Exploring the Sri Lankan Student Perceptions Pertaining To School Counseling Services in Their Schools

This study explores the Sri Lankan students’ perceptions of their school counselors and counseling services available to them. It comprises of two phases involving data collected through in-depth interviews (n = 10) and semi-structured interviews using a survey questionnaire (n = 126). The data were collected during two measurement points.Findings convey that the students did not provide positive evaluations of school counseling services during both phases, depicting the reluctance to access it due to several key factors. They are: social stigma associated with accessing counseling services, location of the counseling room, misperceptions pertaining to its aims and objectives, ignorance, and lack of time. The study provides suggestions and recommendations for policy makers, teacher educators and school counselors with the broad aim of improving the quality of the school counseling services in Sri Lanka.