Sense of School Guidance Counsellor’s Own Effectiveness and Their Occupational Stress

Abstract

Work of a school guidance counsellor’s involves a wide range of tasks related to educational work with children and teenagers carried out in cooperation with their parents, other teachers and external entities dealing with pedagogical and psychological problems. In order to be successful in this work, it is necessary to have an individual conviction that the intended goals can be achieved, which is the central link in the sense of own agency (cf. Gliszczyńska 1983, p. 133). Supporting the development of students, establishing close interpersonal relationships that are accompanied by emotional experiences and the necessity to cope with problems are the sources of stress and mental burden. Strong emotions and unpleasant incidences frequently experienced by school counsellors may decrease the quality and effectiveness of pedagogical and psychological work with students and cause a sense of ineffectiveness (cf. Bańka, 2005, pp. 10–12). Thus, the purpose of the studies undertaken is to define the nature of relationships and interdependencies between school counsellors’ sense of effectiveness and the occupational stress experienced by them.