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Keywords;
guidance counselor, School
counselor, educational counselor, School counselor roles, school counseling program, Professional school counselors help
students in: academic development, career development, and personal/social
development, Elementary school
counseling, Middle school counseling, High school counseling, what is counseling
A school
counselor is a counselor and an educator who works in elementary, middle,
and high schools to provide academic, career, college readiness, and
personal/social competencies to all K-12 students through a school counseling
program. The four main school counseling program interventions used include:
developmental school counseling core curriculum classroom lessons and annual
academic, career/college readiness, and personal/social planning for every
student; and group and individual counsel for some students.
Older,
outdated terms for the profession were "guidance counselor" or
"educational counselor" but "school counselor" is
preferred due to professional school counselors' advocating for every child's
academic, career, and personal/social success in every elementary, middle, and
high school
School
counselor roles, school counseling program framework, professional
associations, and ethics
Professional school counselors
ideally implement a school counseling program that promotes and enhances
student achievement.
School counselors, in most USA
states, usually have a Master's degree in school counseling from a Counselor
Education graduate program.
In Canada, they must be licensed
teachers with additional school counseling training and focus on academic,
career, and personal/social issues.
China requires at least three years
of college experience.
In Japan, school counselors were
added in the mid-1990s, part-time, primarily focused on behavioral issues.
In Taiwan, they are often teachers
with recent legislation requiring school counseling licensure focused on
individual and group counseling for academic, career, and personal issues.
In Korea, school counselors are
mandated in middle and high schools.
School counselors are employed in
elementary, middle, and high schools, and in district supervisory settings and
in counselor education faculty positions (usually with an earned Ph.D. in
Counselor Education in the USA or related graduate doctorates abroad), and
post-secondary settings doing academic, career, college readiness, and
personal/social counseling, consultation, and program coordination. Their work
includes a focus on developmental stages of student growth, including the
needs, tasks, and student interests related to those stages.
Professional school counselors meet
the needs of student in three basic domains: academic development, career
development, and personal/social development with an increased
emphasis on college access.
Knowledge, understanding and skill
in these domains are developed through classroom instruction, appraisal,
consultation, counseling, coordination, and collaboration.
For example, in appraisal, school counselors may use a variety of personality
and career assessment methods to help students explore career and college needs
and interests.
School counselor interventions
include individual and group counseling for some students. For example, if a
student's behavior is interfering with his or her achievement, the school
counselor may observe that student in a class, provide consultation to teachers
and other stakeholders to develop (with the student) a plan to address the
behavioral issue(s), and then collaborate to implement and evaluate the plan.
They also provide consultation services to family members such as college
access, career development, parenting skills, study skills, child and
adolescent development, and help with school-home transitions.
School counselor interventions for
all students include annual academic/career/college access planning K-12 and
leading classroom developmental lessons on academic, career/college, and
personal/social topics. The topics of character education, diversity and
multiculturalism and school safety are important areas of focus for school
counselors. Often school counselors will coordinate outside groups that wish to
help with student needs such as academics, or coordinate a program that teaches
about child abuse or drugs, through on-stage drama.
School counselors develop,
implement, and evaluate school counseling programs that deliver academic,
career, college access, and personal/social competencies to all students in
their schools.
For example, the ASCA National Model
(Hatch & Bowers, 2003, 2005; ASCA, 2012) [56] includes the following four main
areas:
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Foundation
- a school counseling program mission statement, a beliefs/vision statement,
SMART Goals; ASCA Student Standards & ASCA Code of Ethics;
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Delivery
System - how school counseling core curriculum lessons, planning for every
student, and individual and group counseling are delivered in direct and
indirect services to students (80% of school counselor time);
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Management
System - calendars; use of data tool; use of time tool; administrator-school
counselor agreement; advisory council; small group, school counseling core
curriculum, and closing the gap action plans; and
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Accountability
System - school counseling program assessment; small group, school counseling
core curriculum, and closing-the-gap results reports; and school counselor
performance evaluations based on school counselor competencies.
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Elementary
school counseling
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Elementary
school counselors
provide, academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies
and planning to all students, and individual and group counseling for some
students and their families to meet the developmental needs of young children
K-6.
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Transitions from pre-school to elementary
school and from elementary school to middle school are an important focus for
elementary school counselors. Increased emphasis is placed on accountability
for closing achievement and opportunity gaps at the elementary level as more
school counseling programs move to evidence-based work with data and specific
results.
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School
counseling programs that deliver specific competencies to all students help to
close achievement and opportunity gaps. To facilitate individual and group
school counseling interventions, school counselors use developmental,
cognitive-behavioral, person-centered listening and influencing skills,
systemic, family, multicultural, narrative, and play therapy theories and
techniques.
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Middle
school counseling
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Middle
school counselors
provide school counseling curriculum lessons on academic, career,
college access, and personal and social competencies, advising and
academic/career/college access planning to all students and individual and
group counseling for some students and their families to meet the needs of
older children/early adolescents in grades 7 and 8.
·
Middle
School College Access curricula have been developed by The College Board to
assist students and their families well before reaching high school. To
facilitate the school counseling process, school counselors use theories and
techniques including developmental, cognitive-behavioral, person-centered listening
and influencing skills, systemic, family, multicultural, narrative, and play
therapy. Transitional issues to ensure successful transitions to high school
are a key area including career exploration and assessment with seventh and
eighth grade students.
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High school counseling
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High
school counselors
provide, academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies
with developmental classroom lessons and planning to all students, and
individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet
the developmental needs of adolescents. Emphasis is on college access
counseling at the early high school level as more school counseling programs
move to evidence-based work with data and specific results that
show how school counseling programs help to close achievement, opportunity, and
attainment gaps ensuring all students have access to school counseling programs
and early college access activities. The breadth of demands high school counselors
face, from educational attainment (high school graduation and some students'
preparation for careers and college) to student social and mental health, has
led to ambiguous role definition.
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Summarizing a 2011 national survey of more
than 5,300 middle school and high school counselors, researchers argued:
"Despite the aspirations of counselors to effectively help students
succeed in school and fulfill their dreams, the mission and roles of counselors
in the education system must be more clearly defined; schools must create
measures of accountability to track their effectiveness; and policymakers and
key stakeholders must integrate counselors into reform efforts to maximize
their impact in schools across America"
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Transitional
issues to ensure successful transitions to college, other post-secondary
educational options, and careers are a key area. The high school counselor
helps students and their families prepare for post-secondary education
including college and careers (e.g. college, careers) by engaging
students and their families in accessing and evaluating accurate information on
what the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy calls the 8 essential
elements of college and career counseling: (1) College Aspirations, (2)
Academic Planning for Career and College Readiness, (3) Enrichment and
Extracurricular Engagement, (4) College and Career Exploration and Selection
Processes, (5) College and Career Assessments, (6) College Affordability
Planning, (7) College and Career Admission Processes, and (8) Transition from
High School Graduation to College Enrollment.[76] Some students turn to private
college admissions advisors but there is no research evidence that private
college admissions advisors have any effectiveness in assisting students attain
selective college admissions.
