Secondary school students' preferences for location, format of counselling and gender of counsellor: A replication study based in Northern Ireland

Abstract

Aims: This study replicates a research investigation conducted by Cooper (2006), examining three factors that may affect students’ willingness to attend a school-based counselling service: location of the service (school-based or external); format (individual or group); and gender of counsellor. Method: The views of 589 students from four Northern Ireland secondary and grammar schools were surveyed and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: As found by Cooper (2006), more than two thirds (68.2%) of students expressed a preference for seeing a counsellor in their school; over 80% of students expressed a preference for seeing a counsellor on their own; and a marked preference for female counsellors existed, particularly amongst female students.

Keywords:

• School-based counselling
• gender
• counselling preference
• group counselling