الگوی مناسب توانمندسازی برای مشاوران تحصیلی و اعتبارسنجی آن

A Suitable Model of Empowerment for Academic Advisors and Its Validation

Hosseinbar M.A.[1], Saadatmand Z.[2]*, Baratali M.[3], Yousefi Z.[4]

[1]-  PhD student in Curriculum Planning, Isfahan Branch (Khorasgan), Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

[1]-  (Corresponding author): Associate Professor of Curriculum Planning Department, Isfahan Branch (Khorasgan), Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran, Email: Drzohrehsaadatmand12@yahoo.com

[1] - Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Isfahan Branch (Khorasgan), Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

[1]- Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Isfahan Branch (Khorasgan), Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Empowering the role of professional school counselors and providing a comprehensive and multicultural program to guide schools shows hope for better service to students and improves job performance and increases the quality of work of educational counselors, so this research aims to providing a suitable model of empowerment for academic advisors and its validation.

Methods: The current research was conducted with a (qualitative and quantitative) approach. The current research method is applied in terms of purpose, based on the nature of the data, mixed and based on the method of data collection (documentary-survey). In the qualitative part, the statistical sample was targeted until saturation of the statistical population of the qualitative part was experts and skilled people and generally included all the successful academic advisors of Sistan and Baluchistan province, and in the quantitative part, 133 people as a statistical sample using the table Karjesi and Morgan were selected from the statistical population of all school counselors in Sistan and Baluchistan province in 2018-2019. In the qualitative part, the data collection tool was semi-structured interview and data analysis by theme analysis method. In the quantitative part of the researcher-made questionnaire, 25 items based on a five-point Likert scale were used, and the data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis and SmartPLS software to validate the model. In order to determine the validity of the researcher-made questionnaire, the approval of experts and professors has been taken into account. Cronbach's alpha method was used to determine the reliability of the researcher-made questionnaire, and the results indicated the appropriate reliability of the researcher-made questionnaire.

Findings: In the qualitative analysis, the interviews conducted through open coding and axial coding of categories were carried out, which led to the identification of related concepts and components (educational needs assessment, priorities for the empowerment of consultants, recruitment, etc.). Recruiting volunteers, assistants and students to participate in educational empowerment courses, providing advice to officials, educational groups and education members in various fields, especially benefiting from active counseling methods, cooperation with educational authorities, empowerment educational consultants) in order to provide a suitable model and validate it.

Conclusion: The results of the semi-structured interview showed that the appropriate model for empowering academic advisors included 4 components (expertise, desirable and reliable, creating continuous and monthly activities and flexibility). Also, the results of the validation showed that the appropriate model of empowerment has the necessary validity from the point of view of curriculum planning experts and academic advisors.

Keywords: appropriate model of empowerment, academic advisors, curriculum planning specialists, consulting services, validation

Received: 9/March/ 2021                       Accepted: 16/ May/ 2021

Introduction:

One of the important goals and tasks of education is to create the environment for the all-round development of the individual and to educate healthy, efficient and responsible people to play a role in individual and social life. In this regard, various components and elements are influential and various planning and activities are also necessary in this field. One of the programs and activities that play an important role in facilitating the growth and education of students is the guidance and counseling program. In the process of guidance and counseling, efforts are made to take into account the role of each of the effective factors and components in education, including the curriculum, manager, teacher, executive agents, parents, peer group and other elements within and outside the school and also the individual and group psychological characteristics of the students by using scientific and specialized methods and guidance and counseling techniques and techniques, helped the students to adapt emotionally and psychologically to different conditions and situations, to make appropriate decisions and choices and to plan for the implementation of their decisions, and in guidance and counseling services, while recognizing the physical, mental, psychological, moral and social characteristics of the student, Obstacles and problems to his growth and development are also identified and the person is helped to choose and follow the right path for his personal and social growth and excellence (1).

