Role of a Counselor & Ethical Responsibilites

School counselors are highly educated, professionally certified individuals who help students succeed in school and plan their career. An integral part of the total education system, school counselors help students form healthy goals, mindsets and behaviors. With the aid of a school counselor, students learn to develop effective collaboration and cooperation skills, to practice perseverance, to develop time management and study skills, and to learn self-motivation and self-direction habits. 

 

Feel free to use any of the following resources supporting the roles of school counselors at back-to-school nights, school board presentations, etc.

 

You can learn more on the American School Counselor Association website.

School counselors face ethical challenges every day. Whether you are new to the field or have been practicing for years, ethical challenges can still throw you for a loop. From confidentiality issues to records maintenance, from duty of care to sexual harassment issues, a school counselor's ethical questions can spring up from every corner. ASCA provides a number of resources and services to help members meet these legal and ethical challenges as comprehensively as possible.

 

The ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors (also available in Spanish) are the basis of ASCA's ethical program. Review the changes in the 2022 standards vs. the 2016 standards.

 

ASCA also has Ethical Standards for School Counselor Education Faculty.

 

The association also publishes books and journal articles on legal and ethical issues, as well as addressing them in the members-only ASCA Scene. Each issue of ASCA School Counselor magazine contains an article written by the chair of ASCA's Ethics Committee about a legal or ethical issue.