How to Improve and Make Visible the University Counseling Services: Meeting the Needs of students

Author(s):

Chantal Biencinto López(presenting / submitting)Mercedes García-García(presenting)Elvira Carpintero Molina Cristina Núñez

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 08 B, Student Transitions and Graduate Employability

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-04

09:00-10:30

Room:

B021 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Mariana Gaio Alves

Contribution

Heterogeneity is still the feature that best describes the orientation services at university in Europe and in Spain. There is a wide diversity in its name, organization and internal structure, dependency, instability of personnel and resource scarcity (Salmerón, 2001; Saúl, López-González & Bermejo, 2009; Valverde, Ruiz, García & Romero, 2003). Its institutionalization is characterized by the consolidation of orientation services and their consideration as a personal education process that implies long life activity. Empowerment, that is, personal growth that leads to the ability to confront constructively the control over one owns destiny, a change from choosing a career to building one (Marín & Rodríguez, 2001), is its main goal. It is focused on the establishment and development of University Information and Orientation Services (Servicios de Información y Orientación Universitaria- SIOU), which goal is the coordinated and systematic work in favor of students. Besides the SIOU, centered on providing information to secondary education students and reception of new students, and the COIE, which are directed to students in their last semesters or graduate students, other kind of Psycho Pedagogical Orientation Services are promoted. Some examples are the Psychological Attention Offices (Gabinetes de Atención Psicológica) or the Offices for the Attention of student Diversity (Oficinas de Atención a la Diversidad).

Nowadays, Spanish universities have information unities and most of the orientation services (Sanz, 2011). The principal tasks of these services are information about acceptance and enrolment, transfer of academic records and validations, internships and study organization. Frequent activities include reception of future students or those in their first semester, orientation about professional opportunities and support for handicapped students. There are two studies which show this: Saúl, López-González and Bermejo (2009) state that 68,9% (of 74 Spanish universities) include some kind of psychological orientation service. Its presence is higher in public universities (73%) than in private ones (60%). On the other hand, Sánchez et al. (2008) show heterogeneity in the name of the services and in the activities offered in 66 universities. This analysis confirms the difficulty to differentiate services centered on information activities from those focused on orientation activities. The same study shows that half of the universities (58%) have more than one orientation service, but in those cases they are not coordinated and do not collaborate.

In this context, the University Orientation Service (Servicio de Orientación Universitaria- SOU) at the Faculty for Education of the UCM, renews its activity in the year 2011-12 with more than two decades of experience. It offers information, training and guidance for students in order to assist their adaptation to university life, academic success and professional development. Its goal is to develop an involved and cooperative educational community in order to give answers to students’ needs. A radial and linked organization with six fields is created: information, mentoring, training, counseling, assessment and institutional relations (García, Carpintero, Biencinto y Núñez, in press). In the last year two more fields have been added: attention to diversity and ecology. Its challenge is to achieve the compromise and range of European services, which consist of a global university orientation, comprising academic, professional and personal areas (Watts & Van Esbroeck, 2000), integrated as transversal elements to university orientation projects.

Conscious of the importance of knowing the impact and perception their users have, an assessment of the offered services is proposed. This assessment is carried out by asking first semester students’ opinions as they are one of the core groups addressed by the SOU. Questions such as: do they know the service and its activities?, does it suit their needs?, what actions of the SOU would the improve?, are asked.

Method

The study methodology is quantitative with a descriptive design. A questionnaire on knowledge of SOU has been made with some questions including suggested answers and other questions with open response. The main objective is to know whether the freshmen of the Faculty of Education are aware of the SOU and the actions carried out by this service. The questionnaire was applied during the month of May 2012 to all students enrolled in their first year of the Faculty of Education. Of all students (N = 949), the final sample consisted of 561, representing 59.11 % of the enrolled census. The majority of students responding to the questionnaire were women (87%) versus 13% of men, a finding that is consistent with the population characteristics of both the Faculty and therefore the studies in Education. With respect to participants degrees, most are in degrees related to kindergarten and primary school. It is worth mentioning broad participation of students of Pedagogy, whose representation was 76.5 %. For quantitative analysis the Excel complement EzAnalyze 2.5 has been used to perform frequency analysis and comparison of means between degrees using ANOVA. For the analysis of open response questions content analysis has been used, through categorization of responses and their subsequent ranking. The first question is whether freshmen of the Faculty of Education consider orientation in college important, once the course has started and when they have progressed in their studies. Results show that students appreciate the college counseling (with scores near or above 4 out of 5), with difference between degrees being statistically significant (F3, 520 = 4.062, sig = 0.007). Post- hoc contrasts revealed differences among students in Social Education and Pedagogy, the latter giving more importance to college counseling. The second question is whether students are aware of the SOU. The answer is positive in 89% of cases. Most agree in noting that this knowledge comes from the Reception Day (75 %), followed by those who know the service through signage (19.1%). To a lesser extent, some know this service, through peers (11.4%), teachers (8.3%) or the Web (6.1%). In addition to the actions related to admission and mentoring first year students, SOU also performs actions like information, advice, training and evaluation. In this sense, most students identify SOU with the realization of the Reception Day (60.8 %) but also information services (36.4%), individual counseling (34.9%) and training (20.85%); to a lesser extent scholarship information (12.7%) or celebratrion of a career opportunities day (5.3%).

