When I quit my school counselling job in 2023, I think it surprised everyone, most of all me. School counselling was a career I took great pride in and worked hard to do well. I really loved my work. Well, I loved almost all my work. There was one aspect of the school counselling job that I could never make peace with, and that was the central role the counselling department plays in the huge administrative job of course selection and scheduling. In a school approaching 2000 kids and with caseloads approaching 400:1, the scheduling task was enormous, and it was all-consuming. In my school district it is standard practice for school counsellors to return from summer holidays a week earlier than the rest of the staff, knowing that it will take all of that week – and more – to make adjustments to students schedules based on changes to staffing, and changes to what students have decided to do (or not do) in summer school, how their post-secondary plans may have changed, and a million other less publicly shared things, like who is their math teacher, and when their spare block lands, and which friends are in their classes with them. Scheduling is a Sisyphean task that takes up most of September, constantly adjusting and readjusting schedules. The lineup outside the counselling office is endless, the emails pour in, the phone rings off the hook, and I used to work ten hours a day just to stay on top of it. This same situation occurs again in February at semester changeover, and again in June as counsellors build schedules for the following year knowing that they would all need to be redone again in September.
What frustrated me the most – and contributed heavily to my decision to leave – was the fact that because the workload was so heavy, there was one job that never got done at these peak times, and that was mental health counselling. I would argue that September, February, and June are the times of year when students most need access to their school counsellor. While the whole department was caught up in managing course changes, and assuring that academic pathways were aligned with graduation requirements, our students were navigating some significant life transitions without our support. In September, our new students (particularly the youngest and newest to the school) need us to be available to help them adjust to their new classes, new teachers, and new routines. In February when classes shift, students need support adjusting to the changing expectations of their new environments, and in June students are facing the pressures of exams, final projects, and potentially graduation and huge transitions into life after high school. These were the times that I most wanted to engage with my students, especially the more vulnerable ones, and it really bothered me that these were the same times of year that I was always buried in administrative paperwork with tight deadlines attached.
The immediate consequence of this misallocation of counsellor time is not just school counsellor burnout; it also has a significant impact on student well-being. Students rely upon their counsellors for more than academic advice and scheduling. They often need emotional and social support, especially during those transitional periods when school counsellors are mired in paperwork. By reducing the administrative burden on counsellors, schools could do a better job of providing timely and effective support to students, improving accessibly to much needed mental health support. Direct engagement of counsellors with students can improve attendance, feelings of connection, and academic performance (Shi & Brown, 2020).
My experience of feeling pulled between the administrative responsibilities that have become a large part of the secondary school counsellor’s job and the mental health support that I am ethically responsible to provide is not unique. The role ambiguity school counsellors face is well researched. Hammelin et al. (2022) use the term occupational identity suffering to describe the struggle between professional accomplishment and the reality of job tasks that do not align with a school counsellor’s professional identity. They note that the burden of administrative tasks unrelated to counselling but carried by school counsellors is a major contributor to professional burnout. The time-sensitive nature of creating student schedules means that this task is prioritized over student-centred work, and this misalignment between counsellors’ training as mental health professionals and their heavy administrative responsibilities detracts from their ability to provide meaningful counselling services to students (Blake, 2020). The misallocation of counsellor time and skills is detrimental both to the counsellors themselves and to the students who reply upon their support (Bettman & Digiacomo, 2022).
My own struggle with this professional dissatisfaction led me back to university to pursue a doctoral degree in counselling and psychotherapy, which then led me to work in post-secondary education where I now teach and support teachers who are training to become school counsellors. Yesterday one of my recently graduated students called me to debrief her first days on the job in her new role as a high school counsellor. She was exhausted, and I hasten to add, the school year has not yet begun. This is an energetic and optimistic new school counsellor who has so much to offer. Reducing administrative tasks would allow school counsellors like this to focus on their primary role of providing guidance and mental health support, leading to enhanced professional satisfaction, improved functioning, and lower rates of burnout (Hammelin et al., 2022). Students would benefit from increased availability and proactive engagement from their counsellors, improving their ability to navigate both academic and personal issues. Ultimately, the well-being of our students should be the primary concern of our educational systems. Realigning counsellor duties to make the best use of their mental health expertise would uphold the integrity of the counselling and profession while fostering a more supportive school climate conducive to student success and wellness.
References
Bettman, C. G., & Digiacomo, A. (2022). An investigation into the experiences of school counsellors working with adolescents. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 32(1), 82-96. https://doi.org/10.1017/jgc.2020.33
Blake, M. K. (2020). Other duties as assigned: The ambiguous role of the high school counselor. Sociology of Education, 93(4), 315–330. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040720932563
Hammelin, G., Viviers, S., Litalien, D., & Boulet, J. (2022). Bringing light to school counselors’ burnout: The role of occupational identity suffering. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 23(3), 741-761. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10775-022-09534-2
Shi, Q., & Brown, M. H. (2020). School counselors’ impact on school-level academic outcomes: Caseload and use of time. Professional School Counseling, 23(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X20904489
By: Lisa Porter, CCC, former school counsellor, current Associate Director at City University M.Ed. School Counselling program
