By Dorothy Abeywickrama
Dr. Uswatte-aratchi’s article on the subject of "Graduate Education in the Social Sciences" which appeared in your esteemed paper of 19th January, is indeed very relevant and timely, appearing with particular reference to the news item that the Minister of Tertiary Education and Training had inquired of the UGC about ‘projects needing top priority’ in university education.

Everybody interested in the educational needs of this country, will without doubt, endorse the imminent need for a Post Graduate Institute of Social Sciences similar to the Post Graduate Institutes that already exist in the disciplines of Medicine, Science, Agriculture and Management.

In March 2000, the newspapers published a news item to say that a seminar was being held by education leaders at the Peradeniya Campus on a subject akin to this matter. As a counselling educationist and someone who has been getting a lot of feedback on the need for Counselling Education courses at university level, I rushed a set of proposals to the organizers containing recommendations relating to my speciality. Therein I emphasized the need for undergraduate and post graduate education in Counselling Education, underscoring the need for post graduate education in this field to precede undergraduate education. As Dr. Uswatte-aratchi has mentioned, I also hinted at the need to obtain the services of immigrant professors and lecturers in this particular field for want of adequately qualified personnel here.

As a follow-up on Dr. Uswatte-aratchi’s article containing many invaluable recommendations and as a counselling educationist, who has pushed the need for Counselling in our schools, the need for university level courses in Counselling Education and also published a few books to bridge the knowledge gap in our country in this field, even in a small way, I reproduce below the proposals I sent on 4th March 2000, to the education leaders who conducted the said seminar, as the recommendations made therein are even more meaningful now :

"Although the need for counselling services has surfaced from the time dating back to the Youth Commission Report, the non-availability of courses of study in this internationally recognized discipline of counselling, at any of the Sri Lankan Universities at undergraduate or post graduate level, is going to be one of the biggest drawbacks for the implementation of some of the reforms envisaged in the 1997 Presidential Task Force on Education.

Proposals

1. That a Department of Counselling Education (which will cover Guidance too) to be set up at one of the Universities in Sri Lanka, in much the same way there is a Department of Psychology, a Department of Business Education and so on.

2. That, in order to raise the quality of Counselling Education to a truly professional status, the faculty should comprise qualified professionals in the field. The inaugural faculty staff will have to be drawn from a similar faculty in an American University well known for study courses in this speciality. Here, I draw a parallel with the way the Department of Sociology was set up by the University of Ceylon in the 1950s. To start with, it was staffed by Prof. Bryce Ryan assisted by Dr. Murray Strauss, both of whom were from U.S.A. It was a few years later only, that Sri Lankan Sociologists took over, and the expatriates left.

It must be emphasized, that the faculty staff of the proposed Department of Counselling Education should comprise only those with post graduate qualifications (preferably Ph.Ds), who have obtained such degrees by fulfilling the study requirements (and not through the submission of thesis only), as they must bring with them the knowledge base covering the entire spectrum of Counselling Education. That they should have teaching experience in a good University plus experience in planning and organizing Counselling Education courses at undergraduate and post graduate level, will be the other requirement.

3. That the course content should cover the following subjects and that the degree of coverage will be commensurate with the level i.e. undergraduate or post graduate and with Practicuums too:

Foundation of Counselling Information; General Counselling & Guidance, Psychology Abnormal Psychology; Introduction to Statistics in Counselling Education, Speech and Human Behaviour; Introduction to Counselling Education Research, Group Procedures in Counselling; Theories and Methods of Counselling; Information analysis of Counselling Procedure; Use of Psychological Tests in Counselling; Medical Information for Counsellors; School Counselling; Rehabilitation Counselling; Career Counselling; Employee Counselling Marriage and Family Counselling; with Credits separately for the Practicuums. (The above is only to give an idea of some of the subjects that might be included.)

4. That, on a priority basis, a beginning be made for a post graduate level study course (not a Diploma or a Certificate Course) leading to the Master of Science degree. The selected participants, on a priority basis, to be graduate teachers with .... years’ teaching experience. Should confine the choice to Graduates in Psychology, Sociology and Education plus other Graduates who have the Diploma in Education.

5. The next phase in the programme to be the setting up of the study course at the undergraduate level. This study course also to be introduced as soon as possible, if not simultaneously. Perhaps this could be the Bachelor of Counselling degree. (Guidance is now covered under the concept of Developmental Counselling.)

Offer of Assistance

If so desired, I could put you ( the authorities concerned ) in touch with my own Professor and Thesis Supervisor, Dr. Edwin L. Herr. He is an internationally renowned Counselling Psychologist, well known both in the West and in the East. He has published over 30 books. He is an advocate of the Systems Approach to Career Guidance. He has served on many Counselling Education Commissions appointed by the U.S. Congress. He is a Past President of the American Association of Counselling and Development and a Past President of the American Psychologists’ Association. His Academic Rank is Distinguished Professor of Education (Counsellor Education and Counselling Psychology) and Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, Research and Technology, Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Herr has deep insights into conditions in developing countries."

I wish to reiterate, that there is an imminent need for a Graduate School in the Social Sciences. It is my fervent hope that this will soon be a reality and also that, to start with, a Course leading to the Master of Science Degree in Counselling Education will form part of the post graduate courses offered. This will indeed be a prelude to filling the vacuum that exists in Sri Lanka in the field of Counselling Education at university level.