A Survey Study of Bhutanese School Guidance Counselors' Roles, Responsibilities, Challenges, and Resources

This study explores the young profession of school guidance counseling in Bhutan. It investigated Bhutanese school guidance counselors' demographic characteristics, activities, roles, and responsibilities. The characteristics were assessed using quantitative survey measures, including the International Survey of School Counseling Activities (ISSCA). We further investigated their self-reported challenges and resources using open-ended questions analyzed using content analysis and the analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT). Finally, we examined differences between the views of school guidance counselors in Bhutan and those of Bhutanese school stakeholders (school teachers and principals). Responses were obtained from 162 (90.5%) of the 179 school guidance counselors active at the time in Bhutan, 49 school teachers, and 16 school principals. The ISSCA results revealed that Bhutanese school guidance counselors, on average, rated the appropriateness of school guidance counseling activities higher compared to their school principal and school teacher colleagues but rated the activities of dealing with discipline cases and taking on administrative duties lower. The SWOT analysis further shed light on their challenges and resources, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion of results, interpreted using Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner 1995) suggests that Bhutan's school guidance counseling profession needs more clearly defined roles, more time to establish itself, more initiatives to overcome stigma towards counseling, more material resources such as a counseling room and that schools need to make sure there is sufficient time and opportunities for students to see the school guidance counselor.