Male student engagement with school counsellors

Abstract

This presentation reports on Phase One of a multi-stage investigation into the supports and constraints encountered by male secondary students seeking engagement with their school’s counsellor(s) in New Zealand co-educational settings.

The aim is to contribute to our understanding of the experience this vulnerable population has in regards to seeking or accessing counselling in New Zealand co-educational secondary schools. The intended outcome is the improvement of access and rates of engagement by male students, and promote the value and importance of counselling provision on-site in New Zealand secondary schools.

This presentation offers a detailed analysis of counselling engagement statistics from participating schools. The analysis compared each school’s counsellor data with that schools demographic of the student body (Ministry of Education Roll Return) to produce comparative engagement rates by gender, year level and ethnicity. Male student engagement rates were then compared with that of their female peers. The results definitively show male students are underrepresented. This information is of key interest to the participating schools, Ministry of Education and the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (professional counselling association in New Zealand) as it evidences the underrepresentation of male students.

There is wide evidence of the extent of mental and emotional distress among young men in New Zealand so why are male student underrepresented in counselling at their school? Phase Two (proposed for 2022) intends to expose factors that contribute to this disparity (constraints and facilitative factors).