Questions to Ask a School Counselor
Written for anyone training to be a school counselor, or new to the role, who has an hour with someone already doing it: an interview for a class assignment, a talk with a site supervisor, or coffee with a colleague from the next building. The list follows the order such a conversation tends to take: the day and the caseload, the counseling program and how it is judged, the teachers, administrators and parents around it, then the crisis and confidentiality calls. After those come the professional development questions to ask a school counselor (licensure, supervision, training, associations and burnout), and a few to close on.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The job
What does a typical day look like for you, and how much of it goes to plan?
Why ask it
Have them walk through yesterday instead of an ideal day. How much of it was on the calendar and how much walked in through the door shows whether the job at that school is planned or reactive. Put the same question to a counselor at another grade level and compare.
How many students are on your caseload, and how are they assigned to you?
Why ask it
Get the number, then the method: by grade, by last name or by program. A counselor who keeps the same students for several years knows their families in a way a grade-level counselor may not, so ask which arrangement they would pick if it were up to them.
What do students come to you about most often?
Why ask it
The answer shifts with the grade level and the neighborhood, so put it to every counselor you meet. Then ask which concern has grown since they started, and what they read or trained in to keep up with it.
Why did you become a school counselor, and has the reason held up?
Why ask it
Most counselors have a short version of the first half that they have told many times. Wait for the second half: what they expected the work to be, and what it turned out to be instead.
What is the most rewarding part of the job, and what wears on you?
Why ask it
Ask for one particular week behind each half, with no student identified, or you will get the version they give at career day. If what wears on them is the system and not the students, ask whether that has eased or grown over their years in the role.
How much of your week goes to working directly with students, and how much to everything else?
Why ask it
Some counselors log their time for a week or two each year, so ask whether they have and what the tally showed. The gap between where the hours went and where they wanted them to go describes the job more honestly than any posting.
Which duties land on you that have nothing to do with counseling?
Why ask it
Testing, lunch duty, covering a class, building the master schedule: the list varies by building. The useful follow-up is which ones they managed to hand back and how they made the case. As an intern you will be offered some of these too, so ask which are worth doing for the relationships they build.
What does the school year look like from your desk, and which months are heaviest?
Why ask it
Their calendar tells you when to ask for a day of shadowing and when to stay out of the way. It also shows what gets pushed aside in the heavy stretches, whether that is scheduling season, a testing window or the weeks before a long break.
How does a student get time with you, and which students never ask?
Why ask it
A request slip, a teacher's referral or a knock on the door brings in the students who are easy to notice. The second half is where counselors differ: how they find the quiet student who is struggling and would never fill in a form.
Which counseling approach do you use most, given how short your time with a student is?
Why ask it
Graduate courses tend to teach theories built around a weekly hour, and a school rarely offers one. Have them describe a single short meeting from the first question to the walk back to class. Then ask how they decide a student needs more than a school counselor can give.
What changes about this work between elementary, middle and high school?
Why ask it
Worth asking even if you are sure of your level. Someone who has worked at two can say what carried over and what did not, and a practicum is the cheapest time to discover you prefer the other one.
How has the job changed since you started?
Why ask it
A counselor with fifteen years in can tell you which changes stuck and which were one superintendent's project. From someone in their third year, ask instead what the person before them did that they have stopped doing.
What part of the job did your graduate program not prepare you for?
Why ask it
Let them choose before you suggest anything. Whatever they name, whether it is the scheduling software or the first furious phone call, ask where they finally learned it, because that is probably where you will learn it too.
The program
Is there a written counseling program here, and what is it built on?
Why ask it
In the United States many programs follow the ASCA National Model, and others use a state or district framework, so ask which applies where they work. If there is an annual calendar, ask to see it: a page with dates on it says more than a mission statement.
How do you decide what the program concentrates on each year?
Why ask it
Listen for a source: a needs survey of students, teachers or parents, the attendance and discipline numbers, or the principal's priorities. If it is mostly the last, ask how much say the counselor had in the end.
What data do you collect, and what do you do with it afterward?
Why ask it
One example from start to finish is worth more than a description: a group they ran, what they measured before and after, and who saw the result. Counselors who do this usually began with something small and can say which numbers were easy to get hold of.
How do you show a principal or a school board that counseling made a difference?
Why ask it
A counselor who can put a year's results on one page has something to bring when positions and budgets are discussed. What would go on theirs this year is the first follow-up. What they wish they had started counting sooner is the better one.