The study of the education systems of the world confirms that different countries, according to the conditions, facilities and periodically and gradually, provide guidance and counseling services to prevent and reduce academic, family, emotional, social and moral problems of students in schools and Different universities have used and benefited from the effective method of learning using the academic guidance model. In Iran, attention to this program in the education system reform plans approved in 1344, the change of the education system approved in 1367, the change of the new secondary education system in 1369, and the document on the fundamental transformation of education and the comprehensive map of the scientific country approved in 1390 of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, the use of guidance and counseling services in schools has been emphasized (2), therefore, guidance and counseling in Iran's education has a long history, from the initial studies in 1337 to its official beginning in 1350 and Faraz and The ups and downs that have occurred during these years until now, all indicate the necessity of this important and fundamental platform in the teaching and learning process. What is specially considered in the educational and educational systems of other countries is the attention to the psychological infrastructure in every educational and educational action. These infrastructures include developmental characteristics, individual differences, personality, texture, native and even gender characteristics (3). Counselors actively help all students acquire and apply the necessary skills to increase their academic, career, and personal growth throughout the school years and beyond. Counselors use their ability and guidance capabilities to provide suitable growth activities through the components of the educational program and individual planning, the comprehensive program of guidance and counseling (3). Therefore, considering the specialization of school counseling activities, and on the other hand, the necessity of benefiting from empowerment as an effective method to improve the productivity and performance of employees, emphasizing the empowerment of counselors in order to improve their performance and then promote School counseling activities are essential and undeniable (4).

Professional counseling is a sensitive and responsible profession, which requires knowledge, experience and practice to be up-to-date in the field of counseling and to recognize professional limitations. Professional competence has three basic components: knowledge, skill and perseverance. Those who work in counseling acknowledge that obtaining a degree is only a starting point and without continuing to study after graduation, personal information will be analyzed quickly and to prevent this decline, one must The person himself should be active and develop the knowledge related to his profession, and the relevant authorities should plan and hold educational workshops and specialized seminars and necessary tests to update the consultants and specialists of the subcategory. Take care of yourself. The second component of a consultant's qualification is skill, and skill in general means that a consultant can choose the best and most appropriate method in a specific situation. A skilled counselor tries to use counseling techniques well. For example, by using open questions instead of closed questions, he examines the clients' problems and uses effective listening techniques. Perseverance is the third component of professional competence that requires constant attention to the needs of clients. Persistence means that the practitioner is willing to work hard to help clients. Diligent consultants evaluate their own skills honestly and seek to acquire additional skills whenever necessary. Diligent counselors even follow up the problems of clients whose counseling sessions have ended in order to evaluate the long-term effects of their interventions (5).

Today, school counselors are faced with tasks such as: accompanying in mental health, increasing the provision of services to different ages and being aware of technology. School counselors have a good opportunity to respond to these challenges through appropriate definitions of their role (6). Based on theoretical knowledge and scientific and practical experiences, counselors should have all-round qualifications to help students and solve their numerous and diverse problems. In addition to these characteristics, counselors should be interested in students and aware of their growth and education stages, familiar with the principles and basics of psychology, education and sociology, and able to use the principles and techniques of guidance. And counseling and finally have work experience (2).

Academic counseling is mostly based on problems and issues and tries to solve these problems and issues through counseling and psychological methods (7). In his academic counseling, he is the target audience and aims to solve the issues and problems related to the learning of learners (8). Academic counseling is discussed in the context of psychology. This means that he borrows the content and tools of his work from psychology. The academic advisor uses psychological findings and theories to provide guidance and advice to his clients (9).

The research of Fard, Shafi Abadi and Pashashreifi in 2017 entitled "Personality and demographic characteristics of successful consultants from the perspective of the consulting community" showed that successful consultants in terms of personality characteristics such as mental abilities and Cognitive, value and moral system, tolerance and ways of coping with problems, mental health, reputation and grooming skills, physical health and educational status are superior to unsuccessful counselors (10). Also, the results of the research conducted by Melayi, Khoshbakht and Karimi in 2014 under the title "Professional ethics study from the point of view of secondary school counselors" showed that counselors attract students, gain their trust, pay attention to the clients' conditions, and establish communication. Verbal, realism, attention to clients' needs, good temperament, not blaming, honesty, motivating, not making value judgments, providing positive and desirable consequences, instilling personality abilities to the individual, not abusing clients and commitment They consider establishing non-verbal communication and having a private space among the points and things that should be observed in relation to students. They have prioritized establishing equality, prioritizing clients based on problems, providing thoughtful services (diagnosing people with problems in schools by counselors) to students. Also, from the point of view of counselors, remaining unknown about the role of counselors in schools, neglecting compromise counseling and lack of knowledge about the role of counselors are obstacles to professional ethics. The results obtained from the data analysis of the quantitative section also indicated that the highest mean of the dominant dimension of the professional ethics of consultants is non-injury. Also, there is a positive and significant relationship between the age of the consultant and the honesty and holding of consultations. In addition, there is a significant difference between gender and dimensions of professional ethics, only in the dimension of honesty (11).

