School counselors fulfill numerous roles throughout the school building and community. Even more roles are thrust upon them, roles that sometimes fall outside the realm of typically prescribed counselor activities. It is often difficult to pinpoint exactly what the school counselor's role should be within the school.
Reiner, Colbert, and Perusse (2009) found that teachers are often surprised to learn what activities school counselors should and should not engage in and believe that school counselors in their building are not typically engaging in the ascribed counselor activities. This indicates that school counselors need to raise awareness of the types of activities they engage in on a daily basis. They should also involve other major stakeholders in the process of determining the goals of the comprehensive school counseling program.
Dodson (2009) found that similar to teachers, administrators struggle to clearly define the school counselor's role. However, one positive finding for professional school counselors was that administrators better understood the role of professional school counselors when the professional school counselor had implemented a comprehensive school counseling program as defined by the ASCA national model. This is an encouraging sign and another reason for professional school counselors to advocate for their position and the chance to grow their programs.
According to ASCA the professional school counseling should engage in activities related to guidance, counseling, advocacy, management, and from time-to-time some non-program related activities. Guidance refers to planning and assisting students with decisions related to college and careers, as well as classroom psycho-educational lessons about a variety of topics related to academics, personal/social development, and college/career exploration. Counseling involves individual and group counseling, mediation, consultation, and making referrals to outside agencies. Advocacy takes many forms such as, community outreach, encouraging parental involvement and working with faculty to create programs that benefit students. School counselors engage in management by keeping records, evaluating data from various programs, preparing lessons and future programs, professional development activities, and much more. Non-program tasks that sometimes fall upon the professional school counselor include test administration, data entry, and substitute teaching. Professional school counselors must be flexible and willing to take on many different tasks, but it is equally important for school counselors to advocate for their positions. By engaging in advocacy and educating stakeholders about appropriate school counseling activities, professional school counselors may have the opportunity to better devote time to programs and activities specifically related to the comprehensive school counseling program. Hopefully by doing all of this teachers and administrators will better understand the role of the professional school counselor.
American School Counselor Association (2012). The ASCA National Model: A framework for school counseling programs (3rd. ed.). Alexandria, VA: Author. Dodson, T. (2009). Advocacy and Impact: A Comparison of Administrators' Perceptions of the High School Counselor Role. Professional School Counseling, 12(6), 480-487. Reiner, S. M., Colbert, R. D., & Pérusse, R. (2009). Teacher Perceptions of the Professional School Counselor Role: A National Study. Professional School Counseling, 12(5), 324-332.