The job role or responsibilities of a school counselor is no lesser than a school teacher or a school leader. Nowadays, teachers are also playing the role of school counselors are the perks are incredible. An online certificate in career counseling guides teachers to the best extent possible by providing them with study materials, real-life case studies, and trending approaches having modern methodologies to become excellent school counselors.
In common man’s words, a school counselor looks after the mental, academic, and social well-being of school students. As most of the kids are having working parents or parents who are unable to manage to give much to their kids, come across certain problems which confuse them, thereby hampering their focus. School counselors, like the term, listen to their problems or hearts’ contents and help them with proper guidance.
Qualifications of a School Counselor:
Often, a question arises that what education you need to be a school counsellor. There are two rigid eligibility criteria that a teacher must have to become a school counselor:
- The candidate must have a Bachelor’s degree but needless to say, a Master’s degree is always preferable or an equivalent degree and a score of 50% is a must. These are the basic criteria but the demand for the score is different in different institutions.
- Certain academic institutions give extra benefits to candidates who are having a prior experience level.
Sometimes school counselors are expected to have degrees on counselor courses to have school counselor jobs. Besides, the candidate must have enough knowledge on career development, learning theory, child development theory, etc.
Job Roles of School Counselors:
- Primary or elementary school counselors: At this level, counselors are qualified in early childhood development. They concentrate on helping students with social behaviors that help in increasing their self-esteem and self-confidence.
- Middle school counselor: School counselors in middle school supervise students and ensure their rapid physical growth and evolution of self-identity.
- High school counselor: Counsellors at this level mainly deal with the business side of the education system. High school counselors are primarily responsible for keeping students on track for graduation.
School counseling careers are a lot about guiding the emotional development of certain students on a one-to-one basis and counseling them to overcome personal, social, or behavioral problems affecting their educational or emotional situations. They help students who all are in a huge crisis. They have a regular basis of conversation with parents and other teachers. They even help pupils to address issues such as drugs and HIV/AIDS.
Apart from that, another important task of school counselors is to give career guidance to the learners. They need to ensure that the information in the school’s career library is always up-to-date. They help students to gain the necessary knowledge to shape them with decision-making skills, which will allow them to make appropriate career choices in the future.
School counsellors have a keen observation of students during classroom and play activities to evaluate their performance, behavior, social development, and physical health. They also need to be good educational administrators, maintaining accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations. They keep track of the students’ progress rate and prepare a report as per demand.
Where Can School Counselors Find Relevant Jobs?
- Department of Education
- Government schools
- School clinics
- Rehabilitation centres
- Private schools
How Much Does A School Counselor Make?
The salary of a school depends entirely upon the qualifications, experience level, and economic condition of the schools that are hiring. Generally, a fresher can earn up to INR 3-3.5 L per annum and professionals can earn near about 10L per annum. Schools or universities that have a high budget usually pay quite a good amount of salary to school counselors.
If you ask me about the cons of being a school counselor, the only problem is that developing or rural areas do not hire school counselors separately due to their budget issues. Apart from that, the job of a school counselor is absolutely good and one must go for an online counseling course certification to become a successful school counselor.
Written By : Sonal Agrawal
