Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Counselor Education and Supervision

Advisor

Katarzyna Peoples

Abstract

AbstractThe topic of principal–school counselor partnerships has been emerging over the last several decades. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) helped introduce and streamline counselor roles and responsibilities in 1952 and has been advocating for schools to have comprehensive school counseling programs since. Despite articles, research, and ASCA’s work to promote school counselors as leaders in the school and the importance of a comprehensive school counseling program, a gap remains with respect to counselors working with principals to establish comprehensive school counseling programs from the principal’s perspective. To understand the principal’s experience, the study was conducted using eight principals at Recognized ASCA Model Program schools. Using semistructured interviews and thematic analysis coding, the purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to answer the following overarching question about the lived experiences of principals who utilize counselors in school leadership by helping to remove barriers for a more effective principal/counselor partnership. Findings suggest that when principals and counselors have better relationships, they experience an increase in understanding of each other’s roles, achieve a higher level of mutual respect, better communication which helps with better flow of day-to-day operations, and experience an increase in the potential to have a higher job satisfaction rate. This in turn has enormous social change implications, as better principal-counselor relationships improve opportunities for student success.

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