Sie sind auf Seite 1von 5

"A process by which educational experience

takes on personal meaning /or the child. . . ."

When Guidance and


Curriculum Collaborate
DON DINKMEYER
AuodoM PrefMMr
DcPaul Untnralty, Chicago, Mfoob

THE rapid development of reality. Guidance is that part of the


guidance services in the elementary educational program which emphasizes
school indicates the need for immediate the individual.
communication between specialists con The primary function of guidance is
cerned with curriculum and those with developmental. Elementary ?chool
guidance in the elementary school. If guidance works toward assisting each
the child is to be served most ade child to maximize his opportunities for
quately, specialists in instruction, cur learning and personal development. It
riculum, and guidance must develop a is concerned, not merely with deviates
dialogue which helps them to clarify at either extreme, but with all of the
procedures for working more effectively learners. Developmental guidance con
together. The nature of the relationship cerns itself with the average youngster
between these workers should be char who, because he presents no special
acterized by one word collaboration. problems, frequently receives minimal
Curriculum is primarily concerned attention. This type of guidance is con
with all of the learning experiences of cerned with the normal child and the
the child under the direction of the problem succinctly stated by Sachs
school. Guidance is the specific planned (1966): "It is as though we were saying
effort of the school to meet individual because you are normally human there
needs and provide for individual dif does not seem to be much point in in
ferences. Guidance is particularly con teraction with you on a personal and
cerned with the child's attitudes, values, intimate basis." These are the children
feelings, purposes, and convictions. It who, despite the fact that they com
is directed at providing opportunities prise the majority, receive the least
for educational experiences which are attention. To be normal does not ap
appropriate to each child's purposes, pear to qualify them for the kind of
needs, and rate of development. It educational experience which meets
assists in making individualized and unique needs.
personally meaningful instruction a Tiedeman suggests: "I believe that

February 1968 443


the goal of guidance in education should sense guidance must be inherent in the
be to see that children know how to be teaching process, and guidance and
purposeful. The program of guidance curriculum are inseparable parts of the
in education tries to get youth to look total educational process. The teacher
on the resources of the world and the thus becomes the prime functionnaire
responsibilities in the world in such a in instruction, curriculum, and guid
way that they are seeking them" ance.
(Landy and Perry, 1964). This type of A developmental program of guid
guidance would seek to engage children ance would proceed within the following
regularly in the process of choosing guidelines:
and accepting responsibility for their 1. Guidance is an integral part of the
choices. educational process and must be consistent
in purposes with the philosophy and objec
Goal of Guidance
tives of the elementary school in which it
The goal of guidance is to help the operates.
child make maximum use of his abili 2. Guidance is for all children. Each child
ties. As previously indicated, elemen has a right to guidance services. Focus is
tary school guidance has meaning only not primarily on exceptional children but
insofar as it is congruent with the edu with typical children with normal develop
cational purposes of the school. Guid mental problems.
ance serves to reconcile the uniqueness 3. The elementary school guidance pro
of the individual with the demands of gram is provided for all through the teacher
our society and culture. Thus, it is not in the classroom and by the counselor who
crisis-oriented but places its emphasis counsels and consults with the child,
on the development of competence in teacher, and parents.
the learner. Competence in this sense 4. Developmental guidance assists the
refers to academic achievement, knowl child to know, understand, and accept him
edge, values, skills, attitudes, and feel self cognitively and affectively. The pur
ings which contribute to one's mastery pose is to develop an adequate self-compe
of the process of learning (Grams, tence to relate effectively to the work and
1966). social tasks of life.
The philosophy is based upon the 5. Guidance may be incidental and in
assumption that every human being is formal, but it operates best when it is based
of value and has a right to optimum upon a planned program. A developmental
guidance program provides a continuous
development. Any concept of guidance
sequence of experiences which assists the
as a separate service which is primarily child to achieve the developmental tasks in
therapeutic in nature or essentially both the intellectual and emotional areas.
supplementary to the other parts of the A classroom guidance program exists
school program is not reconcilable with when the needs of children are met through
modern educational thinking. It must the curriculum, instruction is adapted to
be an integral part of the total educa meet individual differences, planned time is
tional program with its nature and provided for group guidance, and guidance
scope cooperatively defined by the en procedures are used by the teacher.
tire school staff (Kelly, 1955). In this 6. Guidance in the elementary school

