A real counselor

We were very fortunate to have in our class a student whose mother has been working as a counselor all her life. Maria Antonia explained us her experience in the last 50 years of education in our country, so her speech was very interesting because we could realize the changes about counseling in Spain.

In fact, the counselor didn't exist as a profession in Spain when she began to work as a psychologist.  "I was the first university student in my family", she said. On the other hand, in our country there wasn't a Pedagogic degree as we know today.

Maria Antonia has been a counselor for all her life.

At the fifties, the education in Spain was very different from the present. First of all, the religion was very extended in the classes not only as a subject, but also in the diary life of the schools.  "My first lesson was about the original sin", she told.  The education also was mostly segregated by gender, there were boys' and girls' schools.

The career itineraries were also different and. There were less opportunities to people who didn't have enough money. "You had an exam at the end of Baccalaureate, at the age of 10 years old. Only 5 passed that exam out of 45", explained us. "There wasn't an alternative if you failed".

This was her presentation:

Counselling and Guidance were introduced in schools at the late eighties and first nineties. This was basically because the new democratic government tried to foster opportunities equality and new concepts were introduced into the Spanish education: attention to diversity and compulsory education up to 16 years old.

These changes have led us to the present situation in which Guidance and Counseling are very different from those years. "Nowadays the Guidance team has an important role in the diary life of a high school - she explained - they are in charge of give support to teachers, students and families about the aspects who are included in the Tutorial Action Plan (PAT) and the Attention to Diversity Plan (PAD)".

She answers all questions we formulate to her.

Maria Antonia showed us her love for the job. It encouraged us and had made increase our motivation about the subject. At the end she answered to some questions we had, allowing us to know more about a field that was yet a bit unknown.

Therefore, today's class has been one of the most useful ones, because it gave us the opportunity to listen to someone's real experiences and know more about Guidance and Counseling.

So thanks very much Maria Antonia !!!