Guidance councillors-any use to anyone?

TiGeR KiNgS · 04-01-2012 07:23PM

Gonzor wrote: »

Yeh I think a lot of people bash them after only ever having one or two dealings with them in 6th year.

As someone else said they help with all sorts and not just advice on college/jobs.

I remember in my own class a chap got in trouble for breaking into a Dunnes stores one night and the GC spent months helping him get off drugs and get his life back on track.

More like months helping him get out of class.

Gonzor · 04-01-2012 07:42PM

TiGeR KiNgS wrote: »

More like months helping him get out of class.

WHen someone is addicted to drugs, out robbing different places to feed that addiction, and a date in court coming up that could leave him in a detention center.... yeh Im pretty sure the last thing on his mind is trying to skive of Irish and history lessons :rolleyes:

Professey Chin · 04-01-2012 07:44PM

Mine said I should be a psychologist.
Now Im the patient! MWAHAHEHEHEHEHOHOHOO!

hmmm · 04-01-2012 08:39PM

Gonzor wrote: »

I remember in my own class a chap got in trouble for breaking into a Dunnes stores one night and the GC spent months helping him get off drugs and get his life back on track.

That's great and all, but that's not what we're paying them for. "The school had a caretaker, he was rubbish with anything to do with the facilities but he made us all a great coffee in the mornings. I think he should be kept on as school caretaker."

04-01-2012 08:45PM

Our counsellor/GC hated me. Had a lot of talks with her about personal stuff. She was awful.
She became principal the year i left. thank goodness i left :rolleyes: my friends said when she was giving actual career "advice" in 6th year, she hadn't a fcuking clue

the GC in the new school was pretty good though and knew about courses

Slunk · 04-01-2012 08:46PM

Pretty useless. Had about three five minute meetings. I basically told him what i was thinking about doing and he went along with it. Photocopied some generic paperwork and that was that.
Other thing i heard on the news was the amount been spent on chaplains to schools. They should defo get the chop.

El Horseboxo · 04-01-2012 08:53PM

I only done the leaving cert years in Ireland. I had a very specific area i knew i wanted to go into but my guidance councilor hadn't a clue how to direct me. Thank fook the internet was around otherwise i wouldn't have known which course was relevant. One of the requirements i needed was a foreign language so i said i already have spanish and English. He was trying to tell me to do spanish in college because i'd have no cert to prove i spoke the language. Despite me being Mexican and it being my native tongue. If anything i'd have needed a cert in English at the time.

Grindylow · 04-01-2012 09:02PM

Mine was terrible. I came to her to suggest a course I'd like to do, she instantly suggested agriculture because sure, I'm from the country, why wouldn't I want to do that? :rolleyes: She suggested it to practically everyone in her class.

Needless to say I went to college this year, doing a course I hated and dropped out..

Twee. · 04-01-2012 09:30PM

Mine was excellent, helped me pick my perfect course in a college I didn't even know existed when I started looking! Even when my friend found herself a bit lost after a one year FETAC course, the GC had her come back to the school for a few meetings, and helped her find a course to continue her education. What a lady!

thecornflake · 04-01-2012 09:45PM

They do more than people think.

For example, the one in my school didn't do a stitch of work and didn't have a clue. However, one day I had a huge Irish test that I totally forgot about. So, at lunch time just before the test, I made myself an appointment with the GC. I'll never forget how her face lit up when she saw I wanted to talk to her after lunch about college ect. After lunch the Irish teacher walks in and I explain to her that I have an appointment with the GC and due to the fact that nobody ever saw the GC, she thought it was important and told me to go right ahead.

So kids, there is a good reason to have these GCs in school, they are a get out of jail free card.

mconigol · 04-01-2012 09:59PM

I'm sure some are good and some are bad. I get the impression that there are more bad than good however.

susita06 · 04-01-2012 10:10PM

mconigol wrote: »

I'm sure some are good and some are bad. I get the impression that there are more bad than good however.

