Guidance systems, advice and counseling in school integration

Abstract

This article describes one of the most well rooted school orientation (guidance) systems in the United States, the Consulting System, which has proved to be especially valuable in schools whose classrooms are shared by exceptional and non-exceptional students, a situation defined by the term mainstrearning, the equivalent of which would be the school integration process that is taking place in our country in recent years. The Consulting System is basically characterized by its emphasis on indirect interference by the psychopedagog, through professionals and paraprofessionals who have closer and more regular contact with the student, always within the specific paradigmatic frame established by behavioural modification and analisis. In this sense, a reference must be made to the more open and selfdirecting counter systems of orientation and guidance known as Counseling Systems. The figure of the consultant, who lies between the traditional psychologistlpedagog and the instructional technologist, opens news perspectives on the professional profile of the psychopedagog, in an attempt to respond to the demands of our post-industrial society which, according to the studies carried out by prospectiva, are centered on a greater individualization in the teaching-learning process, favored by the gradual introduction of cornrnunication and computer sciences in our schools.