GUIDANCE AND ITS NATURE

Introduction:
    Every individual is beset with problems and problems in his life and it has become
very difficult for him to achieve satisfactory results without assistance. There would be
hardly an individual who does not need assistance. There are two sets of differences
which are involved in all situations -those among individuals and those among courses
of action open to them. There is always a confrontation between needs and
opportunities. Thus, there arises a situation of balancing them, which needs assistance.
According to jones, everyone needs assistance at some time in his life; some will need
it constantly and throughout their lives, while others need it only at rare intervals at
times of great crisis. There always have been and will continue to be people with an
occasional need for the help of the older or more experienced associates in meeting
situations.
    Life in a primitive society was very simple and so, the process of seeking assistance.
Revolutionary changes have taken place in all areas of life and accordingly the nature of
assistance has assumed complexity. In technical term, assistance is called Guidance.
Meaning of Guidance:
         Guidance is a process through which an individual is helped to guide himself.
Thus, guidance stands for creating a spirit of self-dependence in the individual. It helps
him solve his own problems. It does not solve the problem for him. Evidently, in
guidance the focus of attention is the individual and not his problem.
     In the guidance process, the individual is helped to understand his assets and
limitations in order that he may think about his further development and may take
decision about the same.
Definitions:
  1. “Process of assisting to adjust.” According to Brewer, the word guidance should be
used whenever an important activity is to be learnt and assistance is needed by the
individual to learn that activity and adjust himself, whether that activity is the choice of
leisure time activity or habit of eating or behavior towards the opposite sex.
2. “Establishing an effective relationship.” Crawford thinks that student personnel work may
be regarded as a means of establishing a relationship between his total education
experiences and his personnel needs and potentialities, in an effective way.
3.       According to Crow and Crow,” Guidance is assistance made available by personally
qualified and adequately trained men and women to an individual of any age to help him
manage his own life activities, develop his own points of view, make his own decisions
and carry his own burdens.”
4.       Process of helping every individual through his own efforts. In the words of Ruth
Strang,
“Guidance is a process of helping every individual, through his own efforts, to discover
and develop his potentialities for his personal happiness and social usefulness.”
5. “Guidance is a process of enabling each individual to understand his abilities and interest
to develop them as well as possible and to relate them to life goals and finally to reach a
state of complete and matured self-guidance as a desirable human element of the
social order.”
6. “Guidance is the process of helping a person to develop and accept an integrated and adequate picture
of himself and of his role in the world of work, to test this concept against reality and to convert it into
reality with satisfaction to himself and benefit to the society”.

NATURE OF GUIDANCE
           By now, you have understood that guidance is a helping service. It is by its very
nature a self-oriented, problem solving and multifaceted activity. It presupposes two-fold
understanding. The first is the understanding of one’s own abilities, aptitudes, interests,
motives, behaviour-patterns, skills and achievements up-to-date and social, cultural,
economic background. Secondly, it is the understanding of the real nature of one’s
environment and of the educational and vocational opportunities offered by that
environment, along with their differential requirements of abilities and attainments.
Guidance may be described as a process of relating these two types of understanding
so that they become imbued with a new meaning in the life of the individual. Mohein has
very lucidly put the
Nature of guidance in these words:
             “Guidance seeks to create within the child the need and power to explore and
understand himself in order to prepare a balance-sheet of his assets and liabilities so
that he is able to plan out his future growth and activities in a manner that offers
Maximum likelihood of success and satisfaction. “
           In the school there are various types of optional subjects. He needs guidance for
choosing the right type of subject in terms of his physical and mental abilities and
limitations. Many students fail in their studies because of wrong choice of subjects.
Their failures may be checked, if they choose the suitable subjects according to their
assets and limitations.
Educational Needs
Guidance is needed from educational point of view because of the following reasons:
1. Increase in the range of individual differences among school going children before
independence, boys and girls in our country came to school only from the more
privileged section of the society.
2. The admission in the schools was selective. But after independence due to
realization of Constitutional Directive of providing free and compulsory education up to
14 years of age. Education for all and the drive for mass education, we find our schools
are flooded with children from every section of society.
3. The classes are over-crowded and there is a tremendous increase in the number of
schools too. The result is that we find much wider range of individual differences in the
abilities, aspirations and achievement of the pupils. 