The gc in my school was shockingly bad ! I you were a male you had a choice of the army or quantity surveying and if female, nursing was the only way to go :-). One girl told her she was thinking of studying medicine during a class one day and her response was "yea, um, well the points would be really high and I dnt think you are smart enough but have you looked in to nursing maybe ?! They are the same really " :-D

Seren_ · 04-01-2012 10:30PM

We had a great one in my school. He was our year head as well, and we used to have a class every week were we would go over all the CAO/general stuff and things like CVs, and then we had individual meetings too every so often. He's the reason I ended up going to Maynooth too, because I'd never heard of it before he told me about how he studied there and loved it

He left the year after, and apparently the one that's there now is pretty crap sadly.

I don't see why everyone on here is saying that guidance counsellor positions should be cut though. Just because yours was crap doesn't mean every single other one in the entire country is.

Gyalist · 04-01-2012 11:18PM

Your average elected local government representative would be unlikely to be able to give you sound career advice.

Almaviva · 04-01-2012 11:25PM

My guidance counsellor was great. Advised me to become a guidance counsellor.
Best thing I ever did - its money for nothing.

Sheeps · 05-01-2012 12:00AM

There were parents in a certain private school in Rathgar in South Dublin who couldn't stop the school forcing students to attend the psycho guidance councillor at the time, so they got a court to issue a restraining order which forbid the guidance councillor from being in the same room as their daughter.

Snowie · 05-01-2012 12:16AM

I was once, surfing the net, and ended up on the career guidance test stuf were they ask you a ton of questions and you answer...

I answered honestly and it told me I should be a photographer....:eek:

NTMK · 05-01-2012 12:28AM

I was told to go into accounting my councillor even though i was **** at accounting and hated it:rolleyes:

Lone Stone · 05-01-2012 12:57AM

all mine did was recomend fas course's :rolleyes: stupid bitch !!!

Niles · 05-01-2012 02:09AM

I didn't go to mine in 6th year and ended up doing an Arts degree... go figure.

Dudess · 05-01-2012 02:15AM

Wouldn't mind doing that job - tell the kid to do what they enjoy/are good at seems the best advice IMO.

Micky Dolenz · 05-01-2012 02:19AM

Aren't most GC teachers as well though? If you are only a GC then you are pretty much redundant.

Dudess · 05-01-2012 02:39AM

My uncle was just a guidance counsellor but taught other subjects for years before that.

hondasam · 05-01-2012 02:45AM

This is changing this year I think, no allocation for a guidance counsellor in schools.

Niles · 05-01-2012 02:47AM

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Aren't most GC teachers as well though? If you are only a GC then you are pretty much redundant.

In my school that was certainly the case, although they wouldn't have taught as many "regular" classes as the other teachers. Actually come to think of it in TY Career Guidance was an actual weekly class.

cruais · 05-01-2012 02:47AM

If we went to our G.C and told her we wanted to do medicine/law/teaching etc she would always say.... There are some great secretarial courses out there...useless!

Senna · 05-01-2012 02:54AM

Ours used to read one report per year, find out which job had highest shortages and then recommend everyone in that year train for that job.
"so you have a good business acumen, you enjoy maths and have a 3 languages, you should be a chef".:rolleyes:

seanogwalsh · 05-01-2012 11:48AM

Mine had a well practised routine. She would bring a student in, ask them what they wanted to be, and then said "You should think about nursing/Guards", based on gender. Funnily enough she suggested being a lawyer to me...I guess I just don't have the makings of a guard

SeaFields · 05-01-2012 12:05PM

I imagine with the amount of information on the interwebz that their position in giving career/college place guidance their position has largely become redundant.

Perhaps if it is a choice between a special needs assistant in the local primary school or a GC in the local post-primary school, give the primary school the funding.

charlietheminxx · 05-01-2012 12:06PM

Mine was great I have to say.... Bit of a headwrecker as a person, but very good at her job. We had a class with her every week where we did CV prep, interview techniques, mock interviews, college options, grant information, aptitude tests. She also saw everyone on a one-to-one basis a couple of times during 6th year.

It's also her that helped me apply for the New Era (access) programme so I would have an extra grant and extra support when I started college.

I know some of them are awful wasters, but this woman was fantastic at her job, clearly loved it. It's a shame career guidance isn't going to be standardised and regulated, rather than just being abolished.

Guidance councillors-any use to anyone?

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