The Importance of Communication as a School Counselor

Being able to communicate well and respect others is a top priority to have as a professional. As a school counselor, being able to communicate well with your students, teachers and administration, and parents plays a huge role in your job. This area of professionalism is important because it sets the ground for how well your students will be able to interact with you and your advice you give them, and also how well teachers and administration will feel communicating with you about students and other needs in the school. When there is lack of communication, many things can go wrong.

Current Problems

I have seen first hand how challenging communicating can be. In today’s society, social media plays a huge role in everyone’s daily life. Although technology and social media is wonderful, many people have lost their communication skills from becoming so comfortable talking “on the phone” but not in person, such as texting, that when it comes to communicating face to face, it is difficult. Our school counselor has run into this lack of communication from parents and students who she works with. As the school counselor, it is your job to be respectful to everyone and be open to talk and ask questions. Not only do you want to be able to communicate well to your students and parents, but also other teachers and administrators. Oftentimes, communicating can be hard due to lack of time, meetings, or just not striving to meet with teachers and administrators to collaborate with them. I have seen that in schools where the counselor, principal and teachers do not communicate well, it sets up destruction for the school and the children in it. By communicating with others, the counselor is always aware of what is happening on and around the school campus. The job requires exceptional communication skills to be able to communicate with even the most difficult students and their parents.

Background

In the recent article “The School Counselor and the Principal: Keys to Successful Collaboration” it states that research shows that the relationship between the principal and the school counselor makes a huge impact on the school. Many counselors are striving to work along side their principals and administrators to better fulfill their position. By working closely together, both the school counselor and the principal can gain a better understanding of the other’s perspective regarding the mission and vision of the school” (Greene and Stewart, 2016). School counselors need to know that by collaborating and working together with the principal, the school will run smoothly, and those that need extra care and guidance will receive it. “In a 2010 study, they found that collaboration between principals and school counselors resulted in more effective delivery of services. A collaborative relationship between the principal and the school counselor can bring meaningful and effective change to several areas” (Greene, 2016).

Not only do counselors need to focus on communicating well with the principal, but also with teachers. This is how a counselor will truly get information to help children when it comes to behavior and academic struggles. Your school counselor can also be a strong partner in working out strategies to improve student success and achievement in the classroom” (Gundlach, 2012). In this article, it talks about counselors sitting in on parent meetings, teacher data meetings, and any other important meetings that take place at school. The counselor can also help the teachers by providing strategies within the classroom, and by helping them implement them. “Keeping your school counselor informed about at-risk students will in turn help you reach those students in a more productive way. When the counselor knows the fabric of your classroom, she can provide you with tools to work best with your students” (Gundlach, 2012).

Great communication is at the core of great schools, and should be at the core of all school counselors. When researching, an article stated the importance of communication skills as counselors to parents. “A school counselor is a parent’s immediate link to a school” (Powers, 2017). Many parents communicate more often with the counselor rather than the principal. “School counselors don’t make decisions alone, but they often bring unique insight and are integral to the school to family connection” (Powers, 2017). An important skill that the school counselor must have to communicate as stated in this article is to be tech savvy. In this day in time, it is crucial for a counselor to have a webpage to communicate with their students and with parents. “A web page specifically for school counseling plays a unique role in being able to offer information that’s applicable to all families” (Powers, 2017).

How I Can Help

As a current school teacher, I can share many ways to help my colleagues practice and put into play professional communication skills. The first step I would take is to provide ideas to the principal and current school counselor and collaborate ways where they could meet and communicate more often, and also ways to get each teacher involved. I believe that each month teachers, administrators, school counselor and the principal should meet by grade level and share what is going on with each child academically, mentally, physically, etc. Not only will this give the counselor time to share ways to help certain children in the classroom, but the teachers will give accurate observations of these children to communicate with the principal and counselor so they are aware. With the proper communication skills, the school will run much smoother and each child will be properly helped in every aspect needed. Personally, I will need to show positive communication skills and be respectful to everyone.

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