Guidance counselors play big role in K+12: CHED

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=807767
• Thursday, September 24, 2015

(PNA), LAP/CD/ERCEL MAANDIG

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Sept. 24 (PNA) –- The schools' guidance counselors play a critical role in helping students choose the right career that could “make or break” the K+12 program, an education official said Thursday.

Natalie Igot, Education Program Specialist of the Commissions on Higher Education (CHED) in Region 10, said that when a student reaches Grade 10, the efficient advices of the Guidance Counselor would influence his or her future career.

Igot said that an important factor to be considered in making sure that the student would decide on the right direction toward deciding on future careers is the aptitude test.

The aptitude test would guide the guidance counselor in suggesting to the student the right job that would fit his or her ability, she said.

Guidance counselors must also study carefully the use of the "National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE)" in assessing whether the student has the aptitude to take the rigors of the courses of the jobs that the student wishes, Igot said.

She said that in order to address job mismatch posed by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), guidance counselors must go beyond the students and extend to families as their guidance counselors.

According to Igot, the challenge for Guidance Counselors is to produce and convince the brightest students to stay and work in the country rather than aspire to get overseas jobs, Igot said.

She said that the CHED has now developed packages designed for K+12 transition where the teachers are sent for training in order to also effectively guide K+12 students in choosing the right career for their future.