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“Teachers engage in appraisal of pupils' characteristics, adjustment of behaviour, evaluation of individual performance, etc., and may even undertake some individual counselling.” (Mathewson, 1962)
 

Nowadays teachers have multiple roles to perform. Apart from just teaching their respective subjects, 21st century teachers are entrusted with many responsibilities.  In order to competently fulfil their roles, today’s teachers need to be well-acquainted and aware of their responsibilities towards their students, both inside and outside the classroom environment. One of the important teacher roles inside and outside the classroom is to provide the right guidance and counselling, i.e. helping students with their problems.
 

Since nowadays all teachers are involved in student guidance and counselling at school in varying degrees, it has become important for the teachers to get a fundamental training on guidance like counselling training for teachers. The guided knowledge on counselling skills is essential for teachers to promote an environment of student learning and well-being. These skills also help the teachers to play a key role in resolving student issues and concerns. After parents/care-givers, the classroom teacher spends more time with the students and is thus most likely to influence students. If you are teacher, you must know that teachers are the ones, in the whole school who interact with children on a daily basis. Therefore, as the child is more comfortable with the teacher over many hours of work and play together, and for assistance or advice, it will probably be the teacher whom the child is going to approach. The major skills of counselling that can be included are competence, acceptance and flexibility, integrity, sensitivity, listening, empathy, confidentiality and understanding.
 

With the subject knowledge of a teacher, acquiring counselling skills will certainly help them enhance their effectiveness. The knowledge of counselling skills is essential for teachers to promote student learning and well-being. Schools nowadays take trained teachers who know student counselling approaches to assist special needs children with their studies, provide career counselling based on the options available to students and also help students with their other issues and concerns. The counselling skills help teachers to understand the hopes, aspirations and dreams of a student; their strengths and weaknesses and handle them carefully, towards positive reinforcement. Since teachers also need to interact with parents, guardians, and other administrators regarding a student’s behavioural, academic, and other problems, hence training on counselling skills has become quite a necessity. However, teachers must keep in mind that though they can be wonderful therapeutic helpers to our students, they should never engage in long-term counselling or take on the role of the counsellor; their role was solely be restricted to providing the students with some counselling, as and when needed.
 

It has been difficult for many teachers to assume this role because there is hardly any training given on the subject. The impact of teachers on student learning is increased when students are taught by well-prepared professionals who combine their knowledge of the content and instructions with a deep sense of caring about their students. Therefore, a proper training like counselling training courses for teachers will help improve teachers their competency and make the learning process smoother and more effective.