Educational Counseling

Socialization for Educational Counseling – A

Lecturer: Dr. Nasreen Haj Yahya, Dr. Hend Ismail

Course type: Lecture, Semester, 1 weekly-hour

The purpose of the course is to allow students to experience a process of personal and professional development and growth, through which they will become familiar in a comprehensive and in-depth manner with the contents and processes concerning the practice of educational counseling in the current era, in Israel in general and within a multicultural society in particular. Special emphasis will be given to the students to cultivate their self-awareness as future counselors who help the students and advise the teaching staff. At the same time, their motivations, goals, concerns, difficulties, limitations, and strengths and weaknesses will be examined. During the course, students will experience counseling and communication processes while examining the difficulties and possibilities for creating supportive relationships through a guided reflective process and receiving feedback from the group members and course instructors.

Final grade components: mandatory attendance and active participation 20%, personal diary 20%, reading and summarization of professional literature 20%, final paper 40%.

Socialization for Educational Counseling – B

Lecturer: Dr. Hend Ismail

Course type: Lecture, Semester, 1 weekly-hour

The purpose of the course is to allow students to complete the learning and personal and professional development process that began in the “Socialization for Educational Counseling A” course, as well as in additional courses and practical experience. As future counselors, the students are exposed to events and experiences in which they face complex content or limitations within their inner world. The course provides them with skills to analyze such events and experiences, both on an objective and subjective level, as well as the ability to observe the personal process they go through as educational counselors and their skills in dealing with students, teachers, parents, or the system in general.

Final grade components: mandatory attendance and active participation 20%, personal diary 20%, reading and summarization of professional literature 20%, final paper 40%.

Advanced Statistics and Quantitative Research Methods

Lecturer: Dr. Abed ElRahman Khalil

Course type: Lecture, Semester, 1 weekly-hour

The course aims to deepen the students’ knowledge of concepts and methods related to quantitative research. The students will progress in studying statistical inference and performing statistical analysis in SPSS software up to the level of multiple regression, two-way analysis of variance, and factor analysis. They will be familiar with various non-parametric tests. In addition, the students will experience developing and analyzing quantitative research.

Final grade components: research proposal at the end of the first semester 10%, SPSS exercise at the end of the second semester 10%, midterm exam 40%, final exam 40%.

Advanced Qualitative Research Methods 

Lecturer: Dr. Yasser Awad

Course type: Lecture, Semester, 1 weekly-hour

The course exposes students to qualitative research methods, data collection and analysis methods, concluding and the limitations of concluding, and ethical aspects of qualitative research. It allows them to experience exercises simulating small-scale studies in various methods. The course expands and deepens students’ familiarity with the principles of qualitative research, trains them for optimal performance of qualitative research in a way that will contribute to their professional development as future counselors, and teaches them to accompany the learning process with self-evaluation and reflection while managing a personal course diary.

Final grade components: final paper (small qualitative research) 50%, active participation on the course website 10%, exercises 10%, critical reading 10%, class assignments 10%, personal course diary management 10%.

Evaluation of School Intervention Programs

Lecturer: Ms. Basma Abu Riya

Course type: Lecture, Semester, 1 weekly-hour

The purpose of the course is to familiarize the students with the theoretical and practical aspects of the evaluation processes of intervention programs in Arab schools and the psychological and educational concepts that guide them; introduce them to alternatives; and expose them to a variety of options for adjusting the type of evaluation required to the data available in the field, while developing awareness of the set of professional considerations. Students will learn practical skills in evaluating intervention programs, such as the evaluation questions, criteria, processes, and tools. They will also plan and implement tools for evaluating intervention programs accepted in Arab society.

Final grade components: active participation 10%, exercises 30%, final paper 60%.

Trends in Educational Counseling

Lecturer: Dr. Anat Itzhak-Fishman

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The purpose of the course is to expose the students to various trends in the field of educational counseling, including the dynamic trend, the cognitive-behavioral trend, and the humanistic trend, as well as to theories and methods of treatment that developed following the different approaches. Students will become acquainted with the meaning of these theories and how each of them perceives the child’s developmental stages and the development of pathological processes. For each trend, emphasis will be placed on the position of the counselor within the consulting session, on the counselor as a care provider, and on the counseling method to help students consolidate their professional identity while basing themselves on the trends appropriate to their worldview and positions, and while examining their application within educational counseling among members of the Arab culture.

