A comparative analysis of the attitudes of key stakeholder groups to the Welsh Government's school-based counselling strategy

For school counselling services to be effective it is important various stakeholder groups are supportive in their opinions towards school counselling services. This study reports on the opinions of key stakeholders working within the Welsh Government school-based counselling strategy. Using a survey methodology, the opinions of local authority leads/service managers (n =25), school management (n = 158) and school counsellors (n = 106) were compared and contrasted. Questions related to the accessibility of services to pupils, the balance between confidentiality and safeguarding procedures, whether services are adequately resourced and the training and supervision available to counsellors. Results indicated a large amount of agreement and overall satisfaction between groups. Areas of disagreement tended to be restricted to practical issues, such as resources and accommodation.