Certification/Licensure needed for a school counsellor

• Must hold a degree in psychology, the school counsellor are recruited by competitive examination by the Ministry of Education. Then they follow a two-year diploma sanctioned by the State of counselor-psychologist.
• In schools, he is subject to the hierarchical authority of the school inspector. They number about 4400, distributed among schools and various specialized structures

Salary statistics of a school counsellor:

• Salary details:
• Salary – - $29,602 – $61,097
• Bonus  – - $234.89 – $7,149
• Total Pay – - $29,258 – $62,729
• Popular Industries and Salary Range
• Education, K-12 Schools – - $30,019 – $66,414
• Education – - $29,955 – $66,294
• School District – - $29,397 – $63,947
• Counseling – - $28,910 – $65,338
• Education, College/University – - $30,150 – $65,616
• Years of Experience and salary hike
• Less than 1 year – - 13%
• 1-4 years – - 46%
• 5-9 years – - 19%
• 10-19 years – - 17%
• 20 years or more – - 6%
• Most Common Health Benefits    
• Medical: 85%
• Dental: 66%
• Vision: 48%
• None: 13%
• Years Experience and salary range
• Less than 1 year – - $23,914 – $46,550
• 1-4 years – - $29,417 – $51,113
• 5-9 years – - $33,024 – $62,704
• 10-19 years – - $38,318 – $72,926
• 20 years or more – - $28,750 – $90,974
• Salary range by City
• Chicago, Illinois – - $25,342 – $64,111
• Houston, Texas – - $20,273 – $61,485
• Atlanta, Georgia – - $30,201 – $62,577
• Los Angeles, California – - $24,161 – $119,195
• New York, New York – - $35,508 – $63,360
• Phoenix, Arizona – - $31,429 – $41,157
• Buffalo, New York – - $25,434 – $44,278
• Salary range by Company Size
• 10-49  – - $29,799 – $59,489
• 50-199 – - $29,467 – $74,000
• 200-599 – - $30,202 – $59,867
• 600-1999 – - $25,986 – $76,460
• 2000-4999 – - $42,602 – $70,337
• 5000-19999 – - $33,713 – $86,293
• Salary range by State or Province
• Texas  – - $34,870 – $62,913
• California – - $30,238 – $79,354
• New York – - $26,909 – $66,919
• Georgia – - $28,883 – $62,694
• North Carolina – - $23,489 – $51,521
• Pennsylvania  – - $31,354 – $73,598
• Ohio – - $25,760 – $50,167
• Salary range by Certification
• National Certified School Counselor (NCSC) – - $30,630 – $58,911
• Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) – - $28,581 – $60,236
• National Certified Counselor (NCC)  – - $32,907 – $61,527
• Teacher Certification – - $29,361 – $64,564
• Secondary Teacher Certification (Grade 9-12) – - $34,963 – $75,490
• Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC)   – - $35,738 – $50,684
• Licensed Marital and Family Therapist (LMFT) – - $39,305 – $61,042
• Elementary Teacher Certification (Grade 1-5) – - $33,017 – $40,695
• Salary range by Benefit/Perk
• Paid Sick Leave – - $31,095 – $66,529
• Paid Holidays / Vacation – - $30,188 – $66,029
• 401(k) – - $27,801 – $59,079
• Life Insurance/Disability – - $30,893 – $66,706
• 403(b) – - $32,570 – $66,347
• Education/Training/Tuition/Certification Reimbursement    – - $34,227 – $76,486

Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) – - $32,448 – $61,079

Educational requirements and training for a school counsellor

• A bachelor’s degree in social sciences or education is required for counselors in schools.
• A master’s degree in counseling or a related field such as psychology, developmental psychology or social work is usually required.
• Information Advisors school working in post-secondary institutions must have an undergraduate degree and sometimes a higher grade.
• Specialization in a particular field of study may also be required.
• A teaching certificate from the province of employment and some teaching experience is usually required for counselors in schools.
• The counselors at the primary level generally provide services that focus more on social and personal aspects of life than on studies or career, most aspects addressed by counselors in high schools.
• Guidance counselors who work in colleges, universities and other establishments may specialize in school counseling, counseling in personal or social, or vocational guidance.

Skills set for this job

Overall ability of a person to acquire the skills needed to perform the duties of a profession.