Niaga in 2011 in a research titled "Investigating the impact of guidance and counseling services on the academic, social and personal growth of students in public and private universities in Kenya", concluded that students in private universities are better than students in achieving personal competencies. State universities are growing. The analysis of the findings also shows that there is no significant difference between the gender of students in the effectiveness of guidance and counseling services regarding the academic, social and personal development of students in both types of universities. In this research, it has been recommended that university officials should create clear policies that improve and strengthen guidance and counseling services to effectively achieve the academic, social and individual qualifications of students (12). In addition, Khalil and Williamson in a 2014 study titled "The Role of Academic Advisors in the Success of Engineering Students" showed that the presence of an academic advisor is very important for the retention, progress and success of engineering graduates. . Also, in this study, the role of an academic counseling is emphasized (13).

The findings of Carlos' research in 2018 entitled "Empowering Chicana and Latina High School Students: Guidance for School Counselors" showed that the most important abilities for students in the field of personal development are relationships with students from Among the graduates is creating social and cultural awareness and encouraging social action. Based on these findings, school counselors seek to empower students in the field of progress, positive relationships, identifying role models, and encouraging social interaction (14). Based on this, paying attention to the empowerment of academic advisors and identifying the elements and components involved in it is an important role in designing and presenting a suitable model and validating this model for academic advisors in the education system; Because the richer the field of knowledge and the more appropriate model there is in this case, it can help the consultants in order to use it in their field of expertise and make logical and reasonable decisions for them in line with Provide assistance to students in various fields.

Research Method:

Based on the purpose, this research was applied (in order to implement the research after the completion of the work), based on the nature of the data, it was mixed (qualitative-quantitative) and based on the data collection method (documentary-survey). The statistical population in this part of the research consisted of; all successful academic advisors are from Sistan and Baluchistan province.

In this research, to select the sample, the purposeful sampling method will be used for the semi-structured interview of the consultants, which will continue until reaching the saturation case (the case after which no new information is obtained), and the experts in this research are people formed that (had sufficient familiarity with the topic of academic counseling and had at least 5 years of work experience in the same field in education and related educational centers and had at least a master's degree or higher) that in this research, these members from among (university professors) Sistan and Baluchistan, Azad Islami and Farhangian, consultants active in education and education of the Islamic Republic of Iran and even some talented managers and experts in education (with a degree in counseling) were selected.

The criterion of the number of samples was determined according to sampling adequacy and based on the theoretical saturation of 15 people. To determine the sampling method in qualitative research, there is no specific formula and the main criterion for this work is that an expert, experienced and tested sample should be examined in order to meet the needs of the research. Therefore, in this part, A combination of targeted judgment and snowball methods was used. In this work method, people who were experts in this field and had to have the necessary criteria were used, and after the interview of each person, the next person was introduced. Therefore, except for the first few people who were selected by the researcher and through consultation with respected professors and advisors, other people were selected by other experts in addition to the criteria of expertise, and the criterion of the number of samples was determined according to sampling adequacy and based on theoretical saturation became.

Presenting the data to several experts and external observers and confirming that they have a similar understanding of reviewing the empowerment courses of consultants confirmed the validity of the tool. In order to analyze the interviews, the theme analysis method was used, which is an easy, flexible and fast method to identify, analyze and express the patterns in the data.

Findings:

In the qualitative analysis, the interviews conducted through open coding and central coding of categories were carried out, which led to the identification of related concepts and components (educational needs assessment, priorities for the empowerment of consultants, recruitment, employment of volunteers, assistants and students to participate in educational empowerment courses, providing advice to officials, educational groups and members of education in various fields, especially benefiting from active counseling methods, cooperation with educational officials, empowering educational consultants) The empowerment courses of academic advisors have been reviewed in order to provide a suitable model and validate it. In the following, each of these dimensions is provided with an open and axial coding table and its interpretation separately.

Table 1. Data coding of the content of the interview regarding the provision of a suitable model of empowerment for academic advisors

As you can see in table number 1, all the people participating in this survey have confirmed the role of a suitable model on the empowerment of academic advisors and evaluated it positively and meaningfully, and it is desirable and trustworthy in terms of expertise. , the creation of continuous and monthly activities and flexibility have been considered and the results show that it is necessary to take advantage of new knowledge and consulting services and to consider ideals and foresight. Continuity can be flexible enough to provide consulting services according to the situation of the authorities and organizations.

