Elementary Teachers' and School Counselors’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of School Counseling: The Case of an Inclusive Lebanese Private IB School

Abstract

School counselors play a vital role in the learners’ life. Students require guidance and support in their development, not only on their academic achievement. These developments include interpersonal relationships, self-esteem, emotion management, conflict resolution, etc., especially during the elementary level (Hines et al., 2020). Previous research studies have examined the school counselor’s services and teacher’s perspectives for the counseling service instead of the impact and effectiveness of school counselors in Lebanon (Ayyash- Abdo et al., 2010; Khansa, 2015). The purpose of this study was to explore elementary teachers' and school counselors’ perspectives of the effectiveness of the school counseling program. In addition, the study explored the nature of collaboration and communication between the school counselors and teachers. The research design was qualitative research and the researcher applied semi-structured interviews for data collection. The researcher analyzed the data by applying Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis. The sample size of the study was composed of three elementary teachers and one elementary school counselor in an inclusive, private IB school case study. The rationale for focusing on an IB school is that the IB system focuses on wellbeing and applies a holistic approach in supporting the learners’ learning experience and development. The results demonstrated that the participants perceived the school counseling program as effective, and they provided recommendations on how the counseling program can improve to enhance its effectiveness. Moreover, the findings revealed that communication and collaboration play a crucial role between the teachers and counselor to better support the student’s according to their individual needs and to set an effective intervention action plan.