I
found this week’s article, Do School
Counselors Matter? Mattering as a
Moderator Between Job Stress and Job Satisfaction (Rayle, 2006)
interesting, relevant, and something with which I can empathize working in a
school. First, I find it
interesting that school counselors who were not teachers previous to becoming
school counselors reported greater satisfaction with their jobs (Rayle, 2006). In my mind, I believe that I will have
much greater job satisfaction once I become a school counselor. However, perhaps that is because I’m
coming from the special education world, in which demands are typically higher
than in general education. Variables
such as the district in which I work and the demands of my specific position
may also play a role in this. I
wonder, what type of teaching jobs did the teachers in this study have prior to
becoming counselors?
It
comes as no surprise that school counselors who run Comprehensive
Competency-based guidance programs had greater perceptions of mattering and
higher levels of job satisfaction (Rayle, 2006). It would seem that, with an emphasis on a well-rounded
program that meets the needs of everyone in the school, one would feel more
important and needed as a counselor.
When
reading about high school counselors reporting the lowest job satisfaction,
lowest levels of mattering, and highest levels of job-related stress, I
immediately thought of my interview with a high school counselor. When talking with her, another one of
the counselors in her department joined in our conversation. Both counselors indicated that they did
not feel like leaders, which I would think relates to the concept of
mattering. They seemed defeated in
their positions as counselors; they did their best for students, but it seemed
that they were not taken seriously by administration, which held them back from
being able to give students the best services possible. In contrast, the middle and
elementary school counselors that I interviewed felt positively about their
leadership roles and importance to administrators. This also correlates with
the findings of this study, that high school counselors had the lowest
perceptions of mattering to administrators when compared to middle and
elementary school counselors (Rayle, 2006).
The
study indicated that mattering and job-related stress are important factors in
predicting school counselors’ overall job satisfaction (Rayle, 2006). I observed this correlation in the same
interview with the high school counselor to which I referred in the last
paragraph. Both counselors
indicated their overall dissatisfaction with their jobs. During the conversation, one of the
counselors actually told me to get out of the program if I wasn’t too far
along. I wonder what their advice
would be if they were in a different district or under different
administration. If they felt that
they had mattered, would they, too, have had greater job satisfaction? In
addition, what adds to their beliefs of not mattering? As stated in the conclusion of the
study, “one important consideration for future research might include
investigating specific reasons behind the reported stress levels...” (Rayle,
2006). The counselors with whom I
spoke did indicate that they had several non-counseling duties, such as lunch
duty. The middle and elementary
school counselors were firm in their stance that such duties were
inappropriate, and their administrators reportedly respected that. This would indicate that, as future
school counselors, it is important for us to protect our own sense of
satisfaction and levels of stress by educating administration on our roles as
counselors.
Reference
Rayle, A.D. (2006, February). Do school counselors matter? Mattering as a moderator between job stress and job satisfaction. Professional School Counseling,
9(3).
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