Historical Influences on the Development of Policy Affecting School-Based Guidance and Counseling in Latin America

Abstract

This chapter provides a historical review of school-based guidance and counseling in Latin America (LA). It identifies foundational ideas and early models of school-based guidance and counseling in pre-Columbian cultures, colonial educational reforms, and post-revolution societal and educational reforms. The chapter describes how both European immigrants and LA educators introduced vocationally focused models of guidance and counseling in LA schools in the early twentieth century and how post-World War II development initiatives led by international agencies resulted in widespread diffusion of a vocationally focused approach to school-based guidance and counseling across LA. As a result, school-based guidance and counseling in LA came to emphasize vocational development and employment and deemphasize factors such as personal fulfillment, social responsibility, and moral development that were traditionally considered important in LA society and education. The chapter describes how present-day LA professional associations have been successful in elaborating approaches to guidance and counseling that encompass a broad range of human behavior (not simply vocational behavior) and have, in some sense, reintroduced a focus on optimal human functioning consistent with aboriginal and revolutionary values. It identifies needed areas for policy research to support the development and transformation of guidance and counseling in LA.