Turki Alotaibi - Differentiating Cultural, Social, and Psychological Attitudes Towards School...

Differentiating Cultural, Social, and Psychological Attitudes Towards School Counselling in Saudi Arabia

Turki Aziz M Al OtaibiPhD Candidate, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, (United Kingdom) Director of Student Counselling, Department of Education, Afif (Saudi Arabia)

Oral Presentation

InPACTInternational Psychological Applications Conference and Trends

4 – 6 April 2014 (Porto, Portugal)

4 - 6 April 2014 1Differentiating Cultural, Social, and Psychological

Attitudes Towards School Counselling in Saudi Arabia

• What is a counsellor?

“A counsellor is someone who does his or her best to listen to you and workwith you to find the best ways to understand and resolve your problem.Counsellors do not diagnose or label people, but instead do their best workwithin whatever framework of under-standing makes sense for each client”(Mcleod 2013, p.3).

• Research has demonstrated the effectiveness and benefits of different types of psychotherapies to clients (Smith, Glass, and Miller, 1980).

• Counselling as a form of psychotherapy within schools:

– Helps to improve the overall attendance, attainment, and behaviour of students(Pybis, Hill, Cooper, Cromarty, 2012);

– Positively impacts students’ learning and studying (Rupani, Haughey, and Cooper,2012)

– Reduces psychological distress (McArthur, Cooper, and Berdondini, 2012);

– Is a prevalent form of psychological therapy for young people (around 70,000-90,000 students seek school counselling per year) (BACP, 2013).

Introduction

4 - 6 April 2014 2Differentiating Cultural, Social, and Psychological Attitudes

Towards School Counselling in Saudi Arabia

• Aim:The main aim of the research study was to investigate andexplore the challenges and problems encountered by SchoolCounsellors (SCs) in secondary schools located in Afif (a city inthe Najd region of Saudi Arabia).

• Objectives:– To explore the roles of the SC and school counselling from the point of

view of head teachers (HTs), teachers, parents, students, the SaudiMinistry of Education (MoE), and SCs themselves.

– To examine the different cultural, social, and psychological (CSP)attitudes towards school counselling that could be identified within thecontext of school counselling.

Research Aim and Objectives



Research Design:

• Flexible, exploratory, descriptive study (from 2008-2009).

• Reflects a lack of existing information and literature on school counselling in SaudiArabia, i.e. insufficient for pre-existing hypotheses or theory-driven research design.

Research Methods:

• MIXED METHODS used which involved the collection of both QUALITATIVE (open-ended) and QUANTITATIVE (closed-ended) data in response to research questions orhypotheses (Creswell 2013, p.217).

• The research used a total population of 44 (21 HTs and 23 school counsellors) basedin Afif secondary schools for boys (the Participants).

Qualitative Research Stage:

• Semi-structured interviews - five Participants drawn from secondary schools in Afif.

Quantitative Research Stage:

• Questionnaire distributed to a random sample of 12 HTs and 18 SCs.

Research Design and Methods



• Negative cultural attitudes towards school counselling and SCs.

• Less open and closed Saudi culture and society.

• Close tribal and familial bonds – privacy is respected and upheld.

• Dominant patriarchal and collectivist Saudi society and conservatism.

• HTs, teachers, parents, may see SCs as something new and ‘untested’.

• Lack of trust between students and SCs – seen as a ‘sign of weakness’.

• Saudi culture and tradition may make it difficult for SCs to be accepted.

• Hierarchical Saudi society means SCs need more support by MoE and HTs.

• Parents disapproved and not trusting of SCs.

• Interviewee C5: “we only see parents when their sons have a problem orare in trouble”.

• Interviewee C4: “because of the culture and society in Saudi Arabia it iscommon for parents to be uncomfortable with the involvement of thecounsellor in their son’s life because they are considered private for thefamily” .

Discussion: Cultural attitudes towards school counselling



• Mixed social attitudes towards school counselling and SCs.

• Some evidence of positive social attitudes of students towards SCs.