The theme analysis method was used to analyze the information obtained from the interviews of this research; therefore, first, the texts of the interviews were reviewed and coded, and in this way various concepts used in this research were extracted. These concepts are divided according to the apparent content in the form of conceptual categories that actually indicate an independent concept. These categories are also presented in the form of different themes and have been discussed.

The views of people in the theme analysis of the appropriate model for empowering academic advisors led to models that can help empower academic advisors:

The specialized model should be desirable, continuous and flexible. In the first part, a person should be aware of the latest knowledge so that he can get the best benefit from the consulting services that pay attention to the ideals and establish coherence between the goals, and the criterion is foresight. Another factor that can turn it into a pattern is that it is continuous and monthly, which will continue until the achievement of its results and goals, and another factor that highlights it is that it is client-oriented and from the side of the organization. Its centrality indicates the high flexibility of the model, which is what a consultant should measure it.

Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to check the validity of the presented model of appropriate empowerment for academic advisors: in this section, the responses of 133 participants in the quantitative section were examined.

Table 2. Description of the demographic variables of the respondents

Table 3. Mean and standard deviation of model variables

Table 4. Regression coefficients and statistical values of model variables

Table 5. The results of three measures of Cronbach's alpha, reliability and convergent validity

Considering that the numbers of Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability (internal consistency) and AVE are all in the relevant range, it is possible to confirm the appropriateness of the reliability and convergent validity of the research model.

According to Figure 1 and Table 4, the standardized regression coefficient of the validity of the appropriate empowerment model is equal to 0.377, and the t-statistic value for this coefficient is equal to 3.104 and is more than 1.96, which shows that The significance of this coefficient is at the 5% error level. In general, the results obtained from the estimation of the model indicate that the null hypothesis H0 is rejected and the opposite hypothesis (H1) is confirmed, and in other words, the appropriate empowerment model has the required validity from the point of view of curriculum planning experts and academic advisors. .

Discussion and Conclusion:

Education, as the main educational institution and organization, plays an important role in educational planning and counseling and enhancing the future academic and professional life of students and also prepares them for personal and social life. The use of guidance and counseling services in education can be related to things like providing conditions to facilitate the all-round growth of students, the need to recognize the individual differences of students and pay attention to these differences in the course of education and raising them, improving the mental health of students, the need to guide students about continuing their studies and choosing suitable fields of study according to their interest, ability and talent, the need to teach them social skills and life skills, Creating strength and ability to adapt in them, the existence of moral, psychological, behavioral, emotional, family, social, academic, compromise problems and so on. . . Cited. Therefore, the need to have capable academic advisors and the need to benefit from a suitable model can help them to play a constructive and effective role and provide desirable advisory services to students.

The results of the empowerment model in this research show that the appropriate empowerment in academic advisors is equal to 0.373. Also, the value of t-statistic is equal to 2.833 and is more than 1.96, which shows the significance of this coefficient at the 5% error level. Therefore, the right model is effective in empowering consultants. Also, the results of the validation of the presented model show that the validity of the empowerment model is equal to 0.377 and the t-statistic value for this coefficient is 3.104 and it is more than 1.96, which shows that it is significant. This coefficient is at the error level of 5%. Therefore, the presented model has the required validity from the point of view of curriculum planning experts and academic advisors. In the end, it can be said that all the cases mentioned in the research carried out in recent years, which have been researched in line with today's research, are something similar and close to the research in terms of the title and the way it works, but the evidence indicates It is because the present research is in part or all of the researches obtained from the researches of Fard et al. And it is true that the rest of the cases are indicative of the theme of the research, but the mentioned cases are closer in this sense and all the efforts of the researcher in this section are as follows: Help the next researchers who are willing to study and research in this direction, and in turn rely on the continuation of such researches that will somehow help to improve the level of growth and culture of a society.

Research limitations:

Due to the spread of the Corona virus, unfortunately, many participants answered the questionnaires virtually, and the researcher could not be informed about how they answered in person. Also, some participants were afraid that the information included in the questionnaire would not be published.

Application of Research:

The results of this research can be used by consulting experts of education departments, school academic advisors, career and family advisors, educational counseling centers and cores, counseling and psychotherapy clinics, and even teachers and education teachers. which somehow deal with students' academic and psychological issues.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest

Acknowledgements

The authors of the article know their duty to thank and appreciate all the colleagues and participants who helped us in conducting the research.