What Motivates Classroom Teachers to Collaborate With School Counselors? A Hypothetical Model Generated by Use of the Grounded Theory Approach

The purpose of the present study was to examine the motivation of classroom teachers who collaborate with school counselors (SC), from the viewpoint of the classroom teachers. Semi-structured interviews conducted with 16 junior high school teachers were analyzed with the Grounded Theory Approach., resulting in the generation of 5 hypothetical ideas and a hypothetical model. The classroom teachers were found to categorize causes of students' worrisome acts as (a) the students' difficulties, (b) problems faced by the students' guardians that were influencing the students' acts, or (c) unknown. When classroom teachers provide guidance for students who engage in difficult behavior, the teachers sometimes feel constrained by their position. This seemed to motivate them to collaborate with the school counselors. In their collaboration, the classroom teachers had 3 kinds of expectations for the school counselors : (a) meeting with the students and/or their guardians, (b) providing consultation, and (c) providing helpful information in dealing with the students' problems.