A Study Of College Counselors' Competency Based On Structure-function Analysis

Under the new situation, facing the numerous challenges, the quality of college counselors highlights. In fact, whether or not a counselor posts the required competency not only relates to his personal career development but also affects colleges in the effectiveness of their training objectives to achieve.Guided by the idea of structure– function analysis, this study starts with the work functions of college counselors, and gradually builds a college counselor competency ideal model which contains 51 key lexical items. Using multi-dimensional scale analysis and exploratory factor analysis to explore the structure of the college counselor competency model and the Five-dimension model and Six-factor model are found. Results of reliability and validity tests show that the structure of Six-factor model is good. Further investigation which aims to get more information about the present competency level of college counselors is implemented by using the self-created Questionnaire for College Counselor Competency.The main conclusions of this study are drawn as the following:(1) College Counselor Competency Model is a multi-dimensional system structure, including Threshold Competency and Differentiating Competency. Threshold Competency includes professional knowledge and skills, speech communication and coordination features (13 items in total); Differentiating Competency includes service consciousness and quality, self-control, problem-solving ability and personality futures (33 items in total).(2) Significant differences exist within different groups of counselors which are divided by college type (horizontal and vertical level) , gender, identity (fulltime or part-time), experience background, but overall no significant differences exist within different groups in variables of qualifications, professional backgrounds, the beginning ages of being counselors, total work time(years), individual honor (whether or not a counselor himself/herself has received the honorary title such as "outstanding instructor") or the collective honor (whether or not a counselor has brought his/her class to receive the honorary title such as "Outstanding Class") . (3) No significant differences exist between the outstanding counselors (having the individual honorary title) and the general counselors (having no individual honorary title) in their general competency level; the outstanding counselors'competency level are significantly better than the general counselors'within the dimension of Threshold Competency , but within the dimension of Differentiating Competency no significant difference between the groups; in terms of honor level(individual or collective), no significant difference exits among different groups. On the evaluation of the importance of competency, on the whole, the general counselors'group score is significantly higher than that of the outstanding counselors'group.