Because of the closure of the schools, there was a radical change in teaching methods, replacing face-to-face teaching with online teaching. This was a change that was very sudden, without the option of being able to prepare or plan resources or tools for the correct development of teaching. Digital competence was a very important factor at this time, as both school staff and pupils had to cope solely using technology.
Teachers and educational counsellors had to adapt how they taught and be able to get in touch with the students in the schools. The search for online resources to be able to continue teaching in the best possible way became essential, even more so for educational counsellors, who in many cases were unable to provide the desired follow-up for pupils who needed it.
The work of the educational counsellors was crucial, as in addition to the development of their professional competencies they had to contact families who had no way to adequately follow the online teaching. Moreover, the mental health of students was affected by the uncertainty of this global pandemic, and the work of the educational counsellor was very important.
The online guidance carried out during the lockdowns resulting from the COVID-19 expansion is a topic that is still very much alive in the scientific literature, as it brings up a lot of results in platforms such as Scopus (741 results), Web of Science (619 results) or Dialnet (101 results) although it is a topic that has been in existence for little more than a year.
Theoretical Framework
The role of technology in education has been gaining importance over the years and its use in classrooms is becoming increasingly relevant [
8]. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the education system as well as many other areas are being disrupted. Among the most prominent measures in response to this situation is the suspension of face-to-face education and its replacement by distance education [
9].
The role of the educational counsellor is a very important one within the education of young people, especially in this pandemic context, where their skills have been much needed at a time when many people were experiencing personal difficulties [
10]. During the lockdowns, both teachers and guidance professionals were overwhelmed by this situation of sudden change, unable to provide the personalised attention that many learners needed and forced to suspend specialised support in certain areas [
11]. Psycho-pedagogical evaluations were impossible, being temporarily unadministrable, and psycho-pedagogical reports could be produced only for students who had already been evaluated [
12].
This pandemic has marked the era of using the Internet as a tool for learning, and counsellors have found themselves in the position of performing counselling services to promote self-care and well-being among students during the confinement resulting from the spread of this virus [
13]. Although this situation has forced the adaptation of online counselling services to online resources, online counselling is not a new phenomenon and has been used for years [
14].
The use of Information and Communication Technology (hereafter ICT) is increasing. The use of ICT is widespread among young people, with instant messaging, consumption of multimedia content, as an important source of entertainment and for exploring the educational opportunities available to them [
15]. Because of this, ICT has become essential for the development of guidance over the years [
16]. The use of ICT in schools allows the optimisation and management of the work in a more efficient way and reduces the costs of the process, as well as enabling students to learn and master technological tools that make them comfortable with virtual education [
17]. Online counselling is a good alternative for counsellors to prevent, reduce and fix problems [
18].
The use of ICT in educational guidance has many advantages in terms of interaction, access to information, flexibility in problem orientation, optimisation of the guidance action, the autonomy gained by the user and the personal and professional development of the participants. However, it also has disadvantages, such as the lack of basic digital literacy, the loss of personal communication elements or the quality of the materials and resources to be used [
19].
The use of ICT in the guidance process strengthens the role of the educational counsellor [
19]. An example of a digital tool that has been used within the field of guidance, more specifically within career guidance, is the MyWaypass platform. According to Suárez [
20], it is a flexible platform that can be easily integrated into schools within the Academic and Vocational Guidance Plans (hereafter, POAP). Among the frequently used programmes, SIGI, DISCOVER and the CHOICES system can also be highlighted [
19].
According to research conducted by Budianto et al. [
21], another good example of the use of ICT in the field of guidance is instant messaging applications. The research concludes that, with the right optimisation in the use of these popular applications, counsellors can help teachers to solve guidance-related problems with greater accuracy.
The educational counsellor needs to innovate to adequately apply ICT in the counselling process [
8], but it seems that, faced with this difficult situation, counsellors do not adequately optimise technology in the counselling process [
22]. One of these reasons may be a lack of knowledge and confidence in ICT on the part of counsellors; the correct performance of these tasks depends above all on both initial and continuous training of guidance practitioners [
9]. Digital literacy is a great ally for school counsellors, since in this way meaningful digital resources can be used and created for students [
23]. Moreover, if digital literacy is maximised, counsellors could be more innovative in thinking about resources [
24]. The digital competence of educational counsellors has been studied in these articles, although it is not very abundant in the scientific literature, because, until 2020, with the onset of the pandemic, the use of the technology in this area was not widespread.
The key to digital transformation in schools is its acceptance by guidance counsellors. Without acceptance, the guidance counsellor will not be able to optimise the use of technology and may negatively affect students’ motivation [
8]. Furthermore, the institution itself must support counsellors to be trained and to implement technology in their practice, as according to Maurya et al. [
25], there are currently very few counselling training programmes on the practice of technology use that go beyond minimal exposure to technology.
According to Košir et al. [
26], factors such as counsellors’ self-perceived self-efficacy concerning ICT, their attitude towards online counselling and even the support of their superiors had a significant impact on counsellors’ stress levels. This study also found that educational counsellors who experienced low levels of work-related stress from online counselling perceived themselves as being able to handle ICT efficiently with a positive predisposition towards the use of ICT and they also had a high level of support from their superiors.