Who evaluates you, and what do they look at?
Why ask it
The form may have been written for teachers, with classroom language that fits a counselor's work badly, or it may be one made for counselors. Whichever it is, ask what they bring to that meeting: it is a list of evidence an intern can start keeping now.
Which classroom lessons do you teach, and where does the material come from?
Why ask it
They may have written the lessons, bought a curriculum or inherited a binder from the last counselor. If you have never taught, ask how they learned to hold a full classroom, and whether you could sit in on a lesson.
Which small groups do you run, and how do students end up in them?
Why ask it
The topics tell you what students at that school are dealing with. Collect the practical details too: how students are invited, how permission from home is handled there, and which class period teachers will give up.
What does college and career work look like at your level?
Why ask it
In an elementary school it may be a career day, and in a high school it can fill the fall. Much of it is learned after graduate school, so ask what they had to pick up, such as financial aid forms or local training programs, and who taught them.
Staff and parents
How do you and your principal agree on how your time is spent?
Why ask it
An agreement written down with the principal at the start of the year is one answer, and 'we have never talked about it' is another. Either way, ask how the last disagreement over their time went, and what they would say differently now.
How did you earn the trust of the teachers in your building?
Why ask it
Trust with teachers tends to come from small trades: a quick reply, a student returned to class on time, a word back about what might help. Their first-year story is the one to get, including whatever set them back.
What do you say to a teacher who wants to know what a student told you?
Why ask it
You want the actual sentence. A workable one gives the teacher something to do in class without repeating the student's story, and the counselor can say where their school's policy draws that line.
Are you ever pulled into discipline, and how do you keep a student's trust when you are?
Why ask it
Where the counselor stands when a student is in trouble is settled building by building. If they sit in, ask what they say to the student afterward so the office still feels safe. If they stay out, ask how that line got drawn and who drew it.
How do you open a phone call to a parent who is not expecting one?
Why ask it
The opening line does much to decide whether a parent hears help or blame, so have them say theirs aloud. Then ask what they do when a call goes badly, and whether they make a note of it afterward.
What do you do when a parent is angry with you or with the school?
Why ask it
A practiced answer has an order to it: let the parent finish, find the worry under the complaint, say what happens next and by when. The point at which an administrator is brought in differs from school to school, so ask where it sits in theirs.
How do you reach families whose language or culture is different from your own?
Why ask it
Push past the word 'inclusive' to the mechanics: who interprets on a phone call home, which forms exist in which languages, which families skip the evening events and what was tried instead. A counselor who has worked at this can name something that did not work.
What is your part in special education and 504 meetings?
Why ask it
The counselor may sit on the team, coordinate the plans or only be called in now and then, and the plans themselves go by different names from one country to the next. The count is what describes the workload: how many meetings in a month, and what they prepare for each.
How do you divide the work with the school psychologist, the social worker and the nurse?
Why ask it
Pick a case where the roles overlap, such as a student who has stopped attending, and ask who does what. A building that lacks one of these roles, or shares one across several schools, leaves more with the counselor.
Which outside agencies and therapists do you refer families to, and how did you build that list?
Why ask it
A referral list is usually built one phone call at a time, and kept current by hearing from families about who had openings. Two things to ask next: how they check in after a referral without overstepping, and whether the district limits which providers a counselor may name.
When you disagree with an administrator's decision about a student, what do you do?
Why ask it
Advocacy is easy to write a paper about and harder to practice with the person who signs your evaluation. Ask for a time they pushed back, how they chose the moment, and what came of it.
Hard calls
How do you explain confidentiality to a student the first time you meet?
Why ask it
Have them say it the way they would to a seven-year-old or a fifteen-year-old, whichever you expect to work with. The limits themselves come from law, district policy and the profession's ethics code, and they vary by place, so note the wording and check it against the rules you will work under.
When do you tell a parent what their child has told you?
Why ask it
There is no single rule to carry away, because it turns on the student's age, the risk involved and the rules where the counselor works. What you can carry away is how they reason it through and who they consult before deciding.
What do you say when a student asks you to promise not to tell anyone?
Why ask it
Nearly every counselor has a ready sentence for this moment, and its shape is worth borrowing. The follow-up is about afterward: what happens to the relationship when they do have to tell someone, and how they mend it.
What happens, step by step, when a student says they are thinking of hurting themselves?
