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Listening attentively and responding appropriately are two of the crucial counselling skills a teacher-counsellor or school counsellor needs to master for a one-to-one counselling session/s with a student or a learner. To be able to communicate effectively is quite a vital condition, in any form of counselling session. Understanding the importance of these skills, and being able to apply them accordingly, is a valuable asset when it comes to counselling. An efficient educator / school counsellor / classroom leader or lecturer of modern times is not only an informed and expert teacher, rather he/she needs to have the right amount of skills to become a good and active listener. At this point, you may wonder as to why listening skills are required to prove their efficiency in a classroom setting? But the truth is, good listening skills are required to develop empathy and understanding of the students and to assess their situation accordingly.

Good listening skills in counselling establish trust, help the student to open up and disclose their thoughts, while encouraging to share their emotions, thereby facilitating the gathering of valuable information that would aid the teacher/counsellor. There are three reasons as to why the need for listening is crucial to building a good classroom culture:

• When people listen to each other, new ideas take shape
• Being listened to deepens student learning
• Listening well helps the teacher learn too

As a teacher-counsellor, you will realise that listening is a two-way process. You do most of the talking but you must also learn to listen to the students to help them to improve the quality of their lives, by working through their problems and issues and making positive changes. A school counsellor must demonstrate an interest in the student’s life – their wellbeing, problems and difficulties. It is your responsibility to give them your full, undivided, attention throughout.