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This paper offers a series of proposals for furthering the development of elementary school guidance. Certain assumptions underlying future action were stated. In proposing a national-level plan to determine the nature and characteristics of guidance in the elementary school, several possibilities were offered as to organizational plans and leadership responsibility. The main proposal offered in this paper discussed functional operations both in the area of research and experimentation as well as in theory construction. Specific areas of investigation were proposed. A position statement was recommended and several features of such a position statement were suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the change required in counseling profession. The counseling profession, as it is stereotyped by people who are teacher dropouts, administration hopefuls, and advising, moralizing junior admissions officers, cannot last. And neither can the counselor educators who never were counselors, nor the whole sit around the conference table and shuffle papers in the fear of the press approach to issues. Today clients want not only answers but active involvement. Most of the Green counselors are very worried about the survival of our planet and, incidentally, the survival of the counseling profession it refuses to act on vital issues. The very institution that produced counseling, namely education, is now clearly outdated. Elementary schools have been charged with being the cause of myopia because they demand tasks of children who are not develop. mentally ready to perform them. The college and high school mobilization centers and strike centers have shown the growing irascibility of a badgered youth.

The need for utilizing unstructured play media in counseling with elementary school children is discussed. The suggestion is made that through play activities the child learns ways of operating In social situations, tests various roles, and expresses his frustrations and concerns. Limiting the child to verbal expression in counseling is seen as being as inappropriate as limiting an adult to the use of puppets. The elementary school counselor's use of play in counseling is designed to facilitate the expression and communication of the normal child rather than to provide data for analytical purposes. Responses to verbal and nonverbal clues, therefore, include reflection and summarization more often than interpretation. Advantages of unstructured over struc- tured materials are discussed; illustrations show the need children feel for amorphous materials in communicating feelings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on vocational education concepts and materials which will be used in a two-year pilot program in technology for elementary school children in 10 New Jersey schools. Practical experiments with electricity, refrigeration, paper-making printing and the design and fabrication of products will be used to teach concepts in social studies, science, language arts, and mathematics. Supported by a Ford Foundation grant, the program is an attempt to introduce vocational concepts from the elementary school onward as an integral part of general education, as well as a natural preparation for life in an increasingly technological society.

This article presents a case study of an effeminate boy in an elementary school. Rather than counseling the boy directly, the counselor consulted the child's teachers regarding strategies for change. Following experimental procedures, significant changes were recorded in behavior and attitude as measured by fire- and post-experimental measures: playground behavior, lunch room behavior, physical education activities, class sociogram, and a Semantic Differential. The case demonstrates how deviant children, such as this effeminate boy, can be aided through consultation with teachers and through learning experiences within the regular school program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cathartic procedures, which are based on the hypothesis that acts of aggression will reduce the incidence of further aggression, were questioned as to their effectiveness in dealing with elementary school children's aggressive behaviors. Research findings suggest that such techniques may tend to increase rather than decrease student aggressiveness. It was therefore concluded that a re-evaluation of the catharsis theory and the procedures or practices resulting from it is needed in our elementary schools, Several alternative procedures for reducing the occurrence of aggressive behaviors were presented for the reader to consider and evaluate in light of such recent findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An elementary public school utilized Case Groups as part of a comprehensive in-service education program for its staff. The Case Group was designed as a paced learning experience incorporating elements from discussion, case study, and sensitivity taming groups in the attempt to facilitate both cognitive and experiential aspects of the teachers' continuing professional growth. The kinds of growth experienced by the participants are described and subjectively evaluated to the conclusion that the Case Group, or modifications thereof, has high potential for the in-service education of teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased expansion of counseling services at the elementary school level has had few critics, for the services are long overdue and desperately needed. Three factors seem to have escaped close scrutiny by most members of the guidance profession. First, all too often the training, preparation, and models of elementary counselors are those originally devised for secondary school pupils and seem grossly inadequate for elementary age children. Second, there is a serious lack of both theory and research at the elementary level and this raises serious questions as to direction and methodology. Third, the problem of role conflict is heightened at the elementary level and raises serious questions regarding the success of guidance policies and programs. it is suggested that only an immediate increase in interest, research and theory by counselor educators can save elementary guidance from falling into the bands of other disciplines or school administrators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Role relations in the public school are viewed within the perspective of organization theory; the public school is like the prison and the public mental hospital in that neither client nor organization exercises choice concerning client participation in the organization. Based on previous studies of prisons and mental hospitals and on clues provided in a case study of a junior high school, it was predicted that counselors and principals would be less "custodial" in pupil control ideology than teachers. An instrument that measured pupil control ideology along a custodial-humanistic continuum was administered to 945 teachers, 181 principals, and 180 counselors. Results confirmed the predictions. Counselor adaptations to ideological conflict concerning pupil control in both the secondary and the elementary school are discussed. It was speculated that adaptations would function to reduce overt conflict and contribute to organizational equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A discussion of a 3-pronged approach to an elementary school guidance program, describing the role of the counselor. This 3-dimensional approach requires the services of a developmental guidance specialist whose functions would be to (1) maximize the development of all children within the school, (2) assist the administration in improving the continuity, sequence, and Integration of guidance services of the school and the community, and (3) Improve the competency of the teacher to a level where she can operate effectively as a guidance person within her classroom. The body of literature concerning the role and function of a guidance resource person at the elementary school level is steadily growing but much of it is focused on the first 2 aspects described above. This article concentrates on the third aspect, illustrating the role of the guidance specialist in the in-service education of teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes 3 desirable counseling centers for elementary schools with student populations of four to eight hundred. Adaptations for schools outside these population limits will readily be seen. 4 assumptions about the counseling setting are discussed: that it should (1) be attractive, (2) permit group as well as individual counseling, (3) encourage the use of play media in counseling, and (4) permit observation of counseling. Functional aspects of the counseling setting are presented in diagram and outline form. It is hoped that this presentation will encourage dialogue relative to the setting for elementary counseling, and that some direction may be found by those who are planning counseling offices or centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though sociometry has been used for some years in both educational, psychological, and military settings, it is the argument of this article that it should be used more by elementary counselors and school psychologists as a technique both to assess social desirability in students and as an interim criterion of behavior modification. The theoretical foundations of sociometry are found in both studies relating to the nature of perception and in more modern social learning theory. The suggestion is advanced that social desirability is related to motivation to achieve. Consequently, the assessment of the social climate of the classroom is a first step in introducing procedures designed to enhance the level of effective learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which determines the effects of a group guidance program using "You: Today and Tomorrow" on 108 eighth grade pupils in fall of 1958 in the U.S. Methods and techniques include personal interview, sample, scoring, and analysis of interview responses. The collected data were analyzed to determine the effectiveness of such program. Results showed significant increases in pupils' awareness and accuracy of the appraisal of their abilities, values, and interests. Pupils demonstrated considerable gains in the amount of information possessed about educational and vocational requirements. Their responses showed an increased ability to synthesize their understanding of the concepts of abilities, values, and interests and to apply such understanding to their own choices.