Philippine E-Journals

Preparedness and Competencies of School Counselors in Servicing Students with Special Needs: Basis for Program Development

Jovy U. Gatan

 

Abstract:

The study determined the level of preparedness and competencies of school counselors in servicing students with special needs in Davao City. It employed the descriptive–correlation design. There were 50 school counselors who participated in this study. Using universal sampling, majority of the respondents were female, 25 years old and below. Frequency count, percentage, weighted mean, and Pearson r coefficient were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that school counselors were moderately prepared in servicing students with special needs in the advocacy, consultation, diagnosis, assessment, development of delivery system and provision of support services areas. Moreover, the findings indicated that the competencies was highly competent as evaluated on their primary skills, professional disposition and professional behavior area. Further, the study showed that there was a significant relationship in the level of preparedness and competencies of school counselors in servicing students with special needs. This suggested that the more competent the school counselors, the more they were likely prepared in servicing students with special needs.