Abstract:
This study aimed at investigating the attitudes of educational counselors towards professional counseling and the level of counselors professional counseling skills in addition to exploring the relationship between these two aspects in the governmental schools of northern governorates with regard to the independent variables of gender, specialization, qualification and years of experience. The descriptive correlational approach was used to achieve the study objectives. The study sample consisted of (286) female and male educational counselors chosen through the cluster method. Results of the study showed that the attitudes of the educational counselors towards professional counseling were positive with a percentage of ( 84.2%) and that the counselors scored a high level of professional counseling skills (77.2%). The results also showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the attitudes of the educational counselors due to the variables of gender, specialization, and qualification. However, the results showed statistically significant differences in the attitudes of educational counselors towards professional guidance due to years of experience and these differences were in favor of 15 years and above. Moreover, the results showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the level of counselors’ professional skills due to the variables of gender and specialization while there were significant differences in the level of professional guidance skills due to the variables of academic qualification and years of experience in favor of the higher levels (postgraduate studies). The results also showed a positive correlation relationship between the attitudes of the educational counselors towards professional guidance and the level of professional guidance skills in the governmental schools of the northern governorates. Based on these results, the study recommended the General Directorate of Special Education and Guidance Services at the Palestinian Ministry of Education to implement specialized programs in the field of professional guidance and counseling.