In a study conducted by Foon et al. [
27], it was concluded that educational counsellors felt more comfortable and self-confident when they had a room with electronic devices to carry out their work. According to this study, the intention of counsellors to use ICT in educational guidance processes was mostly affected by the level of technological competence and the background of the counsellors in terms of “training” in online guidance. Previous studies have already shown that adequate professional development is essential to overcome the barrier to the application of ICT within schools [
28]. It is evident that educational counsellors prefer face-to-face counselling because it is easier to focus on the gestures and facial expressions of students in a private environment where they are in control. It is also preferred because technology-related mishaps, which can lead to fatigue in the counsellor’s work, cannot occur. On the other hand, the same respondents say that online counselling is surprisingly efficient.
Because of this rapid adaptation and shift towards the full use of ICTs, educational counsellors who have provided services for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic may be at increased risk of post-traumatic stress and burnout [
29]. They may also have difficulty balancing their roles as educators, professional counsellors and supervisors in ways that result in the neglect of their practices [
30]. To avoid this situation, some research proposes that it is important to highlight the importance of the cultivation of resilience and self-care practices by counsellors [
29].
During the period of confinement, many children and adolescents suffered trauma because of the isolation and adversity characteristic of the time—experiences that can trigger much more serious mental health problems [
6]. In addition, they were uncertain about their education, future and job opportunities due to the stagnation of studies as a result of the pandemic [
5]. The pandemic has forced people out of their comfort zone by radically changing the way they work or study, which has a strong impact on both emotional and mental health [
31], and this impact has been much greater among children and adolescents [
32]. In several countries, the suicide rate increased during confinement, including among children [
33]. According to Slomski [
34], online counselling might diminish these thoughts, relieving emotional distress significantly. The world is virtually paralysed by the pandemic, and students are locked in their homes, increasing their scepticism towards the opportunities available to continue their education and achieve employability. Counsellors kept students up to date using technology to steer them away from this job-related pessimism [
5].
During confinement, educational counsellors were most likely the only source of mental health support, helping students with their emotional needs [
6]. Therefore, counselling was not only the responsibility of the counsellors but also had to be undertaken by a large part of the teaching staff and even by the families of the students themselves, through different guidelines previously established by the educational counsellor [
5].
Another sector within the student body that has been affected is that of international students. Many of them were distressed due to discrimination in addition to the aforementioned factors [
35]. More specifically, discrimination towards students with Asian traits increased very significantly in some countries such as the United States, among other causes, due to the media [
36]. This situation led to increased online reinforcement by educational counsellors to combat oppression in certain countries [
35].
The changes driven by COVID-19 are drastic in practically all areas, but within rural schools, the situation is critical. The training of guidance practitioners regarding the use of ICT is a very important factor; however, the training system for guidance practitioners is also very weak [
9].
The digital divide is also evident in this situation [
12], as groups with a lower socioeconomic level do not have the right conditions for the development of online education [
11]. The study by Díez-Gutiérrez and Espinoza [
37] concludes that many families in Spain do not have the necessary resources to be able to monitor online education adequately from their homes. It is also evident that inequality is more present in times of crisis, which means an increase in the digital divide. However, the presence of this gap is not something new, it is an inequality that has been established for decades [
38].
These students have been affected because the sudden contact with technology on a compulsory basis is new in many cases, making it very difficult for them to keep up with their studies and resulting in an interruption of their education. It is important to familiarise students in this situation with the use of applications and software when providing online guidance and to avoid disruption of their studies as much as possible [
5].
The role of counsellors became crucial at this stage to be able to communicate with families who lack sufficient resources for the proper follow-up of online teaching [
12]. To be able to play their role properly, counsellors had to start online services and train themselves through online workshops to improve and be updated in terms of digital competence skills and use [
39,
40,
41]. Regarding the teaching–learning process, the counsellors provided guidelines for families to work with their children at home through different means, from emails to phone calls, if necessary [
12].
The publication of links and online resources on school, college or university websites is a very simple and important measure. Such links and resources need to be clear and able to provide easy accessibility to the student [
40]. During this period, counsellors collected many online resources to provide advice to the educational community and recommendations to families to cope as well as possible with this situation [
37].
The shift from face-to-face to online activities has an impact on all students, but especially on vulnerable groups [
9]. During the confinement caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, students with disabilities were at risk of not receiving the right measures [
11]; therefore, if online resources are not provided for the correct development of teaching and monitoring of their situation, it creates a lack of equity and fairness [
40].
In turn, the use of social media has influenced students’ academic achievement during confinement. While some research concludes that social networking has negatively affected students’ academic achievement, other research concludes that it has positive effects. The fact is that the use of social media has a positive impact on student academic achievement, but if used excessively, it can have a very negative impact [
42].
According to a study by Dores et al. [
43], the tools most frequently used by educational counsellors during the period of confinement were video calls, social networks and different applications; and the devices most frequently used for these purposes were computers and smartphones.
Examples of the ICT resources most used by counsellors during the period of confinement, divided by different utilities [
44,
45], are listed in
Table 1.
However, even though reacting to the emergence of COVID-19 and its consequent confinement has been challenging, it has meant that new opportunities and ways of carrying out the work of educational guidance have emerged, necessitating a review of these new methods of carrying it out to be prepared to adapt to future challenges [
46].
In the study carried out by Maurya et al. [
25], counsellors were found to be predisposed to continue with the use of ICT tools in their practice as a secondary way of providing their services, without losing face-to-face counselling.
Nowadays, students are more and more likely to use online counselling. According to Li and Leung [
47], students who had counselling before the COVID-19 pandemic were more likely to participate in online counselling services. The technological changes imposed by COVID-19 during the lockdowns may prove to be very positive and beneficial to be used and to be modified and refined as they progress [
48].