Hey everyone! Hope your Humpday was awesome! Mine was one of those “there aren’t enough hours in the day” kind of days, but it was still pretty great, mostly because I love my job 
Speaking of which, I recently got a comment from a reader in Europe that said that there were no School Counselors where she lived and she was interested to learn more about the job and what it is exactly that we do. So, I thought I would write a post about it and if there are any School Counselors out there that want to add their ideas or spin on things that would be great
School Counseling or Guidance Counseling has changed a lot over the past few decades. The basic functions of the job change depending on what grade level the counselor is working with and believe it or not, really does vary from school to school. In general, I will touch more on what High School Guidance Counselors do because that is what I am and what I am most familiar with.
Well, the answer is WE DO A LOT! We collaborate with a lot of groups and I think the best way to break down the job’s pieces is to explain how we collaborate with different people in the school and greater community so “what we do with who.”
With Students:
- Academic success support (organizational, study, test-taking skills, goal setting and follow-through)
- Academic planning (scheduling, explaining graduation and promotion requirements)
- Post-secondary planning, college application process, write recommendations letters for scholarships and college admission, standardized testing or transition plans
- Career planning (career awareness, understanding of the world of work, interview coaching)
- Peer relationship support (effective social skills, communication, problem-solving, decision-making, conflict resolution)
- Educate students on certain issues they may face (i.e. substance abuse education, multicultural/diversity awareness, teen pregnancy)
- Individual and small-group counseling
- Student/Family/School crisis intervention
- Administering, organizing and explaining standardized tests and the results of those tests.
With Parents:
- Academic planning
- Post-secondary planning
- Scholarship and Financial comprehension and planning
- School-to-parent (or teacher-to-parent) communications
- Parent conferencing
- Referrals to outside agencies
With Teachers:
- Working collaboratively on student’s post-secondary plans
- Classroom guidance lessons and planing of teacher and guidance organized events for students (speakers, workshops etc.)
- Academic support working collaboratively to help students succeed
- At-risk student identification and implementation of interventions
With Administrators:
- Academic support interventions
- Behavioral management plans
- Student needs assessments
- Data collecting and distribution
With Outside Community:
- Referrals
- Job shadowing or observation
- Career exploration
I guess when you look at all the ways in which counselors collaborate with different people you will notice that it all surrounding student support. I like to think we work in three main umbrellas of tasks which are : Academic Support, College and Career Exploration and Social/Emotional Counseling. It really does vary from state to state, district to district and school to school on what tasks are on the Guidance Counselor’s plate and which are not.
Different states also have different certification standards. In the state of Massachusetts (where I will be licensed), counselors are now required to have a Master of Education in School Counseling (M.Ed) and have passed the Communication Literacy portion of the Massachusetts Test of Educator Licensure (MTEL).
Each day had been different for me so far and I think that as the year goes on I will notice that different times of the year require a focus on different tasks. I guess I can elaborate more as the year goes on if there is and interest in that. So, there you have it- that is what we do!
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With my degree in counseling, I had all the “core” classes and my practicum with school counselors, so I got to see a different side of the job then I did growing up. It definitely sounds like a fun job:)
My guidance counselor in high school was great! He was integral in helping my parents better understand why I wanted to go to a small private college rather than a large university. He was an advocate in my choice of wanting to go to Endicott and as a result, I got in and my parents let me go!
Are you going full force as a vegan now?
Jen- Nope! Not even close. But when I make something vegan, I like to say that it is so those that are vegan are aware that the recipe followers thier dietary needs in case they want to duplicate it.
Gosh! Reading this kind of makes me think back to my days in high school with our counselors. Now I’m pretty amazed we only had 2 to do all of that with our HS of 520 people! Glad you’re back writing!
I would say, unfortunately that is about average for a case load per counselor. The high school I work at has about 1900 kids and 6 counselors.
In my high school we were required to meet with our assigned counselor and discuss plans for further education (our school pushed college). I would love to hear more about your experience, however, because although right now I am majoring in Early Childhood Education I have been thinking about eventually going back to get my masters in some type of counseling or therapy.
I wouldn’t say our school pushes college. I think we work with kids on what is the best plan for THEM. There are a lot of options: Gap years (like City Year), Tech or Vocational School, Community College, 4-year Schools, Certificate Programs, Military…etc. I think going over options for kids is important and a lot of students aren’t aware that there are so many different opportunities for them. I love that our school is so diverse and we have kids that will leave us and so many different things other than attend a traditional 4-year school.
I would recommend doing some job shadowing before you decide on what you want to get your Master’s Degree in. I wanted to go right out of undergrad but didn’t because I wasn’t 100% certain what I wanted to do and I am SO glad I took 3 and a half years off of school and just worked to see what I was passionate about! I may graduate with my Master’s 7 years after I got my Bachelors, but I am certain it is the right field for me. Please feel free to shoot me an e-mail if you have any questions at all and GOOD LUCK!
I think our counselors had about 500 students each as well, but I really loved my guidance counselor! He was really attentive and took the time to get to know me and my future plans!
Thanks Ali!
You rock.
(by the way: I was the one asking for this post).
I had a great guidance counselor in high school- she was super helpful especially when I began the college process… My only frustration was that we only had 4 school counselors and each had probs ~500 students which made it difficult to schedule time with her or get a quick response. Now that I’m a middle school teacher, I can’t thank the counselors enough for all they do on a daily basis for the students and the teachers!
Allison:
Yeah, there are never enough counselors to go around. My case load is about 260-275 (it literally changes weekly). Thanks for those kind words, it is nice that you appreciate your counselors and know that counselors TOTALLY appreciate the teachers for what they do as well
Thanks for posting this Ali! I am currently a teacher, but I have been considering going back to school for school counseling. This break down of your job could not have come at a better time (as I’m writing my admission essay). What program did you go through? Would you say it is hard to get a job in that field right now? That is what everyone keeps warning me…
It was more difficult to get a job as a school counselor than is has been in the past, but it is on an upswing now! I say go for it!