• Ability to understand instructions and to grasp the fundamentals.
• Ability to reason and make decisions.
• Ability to understand the meaning of words and ideas associated with them and use them wisely.
• Ability to understand language, understand the relationship of words and the meaning of sentences and paragraphs.
• Ability to give information or to express ideas in a clear manner.
• Ability to quickly make accurate calculations.
• Ability to think visually of geometric shapes and represent volumes (three-dimensional shapes) from drawings (two-dimensional representations).
• Ability to understand the relationships resulting from the movement of objects in space.
• This ability can be used to read blueprints or solve geometry problems.
• Frequently described as the ability to “visualize” objects of two or three dimensions.
• Ability to perceive pertinent detail in objects, pictures or graphics.
• Ability to make comparisons and visual inspections to detect slight differences in shape and shading of figures, and the length and width of the lines.
• Ability to identify important details in the information presented orally or as tables.
• Ability to see differences on the copy, to proofread words and numbers and avoid perceptual errors in mathematical calculations.
• Ability to coordinate the views and movement of hands and fingers to perform fast and precise movements.
• Ability to move the fingers quickly and accurately to manipulate small objects.
• Ability to move the hands with skill.
• Ability to take, place, to turn objects and make circular motions.
• Vocational guidance
• Academic advising.
• Counselling.
• Guidance for personal development
• Guidance for community development.
• Parent orientation.
• Family counselling.
• Guidance for teachers.
• Orientation to school officials.
• Institutional orientation
• Vocational guidance is the area of education that aims to develop assistance programs for psychologists, aimed at students all levels, in order to find itself and your skills and interests and reach decisions by providing information on occupations, vocations and preparing for work.

Who is a school counsellor and what does he do?

The school counsellor is the one who informs parents of the objectives and activities of the educational and invited to come to him if they have any concerns. He also cites parents as needed in each of the problems that arise, suggesting specific actions. Maintain good communication with parents, to provide information about the development of children. Frequently organizes talks and conferences with parents on issues related to the development of the learner. He provides parents with clear and accurate information on education programs, plus he helps parents to understand the skills, abilities, interests, attitudes and development of children. He also integrates the team of teachers in a school structure and orientation programs and vocational schools that allow students to make a satisfactory adaptation to the environment of the school, home and community.

As for his work for teachers, educational psychologist works directly with teachers in order to immediately address any difficulties encountered in the classroom. He also shares data with individual student teachers with due regard to their confidential nature. He provides help to identify students with special needs or problems. Once diagnosed the problems informs teachers about children’s progress in treatment. Also, individual attention to special cases of students with learning or disciplinary problems and implements vocational guidance to students to choose their future field of work according to their interests, abilities and other personality characteristics.

Educational psychologist guides students in schools and provides individual attention in the case of noticing any difficulty with respect to its development, or otherwise, any concerns, hobby or special talent, in order that the learner knows himself and this develops better skills and abilities. Also diagnoses and provide appropriate treatment for children who have alterations in their psycho-emotional, cognitive, physical and socio-cultural. In the hands of the school counsellor is to form a proper balance between family and school, as he or she forms a bond among parents, students and teachers, guiding each effectively towards the ultimate goal is the proper academic and professional growth of students.

Tasks and role of the school counsellor

School counsellors and advisors in academic and professional perform some or all of the following functions:

• Helps find solutions to problems both academic and behavior that arise in children, adolescents and adults.
• Orients the pedagogue, teachers and school managers on strategies can use to troubleshoot problems that arise in educational institutions and the teaching, learning process.
• Encourages creativity, interest in the academic aspects of both the teacher and the student population.
• Look for solutions with the directive on discipline issues, respect, tolerance, as well as project development learner-centered education that enable innovation in educational institutions.
• Try to give a permanent and collective training (workshops, dialogues) related to the formation academic education to all stakeholders, including parents.
• Participate in the design of educational programs at different levels, from primary education to vocational education, focusing on teaching strategies to promote learning.
• Develop institutional educational projects implement innovative strategies in the constant search for quality education.
• Encourages and promotes the implementation of educational guidance in schools to guide parents, teachers, and especially students, that they know themselves and know what its potential for learning.
• Is involved with teaching staff, managers and parents for the integration of students with special educational needs by suggesting strategies for the development of their potential.
• Participate in training processes of teaching by developing teaching strategies that encourage meaningful learning, contextualised and applied to real situations.
• Participates in-school training processes in prevention and remedies for individuals to achieve personal growth and integration into society.
• Participate in educational research, social, professional and labor to enhance the development of knowledge of the specialty and to record the areas of professional intervention.
• Counsel students about personal and social issues such as alcohol and drugs, depression, sexuality, eating disorders, anxiety, self-esteem, family problems, relationships with others and anger.
• Counselling students in their difficulties.
• Discuss with teachers and parents or other members of the school administration and specialists.
• Overseeing assistance programs offered by peers at school.
• Administer and interpret tests of intelligence, personality, career guidance, skills and interests.
• Train and coordinate groups or workshops on study skills in colleges and universities, including note taking, strategies for test preparation and anguish they cause and time management.
• Coordinating or participating in orientation programs for students in colleges and universities.
• See recruitment by employers of students who complete their college or university and the placement of students in work placements.
• Visit colleges and secondary schools to provide information on to students, parents and counsellors.
• May supervise the field experience for graduate students in counselling.
• Teach, if applicable, to regular classes.