TPC-Digests-V1-Issues-123

A b s t r a c t A personal description of an international counselor education program is presented including various services counselors are trained to provide and a sample curriculum. T he C ounseling P rogram at the U niversity of Z ulia : A n I nternational P rogram Venezuela’s early counseling pioneers at the University of Zulia, some of whom were trained in the United States (e.g., Dr. E. Acquaviva, Dr. C. Guanipa, A. Busot, M. Ed.; A. Quintero, M.Ed., M. Socorro, M.Ed., D. Campo, M.Ed.), were early pioneers responsible for influencing and crafting the counseling and guidance culture at the University of Zulia. Initially in the early 1970s, this counseling bachelor’s level program was conceived as educational counseling (asesoramiento) and vocational guidance (orientación vocacional) as a specialization track within the major of Pedagogical Science. Graduates from this program received a Licentiate in Education, Major in Pedagogical Sciences in the area of counseling (Licenciatura en Educación, Mención Ciencias Pedagógicas, Area de Orientación). According to the University of Zulia’s official archive (1970-2010) on counseling academic and curriculum development, professional services related to individual, vocational or educational counseling and guidance were understood as orientación. Historically, the academic choice of using this term at the time was congruent with the Ministry of Education’s decision in 1962, when the terms orientación and orientador were officially adopted to describe guidance professionals and counseling practitioners, respectively. The current bachelors’ degree is five years long (10 academic semesters). The education of professional counselors is conceived upon several key concepts: March 8th, 2011 George Vera TPC Digest Go To Article