Why ask it
You are asking for the school's procedure, not for a method to copy: who is told, whether a screening tool is used, who stays with the student, who calls home. Ask whether you may read the written protocol, and get the one for your own site before you ever need it.
What is the process here when you have to report suspected abuse or neglect?
Why ask it
Reporting duties are set by law and differ by state and country, so learn your own before your first day with students. What only a working counselor can give you is the human part: what they say to the student before the call and after it.
What does the school do after a death or another event that shakes the whole building?
Why ask it
Many districts keep a crisis plan and a team on paper. Ask what the counselor's job was the last time the plan was put to use, and what was rewritten afterward.
Which ethical decision have you found hardest, and how did you work through it?
Why ask it
Give them room to change details so nobody can be identified. The steps are what you are after: the ethics code, the district's policy, a call to a colleague or supervisor, and a record of what was decided and why.
Who do you call when you are not sure what to do?
Why ask it
A counselor who is the only one in the building needs this answer more than anyone. It might be a district lead, a counselor at the next school or an association's ethics contact where one exists. How they came by that person is the part to copy.
What do you write down after a difficult conversation, and where is it kept?
Why ask it
Borrow the habit, not the rule: what goes on paper the same day, and what is left out on purpose. Who may read a counselor's notes and how long they are kept is decided by law and by the district, and your own site may answer differently.
Development
Which license or certification did this job require, and what did getting it involve?
Why ask it
Requirements differ by state and country and they change, so take the answer as one person's route and confirm yours with the body that issues the credential. The snags are the valuable part: an exam date missed, a form sent late, hours that turned out not to count.
What do you have to do to keep your credential current?
Why ask it
Skip the totals, which you will have to look up for your own credential anyway. Ask who keeps the record of their hours, what has counted that they did not expect to, and which of the district's sessions were worth the afternoon.
Who supervised or mentored you in your first years, and what did they do for you?
Why ask it
A school counselor's formal supervisor may be a principal who has never done the job, which leaves open where the counseling guidance came from. If the answer is nowhere, ask what they would arrange for themselves if they were starting again.
Which training was worth paying for, and which was not?
Why ask it
The test of a training is whether anything was different on Monday morning. Get the name, the provider and the price for the good one, and whether the district covered it. People tend to be frank about the one that changed nothing.
Which professional associations do you belong to, and what do you get from them?
Why ask it
National and state school counselor associations offer different things: a journal, a conference, an ethics contact, in some cases liability insurance. Ask which membership they would keep if they could pay for only one, and whether there is a student rate.
Does your district pay for professional development, and how do you ask for it?
Why ask it
The method matters more than the figure: who approves a request, how far ahead it has to go in, and what kind of case gets a yes. If they have a request that worked, ask to read it.
What are you working on getting better at this year?
Why ask it
A counselor with a current answer treats the job as something still being learned, and that is the kind of person to learn from. If a formal growth goal is on file with the district, ask who chose it and how anyone will know it was met.
Is it worth adding a clinical counseling license to the school credential?
Why ask it
The counselor can tell you what holding both has opened up for them, or what going without has closed off. What each credential allows, and whether hours for one count toward the other, is a question for the boards where you plan to work.
How do you keep the job from following you home?
Why ask it
Ask what they do on the drive home after the worst kind of day, and what they gave up on because it did not help. One specific habit is worth more than the phrase self-care.
Have you ever been close to burning out, and what pulled you back?
Why ask it
Save this for a conversation with some trust in it, and accept a short answer. What changed is the part to listen for: a limit set with a principal, a duty dropped, a colleague to debrief with, or a move to another school.
Where can a school counselor's career go after the first ten years?
Why ask it
The usual list runs from lead counselor and district coordinator to administration, private practice under a further license, or staying put and becoming very good at it. Which of these they weighed, and what each would have required where they work, is more use to you than the list.
Closing
What would you tell yourself in your first year on the job?
Why ask it
Expect something small and concrete, such as eat lunch, learn the front office staff by name, or stop saying yes to every committee. Write it down in their words.
What should I do during my practicum or internship that most interns do not?
Why ask it
A site supervisor has watched several interns and knows what set the strong ones apart. Take one thing from the answer and do it within the month, then tell them you did.
What do principals look for when they hire a school counselor?
Why ask it
Plenty of working counselors have sat on a hiring panel, and every one of them has faced one. Ask which interview question they still remember, and what evidence they would bring if they were applying today.
Could I shadow you for a day, or sit in on a lesson or a meeting?
