Helpful and unhelpful factors in school-based counselling and pastoral care as usual: analysis of qualitative data from the experience of service questionnaire

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the present study was to explore and compare helpful and unhelpful factors reported by young people who received either schoolbased humanistic counselling and the school’s usual pastoral care (SBHC + PCAU) or pastoral care alone (PCAU) as part of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of school-based counselling. Participants (N = 305) were 13–16 years of age and had answered one or more of the three free-text questions in the Experience of Service Questionnaire (ESQ). A thematic analysis was conducted to identify helpful and unhelpful factors, and a quantitative comparative analysis was subsequently used to assess differences between the SBHC+PCAU and PCAU groups. The identified helpful and unhelpful factors were consistent with previous research on school-based counselling, which indicated that having an opportunity to talk and be listened to by a supportive adult, who can offer appropriate guidance, is helpful for young people. Significant differences were found between the SBHC+PCAU and PCAU groups regarding three helpful themes (having a positive experience, having an opportunity to talk, and being offered guidance) and one unhelpful theme (the adult wasn’t directive enough). The identified helpful and unhelpful factors were not particularly unique to school-based counselling; rather, they represented a more general statement of what young people believed to be helpful and unhelpful in their interactions with adults.

KEYWORDS:

• School-based counselling
• pastoral care
• humanistic counselling
• secondary school

Acknowledgments

The first author is the recipient of a PhD studentship from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and this study forms part of the wider PhD project. We thank the participants for sharing their experience and for taking the time to be part of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Helen Raynham

Helen Raynham is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist and a Psychology PhD candidate. She spent several years as a school-based counsellor and currently works in forensic mental health for the National Health Service. Helen is interested in school-based humanistic counselling and exploring therapeutic change mechanisms, particularly in relation to neurodivergence (principally Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

Mick Cooper

Mick Cooper is Professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of Roehampton and a chartered counselling psychologist. He is an internationally recognised figure in the areas of humanistic, existential, relational and pluralistic therapy. Mick’s main areas of research interest have been the therapeutic relationship (including relational depth, shared decision making, and working with goals) and school-based humanistic counselling. He has published both qualitative and quantitative empirical studies, as well as reviews.

Jacqueline Hayes

Jacqueline Hayes Independent practitioner-researcher The Open Door Natural Health and Well-being Centre, Lewes, East Sussex. Dr Hayes is a relational psychotherapist and research psychologist. She specialises in qualitative methodologies and her primary research interests include child and adolescent therapy processes and relational and pragmatic aspects of hallucinations.

John Rae

John Rae is Reader in Psychology, University of Roehampton, UK. He studies talk and body movement in social interaction in informal settings and in service-related settings, in particular, psychotherapy. He is interested in interaction involving neurotypical participants and also in human diversity (e.g., people with aphasia or with an autism spectrum disorder). In addition to research on social interaction, he carries out research in these areas using a range of methods.

Peter Pearce

Peter Pearce is Faculty Head of Applied Social and Organisational Science at Metanoia Institute. He has a long background as a psychotherapist within NHS multi-disciplinary teams in disability and mental health, as a school-based counsellor, and as an academic and trainer. Peter is active nationally and internationally in the development of counselling and psychotherapy, with work focused in particular upon increasing access, free at the point of delivery. He was instrumental in the development of PCE-CfD, an evidence-based, NICE approved person-centred therapy, available in the UK National Health Service, is a member of the NHS Talking Therapies (IAPT) National Expert Advisory Group and chaired the QAA Benchmark Statement review group for these subject areas in 2022. He has published both qualitative and quantitative empirical studies