Guidance is the works carried out by experts aiming at supporting students to develop themselves, to benefit from the education process at highest level depending on their individual talents and characteristics and support students within the framework of general objectives of Turkish education system.
Guidance and support works in education are provided by the Ministry of National Education at every grade except for higher education in Turkish education system. General Directorate of Special Education and Guidance Services of MoNE is responsible for the works in this context. In order to carry out the guidance services in the provincial organization, guidance and research centres are opened under provincial directorates of national education in cities and under district directorates of national education in town with a large population.
Guidance and research centres: Any kind of works to carry out guidance and psychological counselling services in educational institutions in active and efficient way together with diagnosing individuals that need special education in the city and the guidance and psychological counselling services in provinces and districts are carried out in guidance and research centres. The guidance and psychological counselling services in teaching institutions are carried out through guidance and psychological counselling services at schools. Teachers guiding the graduates in higher education institutions are given training in this field work in these services. Guidance and psychological counselling services work in coordination with guidance and research centres in the towns/cities they serve.
The guidance and research centres are a) The Presidency of the Department of Psychological Counselling Services, b) Presidency of Special Education Services.
The Presidency of Guidance and Counselling Services generally prepares framework programs of guidance services separately depending on the features, stages and types of the educational institutions within the working field of the centre, prepares programs for the activities of group guidance for the purpose of making students develop their capacities in a balanced and healthy way in mental, psychological and social terms, being positive and creative, being aware of their characteristics and having vocational and educational guidance in this way in cooperation with guidance and psychological counselling services, universities and related institutions and assists schools in the application of them, serves psychologically for the students coming from guidance and psychological counselling services of education institutions and for the individuals applying to the centre, applies various psychological assessment tools according to scientific standards depending on the quality of the service to be given, plans the services of guidance and psychological counselling regarding guidance by taking the views of the services and of related departments and institutions, does research in order to determine the needs of the environment, to improve services, to increase the quality and efficiency, prepares publications to involve the knowledge regarding the fields of job and occupations, to support their developments in various fields and submits them to educational institutions, plans, carries out and ends the studies to be done at provincial level in order to determine, provide, improve psychological assessment tools and other instruments and techniques to be used in the services and distribute them to the services.
The content and context of guidance works vary depending on the needs and status of students at preschool, primary and secondary levels. The teacher in the field working as a guidance and observer supports students and their families psychologically in line with the field of proficiency, carries out supportive works over the developmental fields of students and collects data and reports it to the fields determined by the Ministry. Guidance teachers carry on their tasks of educational guidance, psychological counselling, personal guidance and professional guidance counselling.
The services of guidance in Turkish Education System were issued in the Official Gazette of 14.03.2009/27169 through some changes on current regulation. Guidance services are given in three main dimensions as educational guidance, vocational guidance and individual guidance in the regulation. In these services, necessary studies are carried out to make every student in any kind of education level adapt to educational applications at the rate of his/her peculiar talent, interest, vocational value, success and motivation to guide them to suitable programs for their characteristics and developments. Within content of these works, it performs such services as making students adapt to school environment, developing their studying skills, increasing their motivation and leading them to upper learning institutions.
It is likely to observe that some works come to the fore when these works are lowered to educational levels.
Educational guidance in preschool education mostly focuses on determining the needs and interests of students, finding out the multiple intelligence profiles of students and determining the fields where the student is successful through similar methods of observation and sharing it with families. Including the gifted students in their early ages, the students with a need for any kind of special education are observed from their primary education onwards and additional education is given by the related institutions.
In the level of primary-secondary education, necessary works are carried out to make the student aware of his/her interests and talents, guide them to suitable programs to their development at the rate of their motivation, success and individual features. At this level, the studies of leading to an upper level gain importance.
In the educational guidance studies in secondary education level, preparing the students for suitable programs and developing their studying skills that are suitable for features and developments for the purpose of preparative vocational guidance to an upper learning institution gain importance.
Personal/Social Gudiance
Personal and Social Counselling studies in Turkish Education System comprise individual guidance services, supporting individual and social developments of students, providing them with necessary guidance and psychological counselling services in order to help them with their emotional problems. Individual guidance includes supporting the personalities and social developments and maturing as well as helping with their problems and the individual and group activities arranged for this purpose.
Besides individual guidance services, the works of guidance for families in schools/institutions could be taken in this category. It is of importance to make cooperation between school and family on behalf of improving the expected behaviours in children in family guidance studies. Depending on this purpose, schools put an importance on the mutual responsibilities by making interviews with parents at the beginning of educational year and put an effort to take initiatives in the development and mental health of the child.
Guidance activities in group are also organized within the content of psychological counselling services for the purpose of individual and social developments of students through educational and vocational guidance. These activities are programmed, applied, evaluated and developed in line with scientific standards in a way to meet the developmental needs of students. The ones such as giving information in the group guidance activities that do not require special expertise in practice are applied by the class guidance teachers in guidance time. The application of these activities is made by guidance field teachers as it requires technical skills and expertise in the field.
The works of psychological counselling services do not have a significant difference in terms of education levels.
Career Guidance
Career guidance is given to students in order that they can make professional preferences, lead to suitable occupation for them, prepare them for work life and occupation as guidance services they need by taking individual features of students into consideration within the context of vocational guidance services.
These services are given and carried out systematically starting from preschool period. Family involvement is also given importance. The services given for the career counselling in this level of education are varied as parent-student interviews where barriers and opportunities likely to appear in the future education of the child are expressed depending on the academic interests of the child.
Each student at the level of primary and secondary levels are given necessary guidance and psychological counselling services in order that they can make professional choices, lead to an occupation suitable for them and prepare for work life and occupation. Up-to- date information with regard to the features of students, business world, occupations and the ways to obtain them are transferred to the system. In this content, seminars are given at schools by occupational organizations and those working there regarding the field of occupation. Occupational inventories and observations are taken and the vocational interests of students are assessed. Visits are held in secondary education and in the final year of secondary school to the upper education institutions.
As for secondary education, services are mostly focused on the upper learning, fields of occupation and leading to an occupation, active learning and improving working skills, occupations and making students aware of working life and occupations with their qualities, preparing for an adult life by carrying the individual and social development. Necessary adaptations are made depending on the services in secondary education.