A comparative analysis of the attitudes of key stakeholder groups to the Welsh Government's school-based counselling strategy

ABSTRACT

The success of schools' counselling services often depends on the support of various key stakeholder groups. This study reports on the attitudes of key stakeholders working within the Welsh Government school-based counselling strategy. Using a survey methodology, the opinions of local authority leads/service managers (n=25), school management (n=158) and school counsellors (n=106) were compared and contrasted. Questions related to the accessibility of services to pupils, the balance between confidentiality and safeguarding procedures, whether services are adequately resourced and the training and supervision available to counsellors. Results indicated a high level of agreement and overall satisfaction between groups. Areas of disagreement tended to be restricted to practical issues, such as resources and accommodation.

Keywords:

• counselling
• young people
• school
• satisfaction
• evaluation

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank each of the local authority leads, school head/link teachers and school counsellors who took the time to participate in this study. We would also like to thank Ipsos MORI for guiding and facilitating the telephone survey aspect of the work. Finally, thanks go to the Welsh Government for commissioning this work as part of the Evaluation of the Welsh School-based Counselling Strategy.

Notes

1. A significant F ratio, determined by p<.05, tells us that the level of agreement between groups varies.