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Abstract

This study sought to identify the image of the educational counselor as perceived by school principals. It also sought to find out the role of sex, place of work, age, and years of experience, marital status and academic qualification in shaping this negative or positive image. The population of the study consisted of 642 principals of both sexes in northern governorates of Palestine: Nablus, Qalqilya, Salfit, Kabatiya, Jenin and Tulkarm. The sample of the study, randomly selected, consisted of 134 principals, or 20.9% of the population of the study. The researcher developed a questionnaire and distributed it among the subjects of the study. She also conducted interviews with a representative sample of the principals. After data collection and analysis, using SPSS, it was found that the school principals had a high positive attitude towards the school counselors. The arithmetic average of the subjects’ responses was 3.89 or 77.8%. In addition, the results showed significant statistical differences in variables, place of work in favor of city over village, and years of experience in favor of people with more than 20 years of experience over those with 6-20 years of experience. However, there were no statistically significant differences in variables of sex, academic qualification, marital status and age. In the light of these findings, the researcher recommends further clarification of the concept of educational counseling and its process through mass media, print and electronic, to make the information accessible to all sections of the society. In addition, a private room has to be allocated for the educational counselor in order to do his/her work effectively and efficiently.