Final grade components: reading according to the guidelines, regular attendance at meetings and active participation (10%), presenting one of the theories in class and one in writing within the groups (40%), final paper (50%).

The Basics of Optimal Educational Counseling

Lecturer: Dr. Anat Itzhak-Fishman

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The purpose of the course is for students to learn about the historical development of the educational counseling profession and to become familiar with the various definitions of the profession and the traditional and contemporary models that exist in optimal educational counseling. The students will be exposed to the four areas of the counselor’s work: counseling for students (individual, group, class, and school), consultations with job partners, and coordination and management of programs. They will be required to review developmental and preventive programs; understand the meaning of teamwork and team training, advocacy, activism for social justice, counseling based on research and evaluation data, and responsibility; and know gender, legal and ethical aspects necessary for the educational counselors working with the Arab population and the Arab education system.

Final grade components: reading according to the guidelines, regular meeting attendance, and active participation (10%). Analysis of an article and its presentation in class (40%), final paper based on observation (50%).

Career Development and Professional Identity Design

Lecturer: Ms. Basma Abu Riya

Course type: Lecture, Semester, 1 weekly-hour

One of teenagers’ most critical challenges is choosing a profession and career development. The course will introduce the students to the theoretical and research basis and the applied tools in career development and professional identity design among the Arab population in Israel. Among other things, the course will deal with the development of personal and professional identity; career planning as a lifelong developmental task and its interrelationship with other life components; choosing a profession and planning a career as a process to improve decision-making abilities; the counselor’s role in career education; cultivating professional maturity and imparting skills that are adapted to the developmental stage, to the changing needs, and an ever-changing work market. The course will emphasize the cultivation of an integrative, systemic, and developmental worldview regarding career planning within Arab society.

Final grade components: active participation and presentation of a topic 20%, writing a review of one of the existing educational programs for career guidance 80%.

Culturally Sensitive Educational Counseling 

Lecturer: Dr. Nasreen Haj Yahya

Course type: Lecture, Semester, 1 weekly-hour

Israeli society is multicultural, and within Arab society in Israel, there are several subcultures with unique characteristics. The educational counselors in this society are often required to professionally intervene in cases within unique cultural systems, which differ from other cultural systems in ethnicity, religion, religiosity, and gender. The more sensitive the professional intervention is to the cultural background that distinguishes the recipients of the professional assistance, the more effective it will be. The course will deal with the uniqueness of Israeli society as a multicultural society. It will focus on the characteristics of Arab society and the characteristics of its leading cultural populations. Emphasis will be placed on examining the issues and dilemmas that arise during the treatment of these populations and how educational counselors deal with them. Students will be exposed to the principles of culture-sensitive treatment and intervention techniques and therapeutic approaches adapted to each population according to its unique characteristics.

Final grade components: final paper: 100%.

The Supportive Interview

Lecturer: Dr. Nasreen Haj Yahya, Dr. Hend Ismail

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The purpose of the course is to provide students with theoretical and practical knowledge and understanding regarding the supportive interview while emphasizing work among the Arab population and culture. The course will develop abilities to carry out consulting processes and provide the tools and skills necessary to conduct an interview. The students will learn about different interview approaches and the theories underlying them. Emphasis will be placed on a reviewed interview experience. The course will develop the interviewer’s skills for conducting an effective interview while emphasizing personal processes and interpersonal differences, providing room for versatility and cultivating a personal style in conducting a supportive interview.

Final grade components: conducting interviews for analysis and learning 30%, final paper 70%.

Group Facilitating – Theory and Practice

Lecturer: Dr. Sehrab Masri, Ms. Lieena Abu Diba

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The counselors work with different groups of teachers, parents, and students within their cultural context and must be familiar with the dynamics of the groups, their development, and their roles. The course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the group phenomenon from a theoretical perspective while learning different approaches to group counseling.

It will allow students to experience facilitating a group meeting and getting to know different characteristics of the group phenomenon within the cultural context in which they live and study. Particular emphasis will be given to the implementation of group processes in relation to the cultural-social context.

Final grade components: three reports 20%, facilitating a group meeting 20%, final work 60%.

