School Counsellor
What the work is
Provides information and assistance to students, parents and teachers about a wide range of matters, such as students' personal problems, learning difficulties and special requirements.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Conducts individual and group counselling sessions with students to address academic, emotional and social concerns to enhance student wellbeing, and create a supportive and nurturing learning environment
- Develops and implements counselling and educational programs to promote students' mental health, resilience and wellbeing
- Collaborates with teachers and parents to identify and address issues that may impact students' wellbeing
- Analyses student behaviour, especially those with learning difficulties, and assists parents and teachers in managing their needs
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a community counselling service with small, quiet rooms and a busy front desk. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A client who struggled to speak in the first session laughs about something in the fifth
- Someone leaves with a plan and a small, real sense of relief
- A referral you made connects a person with exactly the help they needed
Hard days
- Carrying other people's heavy stories home in your head after a long day
- A client stops coming and you never learn how things turned out
- A full caseload, a waiting list and a person who needs more time than you have
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 261136, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.