our counsellor has knowledge and access to career information that is far more extensive than I have. She would be the one to provide the answers here unless it becomes a faculty-driven process. Then it would have to be a department initiative with everyone contributing to the planning. The whole thing would have to be done very gently.

This raises some important issues. While the counsellor (academic/program advisor) has always played a pivotal part in redirecting learners, the role of the counsellor varies considerably from college to college. In some colleges the counsellor works closely with learners during the orientation or goal-setting process. The counsellor might teach specific courses on career exploration or study skills. In other colleges the counsellor is primarily responsible for career counselling. Whatever the situation may be, it is critical for the counsellor to have adequate and relevant information. To successfully redirect learners, the counsellor must consider a wide variety of factors such as the learner’s age, condition of health, amount of family or community support, cognitive ability, attendance, rate of progress, time already spent in the program and level of motivation. The counsellor must weigh each factor and decide, ultimately, if the learner’s goal is still achievable. An effective system must be in place, therefore, for information to flow smoothly among all parties involved: the support staff, the practitioner, the counsellor and the learner. This means that areas of responsibility must be clearly established and agreed upon.