The challenges of high school counselors in work place

The purpose of this descriptive-survey type research is to determine the challenges that high school counselors confront in work place. By utilizing a multi-stage cluster sampling 213 high school counselors were selected from the high schools of Chahar-Mahal-e Bakhtiari province (Iran). In order to analyze the data gained from the distributed questionnaire among the sample descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The results of the study show the problems that the selected counselors encounter experienced are related to counseling tools and equipments (3/87), communicating with students (3/7), communicating with parents (3/4), the knowledge and skills of counselors in applying the tools (3/16), communicating with colleagues (3/02) and lack of space (2/53). The findings of the study led the researchers to discuss the problems in terms of demographic specifications (gender and education degree) to put forward some suggestions for the counselors, decision makers and administrators to tackle the mentioned challenges and enhance the status and outcome of guidance and counseling. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu