The education that teachers can foster in the classroom is not limited to the transmission of academic content; in the present era, the role of teachers has evolved.

In this article we will see what educational guidance consists of . We’ll review the theories behind this form of education and see how it can benefit the students who receive it.

What is educational guidance?

Educational guidance is a form of teaching that goes beyond the regular content of classes and beyond the classroom, to teach and guide young people in the right way to use their personal resources.

The exact purpose of this educational modality is to direct the young person to opt for academic and professional careers related to their personal strengths and capacities . The teacher is capable of recognizing the areas in which the student stands out and gives advice, bearing this in mind.

An adequate orientation process in this sense means that students have less doubts about which profession to choose, and it also greatly reduces the percentage of academic dropouts among high school and university students.

In the present day, the watchword is that the teachers, more than being counsellors in the classes, should also be counsellors outside the classes, so that they can provide support and advice to the young people with regard to their personal experiences.

In this way, education is understood as a holistic process where not only purely academic factors intervene , but also the experiences, interests and exclusive capacities of each young person are taken into account.

In the end, it is the students who make the decisions they consider right for their future, but with the advantage that these decisions have been well thought out thanks to the advice of their specialized teachers.

What are the benefits of this method?

These are the advantages of educational guidance.

1. Increased personal knowledge

Academic guidance provides young people with the possibility of having a greater and better understanding of their abilities , which is beneficial for all areas of the students’ lives. They will grow up to be adults without being so exposed to unnecessary frustrations.

2. Improved adaptive capacity

Intelligence is a rather abstract concept, but it is mainly based on the ability of individuals to adapt. One thing is academic preparation and another is the ability to adapt to different life situations. Educational orientation helps to find work spaces that correspond to one’s cognitive abilities , depending on whether one stands out in creativity, logical reasoning, verbal intelligence, etc.

3. Better selection of priorities

Young people who have gone through a process of academic orientation generally have a better capacity to discriminate between relevant things and those that are not so relevant in terms of their life goals . In other words, they learn to classify in order of importance and give priority to what is most decisive for them.

4. Family integration

The educational orientation goes beyond the classroom and covers topics related to each student’s personal life. Family life is an area that is constantly being worked on within this form of teaching, and has good results when it comes to creating collaborative networks between the school and families.

5. Better disposition to change

Once the young person has gone through a correct educational orientation process, it becomes much easier for him/her to process and cope with the changes to which he/she will be exposed when his/her time as a high school student comes to an end and he/she has to start new challenges as a college student.

6. Better problem-solving styles

The adaptive and coexistence tools that students obtain when they go through an educational orientation process have a significant impact on their problem-solving styles in times of uncertainty . Young people are strengthened in terms of their capacity for evaluation and decision making.

7. Favours integration between student and teacher

This way of educating has the intrinsic advantage that students see the figure of the teacher as a counsellor , and not only as a rigid authority figure.

Accompaniment beyond the school setting

As we have seen, educational guidance helps young people to think beyond the mental framework of the school and to start imagining a professional future in line with their interests and abilities.

However, we must bear in mind that there is always the possibility of making mistakes with decisions and making a professional career for what it is not. In the end, professions are not always the same in all contexts , and beyond the dictionary definitions of what is done in one job or another, there are other factors that influence: the economic context through which the country passes, the organizational climate of the companies, the personality of the bosses, etc.

To avoid frustration, part of the process of educational guidance is to point out that a person is much more than the first career they choose, and that they can change direction in life.

Bibliographic references:

  • Woolfolk, A.K., Winne, P.H., and Perry, N.E. (2006). Educational Psychology. Toronto, Canada: Pearson.