Counselling: Inquiry and Ethics

Abstract

This article proposes understanding educational counselling as a practice of inquiry sustained by an ethical stance. First, it argues that counselling entails inquiring within complex scenarios, since advisory practice is always carried out in changing, uncertain contexts shaped by multiple constraints. Within this framework, the tensions that arise from practice itself are examined, tensions that are rooted in the singularity of subjects, institutions, and the situations in which intervention takes place. Second, the article advances a perspective that challenges the idea of neutral and apolitical counselling. It maintains that every intervention has ethical, social, and professional implications. For this reason, adopting a critical stance is essential: to counsel is to take a position, to situate oneself, and to intervene in what is considered relevant and open to transformation within a given context. Finally, the article highlights the tension between deontological frameworks and ethical reasoning. While regulations and professional codes provide reference points, real situations—especially in contexts of complexity—often demand responses that go beyond what norms and established forms of knowledge can anticipate. Therefore, the article argues for a situated ethics that assumes there are no general criteria applicable to all cases. This situational perspective requires the ability to grasp what is relevant, to elaborate it with discernment, and to make responsible decisions in each counselling situation.