The Role of School Counselors: What are Their Responsibilities According to Teacher Candidates and Future Administrators?

Abstract

Teachers and administrators work with school counselors each day, so it is critical to evaluate their perceptions of the roles and responsibilities of school counselors before they begin their careers. Changes in the field of school counseling and counselor education over the last few decades has added to the varied perceptions of the roles of school counselors within K-12 settings (McGowan, 2021). Without mutual understanding of each other’s roles, education professionals will not be able to collaborate effectively to address the needs of their students. There are few studies that have examined the perceptions of teachers and administrators, as many researchers evaluate the views of individuals who are already working in the field as teachers and administrators. Thus, the researchers in this study examined the perceptions of over 150 teacher candidates and future administrators at a private postsecondary institution in New Jersey regarding their views on the appropriate and inappropriate roles of school counselors, in hopes of disseminating the data with institutes of higher education to help inform their instruction around the roles of school counselors. With these results, implications for the training of teacher candidates and future administrators will be discussed. Keywords: perceptions about school counselors, teacher candidates, future administrators, role of the school counselor DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-15-12 Publication date: May 31 st 2022