Blog 13 A Qualitative Study of School Administrators' Conceptions of the School Counselor Role

Blog 13

The article, “Changing Schools, Changing Counselors: A Qualitative Study of School Administrators' Conceptions of the School Counselor Role” by Amatea and Clark shed light on the administrators’ perceptions of the roles, functions, skills, and leadership of school counselors.  This article shows that there has been some progress made by school counselors and school counselor educators to inform and demonstrate the roles and expertise of school counselors. 

This study made me realize how far school counseling has come in terms of defining the roles and demonstrating the value of school counseling however, there seems to be more work to be done in terms of tasks, leadership, and how the counselor divides his/ her time.  According to Amatea and Clark, “Twelve percent of the respondents (3 out of 26) gave priority to the school counselor taking an active leadership role with school staff in improving the functioning of the school and the staff as a whole.” (Amatea & Clark, 2005, p.7).  According to ASCA school counselors are leaders in systemic change.  While many of the administrators agree that school counselors are instrumental in seeking out the perspectives of stakeholders and being able to view the school in a global manner, many administrators do not view school counselors as leaders of change.  School counselors should build relationships with stakeholders and acquire their opinion however at the same time school counselors need to be supported by administrators and viewed as experts and leaders by school administrators.  I believe when school counselors are viewed as leaders that means administration is open to necessary change. 

Additionally school counselor need to be prepared to educate administrators on the appropriate tasks of school counselor and how the counselor divides his/ her time.  Amatea and Clark reported that one administrator stated, “I think that only about 20% of her time should be spent in direct counseling with students”  (Amatea & Clark, 2005, p.8).  I just cringed when I read this since I just wrote on our groups calendar that school counselors would spend approximately 60% in individual counseling.  I was surprised to see such a discrepancy in the numbers.  Further more the authors describe administrators explaining how they expect counselors to be an “extra set of hands” and a “team-player” when it comes to administrative duties and discipline (Amatea & Clark, 2005).  Can I just say, “eek”?  I am all for being a team player.  I believe that we (the school staff) are greater together than we as individual parts however it will be my responsibly to the profession to draw the line.  School counselor should never be a disciplinarian and administrators need to know why this damages student relationships with the counselor and essentially poisons the comprehensive school-counseling program. 

Additionally I understand that school counselors will need to take on some administrative duties, however these duties should always be tied into the school-counseling curriculum.  School counselors have a unique skill set so administrative duties should be delegated to administrative assistants and or shared among staff.  I believe when administrators are aware of the significance of school counselor duties they will be less likely to request that the school counselor do work that the secretary is capable of accomplishing. 

School counselors will really need to utilize their relationship building skills.  School counselors have to walk the fine line of educating stakeholder about school counseling, asserting expertise, and being a team player.

Amatea, E. S., & Clark, M. (2005). Changing schools, changing counselors: A qualitative study of school administrators' conceptions of the school counselor role. Professional School Counseling, 9(1), 16-27.