Why ask it
Leave it until near the end, once they know you are serious. What a visitor may observe is limited by student privacy and district rules, so offer the least sensitive options first: a classroom lesson, a staff meeting, a scheduling session.
Who else should I talk to, and may I use your name?
Why ask it
One conversation turns into three this way. The most useful introduction is to a counselor at a different level or in a different kind of district, since it shows you which of today's answers were about the job and which were about this building.
What have I not asked that someone entering this work needs to know?
Why ask it
Leave a pause after it. This is often where a counselor brings up whatever fits under no heading, such as the politics of a building or the loneliness of being the only one in it.
Getting the most from an hour with a working school counselor
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Setting up the conversation
Say what the conversation is for
A counselor will answer differently for a class assignment, a decision about which level to work at, and a new colleague looking for a mentor. Put the purpose in the first line of your request, with how long you need and whether anything will be written up and handed in. If it is for a course, say whether the counselor or the school will be named in the paper.
Pick your week
The opening weeks of a school year, course scheduling season and testing windows are poor times to ask for an hour. Offer two or three dates and let the counselor choose, and accept a phone or video call if that suits them better. Before or after the student day tends to be easier than the middle of it.
Choose the counselor on purpose
If you have not settled on a level, try for one conversation at each. A counselor who is alone in a small rural building and one on a large high school team do recognizably the same job in very different ways, and hearing both teaches more than two conversations in similar schools.
Mark your ten
An hour holds perhaps ten questions with their follow-ups, and fewer when the answers are good. Choose them before you arrive, lean toward the group you came for, and send the short list ahead so the counselor can have the annual calendar or a blank evaluation form on the desk when you get there.
While you are talking
Begin with the day, finish with development
The groups run in an order that works out loud. The job and The program are easy to answer and settle both of you. Hard calls goes better once there is some ease between you. Development sits well late in the hour, when the counselor knows enough about you to recommend a training or an association and not just list them.
Leave students out of it
Never ask for a name, a grade and a story in the same breath. Say at the start that you do not need identifying details and that the counselor is welcome to change them. Someone who feels safe on this point will tell you far more about how they think.
Hear rules as local
Licensure, reporting duties, record keeping and what a parent is entitled to know are set by countries, states and districts. When the counselor describes one of these, write 'here' beside it in your notes. Their reasoning travels, and the rule may not.
Collect sentences, not policies
Several of these questions are requests for wording: what the counselor says to a student who wants a promise, to a teacher who wants details, to a parent picking up a call they did not expect. Have them say it the way they would in the hallway, and write it down exactly. A borrowed sentence is likely to be the first thing from this hour that you use in your own placement.
Ask before you record
Some counselors are comfortable being recorded and some districts are not. If the answer is no, take notes by hand, and before you leave read back the two or three points you plan to quote so the counselor can correct them.
Putting the answers to work
Write it up the same day
Before the day ends, note three things: what surprised you, what you would now do differently in your placement, and what you still do not know. A course reflection is easier to write from those three lines than from a transcript.
Check the local parts
Anything you heard about credentials, renewal hours or reporting should be confirmed with whoever sets it where you plan to work: the licensing or certification office, your program's placement coordinator, the district's handbook. The counselor you interviewed would say the same.
Set two counselors side by side
After a second interview, line up the answers on caseload, non-counseling duties and how the program is judged. Where they match, you have learned something about the profession. Where they differ, you have a question to bring to your own job interview.
Close the loop
Send thanks within a day or two and name one answer you have already acted on. If the counselor introduced you to someone, say how it went. A student who reports back is easy to remember when a placement or a position opens.
Ways the hour goes wrong
Turning it into a case consultation
It is tempting to describe a student from your own placement and ask what to do. That belongs with your site or university supervisor, who is responsible for your work and knows the setting. Keep this hour for the counselor's job, not yours.
Taking one building for the whole profession
Every answer is shaped by a principal, a district and a community. A counselor buried in testing duties and one with a protected schedule are both telling the truth. Hold your conclusions until you have heard from at least two.
Running out of time before Development
The early groups are easy to linger in, and then the bell rings before you reach licensure, supervision or training. If the professional development answers are why you came, say so at the start and move to that group at the halfway mark, wherever you are.
Fishing for a placement
If you are hoping for an internship site or a reference, the counselor can tell. Ask your questions first and mean them. The shadowing request under Closing is the honest way to raise it, and a no often has to do with district rules and not with you.