February 1968 445


places emphasis on purposeful and person of the effects of this practice on chil
ally meaningful learning experiences. dren.
Teacher and pupil goals are aligned. The emphasis is on personalized and
7. Developmental guidance focuses on personally meaningful educational ex
assets. It is concerned with finding out what periences. It is an obligation of the
the child can do and concentrates on the school to provide each child with
encouragement process (Dinkmeyer and
teachers who will be concerned and
Dreikurs, 1963).
interested in them as individuals and
8. Developmental guidance puts an em able to establish meaningful interac
phasis on self-actualization in terms of the tions. We must never underestimate
full use and exploitation of one's talents,
capacities, and potentialities (Maslow,
the importance of the interpersonal re
1954). This approach stresses the impor lationship (Lewis, Lovell, and Jessee,
tance of perceptual understanding of hu 1965). It is through the personal re
man behavior in order to maximize the lationship that the child develops
educational process (Combs and Snygg, identification with the educational
1959; ASCD Yearbook, 1962). process and becomes able to make a
9. The guidance program is most effec commitment to learning.
tively activated when it is a cooperative When guidance and curriculum col
enterprise involving the child, teacher, coun laborate we observe some of the
selor, parents, administration, and commu following results:
nity resources.
1. Provision is made for m)»rimiim flexi
Guidance and Curriculum bility in curriculum.
2. Emphasis is placed upon understand
The counselor plays a significant ing the individual and on permitting each
role by being available to interpret the pupil to progress at his own rate.
emotional effect of curricular experi
ences on the child's concept of self and 3. Teaching procedures are individual
ized.
on his relationships with others. He
assists in the development of materials 4. Emphasis is placed upon assets and
which are sensitive to the needs of successes.
children. He plans with teachers ways 5. An enriched curriculum is provided
by which children may approach an which permits each child to proceed in
understanding of the world of work. terms of the greatest acceleration possible
(ACES-ASCA Working Paper, 1966). for him.
The counselor, while a regular mem 6. The child is helped to realize his great
ber of the curriculum committee, can est potential, and to develop more realistic
not be a specialist in methods, new de self-concepts.
velopments, and content. The counselor 7. In most instances there is provision
contributes by viewing instructional for independent study in areas where the
practices and curriculum in terms of his child has a genuine interest.
understanding of child development and 8. The emphasis is on the ultimate goals
human relations. He would not advise of education, and hence on self-discipline.
regarding an approach in mathematics 9. There is genuine concern about en
but would contribute his understanding hancing the individual's worth.

February 1968 447


The Guidance Function educational experience takes on per
We need to recognize that guidance sonal meaning for the child.
is a function within the process of edu References
cation. While teaching is frequently a
communication of other experiences, Association for Counselor Education and
Supervision, and American School Counselor
data, and conclusions, guidance involves Association (ACES-ASCA), Joint Committee
primarily an examination of the indi on the Elementary School Counselor, Working
vidual student's experiences and the Paper, April 2, 1966.
procedures of forming conclusions about Association for Supervision and Curriculum
them (Tiedeman and Field, 1962). Development. Perceiving, Behaving, Becom
Guidance, then, involves behavioral ing. Washington, D.C.: the Association, 1962.
change and this might be quite different Arthur W. Combs and Donald Snygg. In
dividual Behavior. New York: Harper & Row
from that which is usually either in Publishers, Inc., 1959.
duced or expected of teaching. This Don Dinkmeyer and Rudolf Dreikure, En
definition helps to clarify why teaching couraging Children To Learn: The Encourage
in and of itself may not be education, ment Process. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
and why teachers must become familiar Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963.
with the guidance process. It also em Annin Grams. "Facilitating Learning and
phasizes the importance of collabora Individual Development: Toward a Theory
for Elementary Guidance." St. Paul: Minne
tion between teacher and counselor. sota Department of Education, 1966.
The teacher's guidance function in Janet A. Kelly. Guidance and Curriculum.
volves : Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
1. Developing relationships with students Inc., 1955.
characterized by mutual alignment of goals Edward Landy and Paul A. Perry, editors.
nnd purposes Guidance in American Education I: Back
grounds and Prospects. Cambridge: Harvard
2. Identifying guidance needs Graduate School of Education. Harvard Uni
3. Changing attitudes and behavior versity Press, 1964. David V. Tiedeman. "Pur
posing Through Education: The Further
4. Collaboration with the counselor in Delineation of Goal and Program for Guid
terms of guidance function or procedures. ance." p. 166.
The counselor is concerned with: William A. Lewis, John T. Lovell, and B. E.
1. Pupil appraisal Jeasee. "Interpersonal Relationship and Pupil
Progress." Personnel and Guidance Journal
2. Counseling of individuals and groups 44:396-401; December 1985.
3. Consultation with teachers and par A. H. Maelow. Motivation and Personality.
ents New York: Harper 4 Row, 1954.
4. Curricular involvement, serving as an Benjamin M. Sachs. The Student, the Inter
agent of change and evaluation, research view, and the Curriculum. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1966. p. 269.
5. Coordination of the guidance program. David V. Tiedeman and Frank L. Field.
Guidance, then, is more than a serv "Guidance: The Science of Purposeful Action
ice by the counselor, a contact with the Applied Through Education." Harvard Edu
cational Review 32 (4):4S9; Fall 1962. Abo
teacher, or a consultation with the in: Mosher, Carle, Kehas. Guidance: An Ex
parents. Elementary school guidance amination. New York: Harcourt, Brace &
becomes a process through which the World, Inc., 1966. <*§

448 Educational Leadership


Copyright © 1968 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development. All rights reserved.

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen