SCHOOL COUNSELOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN DESIGNING ART-BASED EDUCATION PROGRAMS THROUGH SOCIODRAMA FOR ADDRESSING RELATIONAL CONFLICTS IN SCHOOLS

Abstract

This community service program aims to enhance the professionalism of school counselors in DKI Jakarta, in collaboration with Curtin University and PD ABKIN DKI Jakarta. The program assists school
counselors in designing art-based education programs through sociodrama for addressing relational
conflicts in schools. One creative method to deepen the students' learning is performance art-based
learning through sociodrama. Sociodrama helps students express emotions, enhance self-awareness, and build coping skills in a non-threatening, creative way, making them particularly beneficial for students who struggle to articulate emotions verbally. However, many school counselors face challenges in using sociodrama, including a lack of training, time, and resource constraints, reliance on traditional approaches like talk therapy, and the perceived complexity or lack of evidence supporting art-based methods. To address these challenges, the program focuses on developing counselors' competence in delivering classroom psychoeducation using sociodrama as one of the performance art-based methods. The methodology includes presentations, discussions, demonstrations, and practical exercises, carried out in six key stages: 1) assessing classroom competence, 2) training in sociodrama methods, 3) developing psychoeducation plans, 4) developing storyboards for video development, 5) best practice video production, 6) reflecting on the process. This International community development is a part of the internationalization program road map of the guidance and counseling department. Organized in
partnership with PD ABKIN Jakarta, the program involves school counselors from the Greater Jakarta
(Jabodetabek) area. Carol Carter, PhD, M.Ed., from Curtin University, led the professional development
sessions alongside faculty members from UNJ. The program is designed to improve counselors'
instructional skills in planning and delivering psychoeducational material through the structured
application of sociodrama-based methodology. The outputs of this community service initiative include an activity video (YouTube), teacher lesson plans, research publications, mass media coverage, and a
community service seminar presentation (SNPPM-UNJ), as well as obtaining Intellectual Property Rights
(IPR) and cooperation documents (Implementation Arrangement).