Professionalism and Ethics in Educational Counseling

Lecturer: Dr. Sehrab Masri

Course type: Seminar, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

Educational counseling continues to develop over the years, influenced by social, educational, and cultural contexts. The seminar focuses on the topic of educational counseling as a profession – on its characteristics, processes, and the challenges it poses, while emphasizing the professional ethics that serve as its pillar, and the connection between counseling and ethics and the development of a distinct professional identity within the world of educational counseling.

The students will be exposed to the profession’s historical, moral, theoretical, and applied aspects from a current perspective. They will study the optimal approach in counseling – a reactive and proactive approach to promote a safe atmosphere that promotes belonging in the school, social justice, and identification of needs and characteristics of educational systems. In addition, the students will discuss various ethical questions and rules that affect the daily counseling work.

Final grade components: active participation and contribution in discussions and submission of three reading reports 30%, research paper 70%.

Relationship Transformations between Adolescents and Their Family in a Multicultural Society

Lecturer: Dr. Ihab Zubeidat

Course type: Seminar, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

Adolescence is one of the critical and sensitive stages in a person’s life, in which they pass from childhood to adulthood, and the adolescent’s family significantly influences the success of this transition. As part of the seminar, the students will be presented with current studies dealing with adolescents, their families, and their mutual relations. Emphasis will be placed on the changes that have taken place in the lives of adolescents in the current era and on the change and preservation processes that have taken place in the family institution in recent decades. We will also discuss the consequences of these processes on adolescents and the nature of their relationships with their family members, peer group, and educators in school. As part of the seminar, students will research aspects of Arab teenagers in multicultural Israeli society. At the end of the year, they will submit a summary research report that will form the basis of a future article.

Final grade components: classroom presentation of current research in the field of the seminar 30%, seminar paper 70%.

Family Therapy – Application in the Counselor’s Work

Lecturer: Dr. Nasreen Haj Yahya

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course is designed to expose the students to theoretical concepts and central approaches in family therapy and to understanding the family life cycle – as part of the diagnostic tools of the family system. Among other things, the course will touch upon the topics of transformations in the definition of the family, the family as a system, the stages of family development, roles within the family, the intergenerational theory, intergenerational transfer, family triangles, the family genogram and its contribution to understanding family relations, family counseling according to the structural theory, the Arab family – characteristics, changes and modernization processes, the family in the postmodern era. Approaches in family therapy, emotion-focused couple therapy, psychodynamic couple therapy, narrative couple therapy, cognitive-behavioral couple therapy, and the imago method for couple therapy.

Final grade components: three assignments 100%.

Counseling in Situations of Stress and Anxiety

Lecturer: Dr. Hend Ismail

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course is designed to expose the students to the definitions of different types of stress both at the individual level and at the system or community level and to perfect their abilities in managing stressful situations. Among other things, the course will include topics such as identifying and understanding expressions of stress and reactions to stressful situations among children and adults and the difference between them; ways of working with a child in crisis; the role of the counselor in the management of emergencies; emergency treatment teams. Students will also be exposed to existing school intervention models in various stressful situations, including personal crises (loss, exam anxiety, etc.) or community emergencies (war, murder and violence, epidemic, etc.). They will learn about the development of preventive programs and stress management programs.

Final grade components: active participation 20%, submission of an assignment 40%, classroom presentation of the assignment 40%.

Training Workshop to Accompany Practical Experience – A

Lecturer: Dr. Sehrab Masri, Ms. Basma Abu Riya

Course type: Workshop, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The first year of practical experience is most important for understanding the counseling role, beginning the process of forming a professional identity and designing a personal, professional style. The workshop forms a link between theoretical studies and the experience of actually working in the field. The meetings and experiences aim to cultivate professional and academic educational counselors with self-awareness, empathy, and respect for others. 

The experiences and dialogues in the workshop will allow students to examine the application of the theories, models, and tools learned as reflected in the counselor’s work. During their practical fieldwork, students will be exposed to the variety of roles played by the counselor in the school. They will be able to share experiences, raise doubts, and discuss various issues as part of the weekly guidance at the college.

Final grade components: active participation and overall evaluation 20%, monthly reports 20%, presentation of a dilemma 10%, end-of-the-year evaluation by the trainer-counselor at 30%, summative paper 20%.