• Some evidence that HTs and teachers:– Saw SCs as not professional, unqualified, lacking sufficient training;

– Misunderstood the role of SCs;

– Saw school counselling jobs as easy or undemanding.

• General lack of social, administrative, and financial support from:– Saudi MoE;

– Schools, HTs, teachers, parents;

– Interviewee C1: “teachers think that the counsellor has an easy job with a comfortable office”;

– Interviewee C2: “the teachers consider that the role of the counsellors is to simply give outpunishments, if the student misbehaves or neglects their homework, they are referred to thecounsellor by the teacher”;

– Interviewee C3: “there is difficulty in the job because there are too many students to deal within the school”;

– Interviewee C4: “the budget allocated for counselling is not sufficient”.

Discussion: Social attitudes towards school counselling



• Negative psychological attitudes towards school counselling and SCs.

• General lack of professional respect, communication, and support.

• Some evidence that SCs:– Feel they are not taken seriously by HTs, teachers and parents;

– Feel unqualified and therefore not able to prepare adequately enough;

– Feel they have heavy workloads and a general lack of administrative support;

– May be viewed as not working hard or not achieving much by people in schools;

– Are not referred students by other teachers.

• Psychologically SCs may feel:– UNQUALIFIED (lack of adequate training and/or support;

– UNPREPARED (lack of adequate training materials and/or guidance);

– DEMOTIVATED/DEMORALISED (negative perceptions; little professional recognition/acceptance);

– Interviewee C3: “There are those counsellors who are not motivated which can be detrimental totheir performance as student counsellors”;

– Interviewee C1: “Although there are counselling courses provided they do not last for a sufficientamount of time and the materials provided are not suitable for the actual problems and objectivesthat the counsellors must deal with”;

– Interviewee C1: “if we had more training then we would be more able to overcome the problemsthat we encounter”.

Discussion: Psychological attitudes towards school counselling



• The research study showed SCs in secondary schools in Afif facednumerous difficulties which potentially obstructed their work andpsychoeducational approaches to school counselling.

• These were differentiated into key themes relating to CSPattitudes:

– CULTURAL (negative views of SCs; lack of trust, acceptance and co-operation from teachers and parents).

– SOCIAL (general social lack of understanding of SCs role; unqualifiedSCs).

– PSYCHOLOGICAL (understaffed schools; unqualified and unpreparedSCs; burdened and de-motivated SCs).

Conclusion



QUESTIONS



References



BACP (2013). School-based counselling – what it is and why we need it. (May), British Association for

Counselling and Psychotherapy

Creswell, J.W. (2013). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 4th edn

(SAGE Publications, Inc)

McArthur, K., Cooper, M. and Berdondini, L. (2012). 'School-based humanistic counselling for psychological

distress in young people: Pilot randomized controlled trial', Psychotherapy Research

Mcleod, J. (2013). An Introduction to Counselling. Berkshire: Open University Press

Pybis, J., Hill, A., Cooper, M. and Cromarty, K. (2012). 'A comparative analysis of the attitudes of key

stakeholder groups to the Welsh Government's school-based counselling strategy', 40(5) British Journal of

Guidance & Counselling, pp.485-498

Rupani, P., Haughey, N. and Cooper, M. (2012). 'The impact of school-based counselling on young people's

capacity to study and learn', 40(5) British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, pp.499-514

Smith, M., Glass, G. and Miller, T. (1980). The Benefits of Psychotherapy. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins

University Press

Differentiating Cultural, Social, and Psychological Attitudes Towards School Counselling in Saudi Arabia

Turki Aziz M Al OtaibiPhD Candidate, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, (United Kingdom) Director of Student Counselling, Department of Education, Afif (Saudi Arabia)

Oral Presentation

InPACTInternational Psychological Applications Conference and Trends

4 – 6 April 2014 (Porto, Portugal)

4 - 6 April 2014 11Differentiating Cultural, Social, and Psychological

Attitudes Towards School Counselling in Saudi Arabia

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