Arab Educational Information Network

This study aims to identify the grade to which the Palestinian educational counselors use the professional standards along with the methods of their development during the first semester of the school year (2016/2017). It also aims to determine the effect of the variables of gender, specialization, qualification, and years of experience on the grade to which the Palestinian educational counselors use the professional standards. The researcher used the questionnaire as the study tool. It consisted of 50 items, divided into five main areas. The sample of the study consisted of 90 educational counselors from the northern governorates of Palestine. The results of the study showed that the scores of the areas of ethical responsibilities, counseling programmers and professional development were very high. Scores of the areas of counselling and guidance theories and data collection tools were high. There were no significant differences in terms of the variables of gender and qualification. However, there were significant differences due to the variable of specialization in terms of the data collection tools in favor of psychology and social service, and in terms of counseling programmers in favor of educational counseling. There were as well significant differences due to the variable of years of experience in terms of data collection tools in favor of 1-5 years. The study recommended the need to develop the professional standards so as to determine the counselors’ methods of work and evaluation as well as the need to pay greater attention to the practical application of the counseling theories. (Published Abstract)