Student counselling in Finnish upper-secondary schools - Students’ and student counsellors’ experiences of digital tools for student counselling

Abstract

The world is changing rapidly with strong effects on working life. The uncertainty of the future increases and many students are planning for their future without knowing how the future looks. We all know there will be new professions but what kind of professions and the qualifications needed for those are unknown. Student counselling is playing a remarkable role to address this uncertainty and the purpose of this study is to explore upper-secondary school students and student counsellors experiences of student counselling and especially digital tools used to support the counselling process. Recently, reform for upper-secondary education has taken place and new legislation come into effect in August 2019. New core curriculum for upper-secondary education was published November 2019 and it will be effective in 2021. The results of this study relate to the requirements in the upper-secondary school student counselling curriculum and activities raising from the reform.

The method for collecting data was through an online survey with multiple-choice and open questions for student counsellors and students. Questions focus on students’ and student counsellors’ opinions and insights.

The survey results from both for students and student counsellors indicate that the need for student counselling is strongest in the areas of planning the further studies and career. Also, there is a need for tools to track the progress of studies in real time with none of the students or student counsellors using digital tools for this purpose. The results of this study are aligned with the content of the upper-secondary school reform and the areas of development are touching upon student counselling. There is a specific emphasis on smoother transition to further studies and the means for this is developing cooperation with the higher education institutions and working life.

Student counsellors’ responses suggest that they do not have enough time for personal student counselling as required in the new core curriculum for student counselling. Utilizing virtual opportunities and digital tools represent a possible support but there is also a need for additional funding from the government to be able to fully execute the new curriculum for student counselling. It is important to get more data to support the development of student counselling and this study gives some insights of the status of student counselling in the Finnish Upper Secondary Schools.