The main goal of school counselors is not only to help students thrive personally, academically, and socially, but also in exploring their college and career options after school.
They are also uniquely equipped to bridge the gap between students and their parents, teachers, and school staff. Due to the positive contribution to schools, it is worth investing in more school counselors.
Here are some other reasons why school counselors are an integral part of the school staff:
Provide Academic Support
While academics are often regarded solely as a teacher’s territory, school counselors can as well offer academic support to students. In collaboration with the teachers and parents, school counselors can help students struggling academically. They help identify the root of the problem and devise ways to help the students improve their academic performance.
They also play a vital role in creating a suitable environment for academic excellence and helping students develop study habits that can help them achieve their academic goals.
Assist Teachers to Better Understand Students
Though teachers can identify potential red flags, behavioral problems, and declining grades with their students, they may lack the specialized training needed to help them. That’s where school counselors come in. They help teachers understand their students at a deeper level.
This could mean assisting teachers in gaining a complete understanding of the challenges and the problems leading to the student’s emotional or behavioral changes.
Help During Difficult Situations
As problem-solvers, school counselors can help resolve issues before they escalate into major problems. If a teacher notices any physical, emotional, or behavioral problem with their students, they can reach out to counselors for assistance.
Help Provide School-Wide Solutions
Collaboration between counselors and teachers is paramount in maximizing their efforts towards delivering school-wide solutions. Through such collaborative efforts, counselors can easily create professional development programs that attend to the needs of the students. Not forgetting this helps in identifying the particular needs of the student and coming up with suitable ways to address the concerns.
Guide on Decision Making
Some students continuously act out in class or bully and harass other students. When this happens, teachers can communicate with the school counselor to help guide with their decision-making. This way, counselors can assist students in reassessing the situation and developing behaviors, which are acceptable to all parties.
Provide Support for Parents
School isn’t tough on students and teachers alone; parents and guardians often have to deal with changing emotions and behaviors of their kids. As such, counselors can offer counseling to parents on parenting, managing school applications and assignments, and how to best connect with their growing kids.
Find the Best School Staffing Agencies
To ensure that every student gets essential support, the American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of one school counselor for every 250 students regardless of the school. That’s why you should consider having more trained specialists in your school staff for counseling services.
You may seek help from school staffing agencies whenever you need a school staffing plan or student-focused staff, whether they are school counselors, trained specialists, or even vision and hearing screening services.