Expected Outcomes

First year students at Faculty of Education show their interest and involvement to contribute with their own ideas and experiences in order to improve both the SOU and the integration of future students. Their proposals coincide with the lines of action which have being developed by the college counseling services to meet the needs of students. They share with the SOU the importance of student support and implementation of measures to provide information, counseling, mentoring and training. However, they make a special emphasis on innovative activities, of playful character, to increase participation and a sense of college. It has been found that the SOU has visibility for freshmen. Mainly it has been known through the Reception Day and posters, and also thanks to the mentoring program and specific actions of information and personal counseling. They have, above all, knowledge of the actions specifically related to their daily work and the needs arising from this new academic situation and to a lesser extent, of seminars and training courses or workshops on careers. The main difficulties coincide with those already identified in other studies of needs (Arias Alvarez, Garcia Cabrera, Martin and Robayno, 2005, Carpenter, Fontana, Biencinto, Díaz García, 2013; González, Guzmán, Sánchez and González, 2006), i.e. those related to the transition, the lack of information from the academic structure and curriculum differences at educational and organizational level. Once again anonymity, the demand for autonomy and the need to relate stand between perceived difficulties. In a time when guidance services have legislative support and institutional protection, Faculty of Education at UCM is positioned in a prime spot by the sensitivity of its teaching staff and the recognition and participation of its students. Despite the achieved visibility in an academic course, much remains to improve both in personalized advice to diversity, and in the increased specialization that is committed to the empowerment of students.

References

ARIAS, M., ÁLVAREZ, P., GARCÍA, M., CABRERA, J., MARTÍN, A. Y ROBAYNO, M. (2005). La tutoría como respuesta a las necesidades del alumnado universitario. Un estudio en el primer curso de enfermería de la ULL. Revista Española de Orientación y Psicopedagogía, 16 (2), 319-331. CARPINTERO, E., FONTANA, M., BIENCINTO, CH., DÍAZ, E. Y GARCÍA, M. (2013). Necesidades de los estudiantes universitarios: la respuesta del SOU. IV Seminario de la Red Interuniversitaria de Profesores de Orientación. La Laguna. GARCÍA, M., CARPINTERO, E., BIENCINTO, CH. Y NÚÑEZ, C. (en prensa). Evaluación del proyecto SOU-estuTUtor. Revista Complutense de Educación. GONZÁLEZ, M., GUZMAN, R., SÁNCHEZ, J. Y GONZÁLEZ, D. (2006). Estudiantes discapacitados en la universidad: percepción sobre las respuestas a sus necesidades educativas. Qurriculum, 19, 173-188. MARÍN, M. A. Y RODRÍGUEZ, S. (2001). Prospectiva del diagnóstico y la orientación. Revista de Investigación Educativa, 19 (2), 315-362. SALMERÓN, H. (2001). Los Servicios de Orientación en la Universidad. Procesos y desarrollo. Ágora digital, 2. SÁNCHEZ GARCÍA, M.F., GUILLAMÓN FERNÁNDEZ, J. R., FERRER SAMA, P., VILLALBA VÍLCHEZ, E., MARTÍN CUADRADO, A. M. Y PÉREZ GONZÁLEZ, J. C. (2008). Situación actual de los Servicios de Orientación Universitaria: estudio descriptivo. Revista de Educación, 345, 329-352. SANZ, G. (2011). X Encuentro de los Servicios de Información y Orientación Universitarios. Prospectiva y análisis de los SIOU. Síntesis de resultados. Oviedo RUNAE-SIOU http://www.um.es/documents/1452701/1464662/prospectiva-siou.pdf/2b49a7f3-d50f-4f52-94c1-de4e6be35518 SAÚL, L.A., LÓPEZ-GONZÁLEZ, M.A. Y BERMEJO, B.G. (2009). Revisión de los servicios de atención psicológica y psicopedagógica en las universidades españolas. Acción psicológica, 6 (1), 17-40. VALVERDE, A.; RUIZ DE MIGUEL, C.; GARCÍA, E. Y ROMERO, S. (2003). Innovación en la orientación universitaria: la mentoría como respuesta. Contextos educativos, 6-7, 87-112. WATTS, A.G. Y VAN ESBROECK, R. (2000). New skills for new futures: a comparative review of higher education guidance and counselling services in the European Unión. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 22, 173-187.

Author Information

Chantal Biencinto López (presenting / submitting)

UCM

MIDE

Madrid

Mercedes García-García (presenting)

UCM, Spain

Elvira Carpintero Molina

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Métodos de Investigación y Diagnóstico en Educación

Madrid

Cristina Núñez

UPM, Spain

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