A study has found that nearly 70 percent of surveyed public school counselors spend much of their days doing other jobs, including teaching and administrative work, local media reported Wednesday.

The survey, which the Shanghai Academy of Educational Sciences conducted in 2012, shows the lack of full-time psychological counselors at primary and middle schools in Shanghai, despite official guidelines that recommend every school have one on staff.

"These side jobs have prevented counselors from concentrating on advising students," said Shen Zhifei, the survey's chief researcher, who also serves as director of the psychological division of the Shanghai Academy of Educational Sciences.

The academy polled counselors at 1,020 primary and middle schools across the city for the survey, according to a report in the Wenhui Daily.

Of the counselors with additional duties, 48 percent taught classes, 23 percent worked as classroom tutors and 13 percent did administrative work, according to the survey results.

The survey also found a dearth of experience among part-time counselors. About 45 percent of them never given lectures on mental health issues, compared with 6.9 percent of the full-time counselors.

In terms of their education, only 26 percent of the counselors had psychology degrees and fewer than half had degrees in education. 

Education authorities have not clearly defined the position of school psychological counselor, so many of the counselors have taken on other jobs at schools to ensure they pass their performance evaluations, Shen said.

She suggested new regulations need to be drawn up to define the job more clearly so the schools can hire the right people. Shen said the new rules should also create a minimum set of criteria for school counselors to add a level of professionalism to the job.

As it turns out, a majority of counselors, 56 percent according to the survey, spend fewer than three hours a week counseling students. About 44 percent see fewer than 10 students each week.

"The figures show that individual student counseling is unpopular among students. Psychological counseling has not become a common practice," Shen told the Global Times.