5. COUNSELOR (SCHOOL)
JOB DESCRIPTION
Overview
School counselors (also called guidance
counselors) provide personal, social, educational, and career assistance to
students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Elementary school counselors focus more on helping students
understand and deal with personal and/or behavioral problems, whereas secondary
school counselors more frequently emphasize advising students regarding
college, careers, and jobfinding skills.
In terms of training, school counselors
have much in common with community counselors (see “Counselor [Community]” job
profile). Graduate programs that offer
one specialty typically offer the other as well, and the course work required
in each usually overlaps. The basic
differences between the two professions are in setting (school systems vs.
community agencies) and clientele (children and adolescents vs. individuals of
all ages).
Typical Job Duties
• Conducting individual and group
counseling with students experiencing personal, social, behavioral, or family
problems
• Planning and leading workshops on
psychoeducational topics, e.g., drug and alcohol prevention, anger management,
study skills
• Administering and interpreting
achievement, aptitude, and vocational testing
• Advising high school students about
trade or technical schools, college applications and admissions, financial aid,
and college entrance exams
• Providing career counseling and
teaching jobfinding skills
• Consulting with parents, teachers,
school administrators, or social workers regarding student adjustment issues
• Responding to school crises and
emergency situations
• Developing a dropout prevention
program or coordinating a peer mediation program
Job Outlook
Faster-than-average job growth is expected
for many reasons: increasing
enrollments; new legislation in many states requiring counselors in elementary
schools, greater emphasis on providing high school students with career
information, and the expanded use of counselors in crisis situations. However, job growth could be limited by state
budget cuts, in which case counselors may be forced to serve more than one
school. School counselors were not
among the top 30 fastest-growing occupations as ranked by the BLS, but school
counseling was categorized in the good demand/possible shortage category in the
MSU study.
Potential Earnings
The average starting salary for new
graduates with a master’s degree in school counseling ranges from $25,000 to
$33,000. (When comparing this to other
helping profession salaries, keep in mind that school counselors work a
10-month year.) According to a study
conducted by
the
Educational Research Service, the median salary of school counselors during the
1992-1993 academic year was $40,400.
TRAINING
Professional Degree Required
A master’s degree in school counseling
(sometimes called “counseling and guidance”) is necessary for certification as
a school counselor. School counselors
must be certified in the state they wish to work, but requirements for certification
vary greatly from state to state.
School counseling programs typically require approximately two full
years of course and field work, with practicum experiences taking place in
schools. Part-time pursuit of this
degree is usually permitted.
How to Find Programs
As with community counseling programs,
school counseling programs are accredited by the Council for Accreditation of
Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). However, the more important regulating body in school counseling
is a program’s associated state department of education or public instruction,
which is the organization responsible for certifying both teachers and school
counselors. Many, if not most, school
counseling programs are not accredited by CACREP, although this is likely to
change in the future. (One advantage of
CACREP certification would be that a school counselor could qualify for
national counselor certification; it would also be easier to make a switch to
community counseling should that ever be desired.)
For a list of accredited programs, you
can write to CACREP or visit the CACREP web site (addresses below). For other programs in school counseling, you
will have to consult a Peterson’s guide, available in most university career
center and academic libraries. Look for
school counseling under “education” or “counselor education” headings (not
under “psychology”). On the Internet,
you might be able to find a list of school counseling programs by first
visiting your state’s department of education web site.
Entrance Requirements/Admissions
See this section under the “Counselor
[Community]” career profile. School
counseling may be less competitive than community counseling, especially at
non-CACREP schools.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Print Materials/Organizations
American School Counseling
Association (ASCA), 5999 Stevenson Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22304. 703/823-9800.
Collison, B. B., &
Garfield, N. J. (1990). Careers in counseling and human development.
Alexandria, VA: American Association
for Counseling and Development.
(Chapter 3: Careers in school settings).
Council for Accreditation of Counseling
and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), 5999 Stevenson Avenue, Alexandria,
VA 22304. 703/823-9800. Directory of
accredited counseling programs (school counseling included in this listing).
Paisley, P. O., &
Borders, L. D. (1995). School counseling: An evolving specialty. Journal of
Counseling and Development, 74, 150-153.
Internet Resources
American Counseling Association (ACA)
home page (for graduate school/CACREP information, click on “Students in
Counselor Education” and then “CACREP Directory”):
http://www.counseling.org/
American School Counseling Association
(ASCA) home page: http://www.schoolcounselor.org/