Training Workshop to Accompany Practical Experience – B

Lecturer: Dr. Sehrab Masri, Ms. Basma Abu Riya

Course type: Workshop, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

At the end of the development process in the first year of the practical experience, forming a basic understanding of the counseling role, and beginning the process of forming a professional identity and designing a personal, professional style, the students are ready to begin the counseling experience and the group intervention. The workshop is a connecting link between theoretical studies and practical work experience in the field. The meetings and experiences aim to cultivate professional and academic educational counselors with self-awareness, empathy, and respect for others who promote counseling processes within the school. 

The experiences and dialogues in the workshop will allow students to examine the application of the theories, models, and tools learned as reflected in the counselor’s work. During their practical fieldwork, students will be exposed to the variety of roles played by the counselor in the school. They will be able to share experiences, raise doubts, and discuss various issues as part of the weekly guidance at the college.

Final grade components: active participation and overall evaluation 20%, monthly reports 20%, presentation of a dilemma 10%, end-of-the-year evaluation by the trainer-counselor at 30%, summative paper 20%.

Final Project Accompanying Workshop 

Lecturer: Dr. Sehrab Masri, Ms. Basma Abu Riya

Course type: Workshop, Annual, 2 weekly-hour, without credit

The workshop and the accompanying personal counseling are intended to assist students in choosing a topic for their final project and planning, executing, and writing an academic-professional paper concerning each student’s interests and abilities. The workshop’s purpose is to provide the students with a platform for an initial examination of a possible subject for their paper, to test and discuss ideas, and to refer students to a suitable personal supervisor while monitoring the progress of the work and providing methodological consultation as needed.

Requirements: students must be actively present at the group meetings and attend personal meetings with the workshop leader. Proposal for the final project: oral presentation and written submission, oral report on the performance of the work.

Psychopathology

Lecturer: Dr. Hend Ismail

Course type: Lecture, Semester , 1 weekly-hour

The purpose of the course is to expose the students to knowledge about mental disorders and abnormal behavior, to the complexity and wealth of theory and research relevant to the field, to the approaches and models that explain the development of disorders, to different treatment approaches, and to present them with normal and abnormal phenomena based on professional definitions and definitions that depend on culture and time. The course will also present a professional view of the concept of psychopathology from different angles according to different approaches: the medical approach, the scientific approach, the empirical approach, as well as psychological theories that focus on personality development. It is aimed at providing broad knowledge about the clinical picture of various psychopathologies, the causes of abnormal behavior, the theories and approaches to explain treatment of various pathologies, and the dynamics that activate them.

Final grade components: attendance and active participation 20%, final exam 80%.

The Theory of Psychological Diagnoses

Lecturer: Dr. Ihab Zubeidat

Course type: Lecture, Semester, 1 weekly-hour

The students will be exposed to central psychological tests used by educational psychologists. They will experience the clinical interview and observation as additional tools for data collection during the clinical evaluation. The students will also learn to read a report or letter from a psychologist addressed to educational counselors. They will be exposed to tests approved by the Ministry of Education and available to the counselors as part of their work.

Final grade components: final exam 100%.

Theories of Human Development

Lecturer: Dr. Ihab Zubeidat

Course type: Lecture, Semester, 1 weekly-hour

The course is aimed at introducing the psychological terminology or the basic concepts in development; imparting knowledge and developing the understanding of basic developmental processes and stages; familiarity with developmental theoretical approaches in the psychoanalytical, emotional, social, cognitive, and moral fields; discussing the developmental stages of the child and adolescent and the development of pathological processes; and analyzing the contribution of the developmental theories to the work of the educational counselor. Also, to discuss the practical implications of developmental theories on the educational system.

Final grade components: presentation of one of the theories and a group discussion of its educational implications 25%, exercises and assignments 25%, final exam 50%.

Tools to Reduce School Violence

Lecturer: Mr. Yony Tsouna, Founder and Co-Director of the Matzmichim NGO

Course type: Workshop, Semester , 1 weekly-hour

The workshop is designed to train school staff to improve the climate of social life and relationships in classrooms and school corridors; to provide tools for outlining an informed school policy to promote social relations; to train teachers to lead useful group guidance processes and social and emotional dialogue among their students; to answer and address sensitive or explosive issues in useful ways that will engage the students; to provide tools to reduce aggression of various types, and to encourage the students to deal independently, individually and in groups with situations containing social aggression; and to develop abilities and training in techniques for leading positive norms, achieving a significant behavioral change among the students and motivating groups within the classes themselves to promote and improve the social climate.

Final grade components: final paper 100%.