4.  Understanding of the differential needs and abilities of the children is essential for
modifying the school programme for the best possible unfoldment of the student’s
potentialities. This is possible only through the introduction of   guidance services in our
school programmes.
5. Guidance as an Instrument for the Qualitative Improvement of Education There has
been a rapid expansion of educational facilities to cater to the needs of increasing
number of children in recent years. This has resulted to some extent in the fall of
educational standards. Consequently, there is a great need of providing guidance
services in the school for the qualitative improvement of education.
 6. Knowledge Explosion or the increase in the types of courses offered in the schools.
The domain of knowledge is like the number of wishes. The increased knowledge is
creeping into the course contents of our textbooks. It is not possible for every student to
learn all that is available in the field of knowledge.
7.  Single track education for all is out-moded concept. At the secondary stage, the
courses of studies have been diversified to include several optional groups. Therefore, a
special type of service is badly needed in our schools which will assist the individual
pupil in the choice of course suiting to his needs and abilities that will help the school
authorities in the proper allocation of the diversified courses to the pupils of the school.
8. Expanding Educational Objectives Everyone talks today about the all-round
development of the child through education. We want a type of education that can
provide for the development of the whole child. It is now commonly accepted that
education should also lead to the promotion of the emotional,     social and civic life of
the student. Problems of social adjustment and personality orientation require the
services of a competent counsellor and availability of appropriate guidance services.
9. Solution of Educational Problems We are facing various types of educational
problems in the schools such as universal and compulsory education, increased
enrolment, high percentage of failures and dropout, wastage and stagnation etc. These
problems require the need of proper guidance services in the school. Special guidance
services are also required for the gifted, backward, handicapped and delinquent
children.
10. Solving Discipline problems Problem of discipline is becoming more and more acute
in the educational institutions. Even at higher stage of education it has taken a serious
turn. Student strikes and agitation have become a common scene of the day. Problems
of discipline can be solved with the help of guidance programme.
11. Optimum Achievement of the Students Most of the students secure third division in
the examinations due to the fact that they have not developed the proper study habits
and learning styles. The reason for the poor achievement in the schools is because
students do not make use of educational facilities available in the school. Therefore,
there is a great need to develop study habits among the students. Proper guidance
services can help in this direction.
CHARACTERISTICS AND NATURE OF GUIDANCE:
1.       Guidance is promotion of the growth of the individual in self-direction.
2.       Guidance is the process of helping the individual in affecting changes in him.
3.       Guidance is helping the individual himself through his own efforts.
4.       Guidance is assisting an individual to find his place.
5.       Guidance is helping the individual to establish harmonious relationships.
6.       Guidance is assisting the individual to adjust himself.
7.       Guidance is helping the individual to make appropriate educational, vocational and
personal choices.
8.       Guidance programme is organized.
9.       Guidance programme has a structure, system and personnel.
10.   Guidance consists of specialized services-testing, counseling, educational and
vocational information, placement and follow up.
11.   Guidance programme is an integral part of the school system.
12.   Guidance helps an individual to identify and develop his potentialities and talents.
13.   Guidance is a point of view that includes a positive attitude towards children.
Need and Importance of Educational Guidance
According to Teacher Training Programs Educational guidance is needed
for the following reasons
1. Diversified Courses: The need of educational guidance is realized where
there are various types of courses to choose from. The question of guidance does not
arise where only one curriculum is taught to all the students. A child has to be guided for
selecting right educational courses.
2. Failure: Non-seriousness is the major cause of not succeeding of the students in
a particular course. If the failed students or dropouts are not guided, they may
become delinquent. Such students must be given proper guidance to complete the
study.
3. Unsatisfactory Progress: Students often found neglect in study. Educational ff
guidance is needed when the students do not show satisfactory progress or develop
non-serious attitude in this study. It is essential to guide them and show them the right
path.
4. Individual Differences: All children are not alike. They differ in attitude, abilities
and interests. Educational Guidance helps them to select a right course according to his
abilities.
5. Environment: Educational Guidance is needed to acquaint students in school or
college environments. A student is maladjusted when he is not properly oriented
towards  the school and college. Many lives are lost if the child is not treated well. Some
children are brought up in an atmosphere of love and over protection. It is here that
educational guidance comes in. Guidance in school is also to be given to gifted children
as well as academically backward children so that they can cope up with the studies
according to their abilities.