Job overview
Please visit our career page and submit an application for "MS Counselor"https://www.concordiashanghai.org/employment/employment-opportunities
Position Title: MS Counselor Division: Middle SchoolSupervisor: Division Principal/Assistant Principal Position Summary: Utilizing leadership, advocacy and collaboration, the Middle School Counselor is responsible for coordinating and implementing a comprehensive school counseling program to include academic advisement, personal/social counseling, and parent/community involvement in grades 6 to grade 8, and transition to grade 9. Candidates should be familiar with MTSS and UDL frameworks to provide multi-tiered academic and social-emotional supports to students at all levels. Requirements:Education
- Bachelor Degree in education or/and Counselling.
- Master's or advanced degree in guidance counseling with Certification in International Counseling or experience in a clinical setting, preferred.
- Experience as a counselor in a middle school setting.
- Counseling experience with middle students for three years or more, preferred.
- Working in an international school setting and familiarity with the American educational system, preferred.
- Working successfully with culturally diverse population, specifically Asian, preferred.
- Two years of teaching experience, preferred.
- Excellent knowledge of the developmental needs of middle school-aged students.
- Grounded in knowledge about Positive Psychology and practice similar to Solution-Based Approach.
- Skilled in facilitating groups of students and adults.
- Ability to develop initiatives responsive to student need.
- Skillful at using technology.
- Excellent interpersonal skills to collaborate with staff, parents, students, and administrators.
- Communicator
- Problem solver
- Organized
- Sensitive (particularly to the needs of the expat family & the Third Culture Child)
- Diplomatic
- Ability to lead in a crisis intervention.
- Strong organizational and time management skills.
- Collaborative skills, teachable, flexible, familiar with working on teams.
- As a school grounded in the Christian faith, we hire Christian teachers and administrators. Concordia seeks to hire candidates who are able to model their faith, are interested in the complex questions of faith and spirituality, and who are keen to learn and interact with others of different faith traditions.
- Addressing the needs of the whole child is an important part of Concordia’s ethos and a member of Concordia’s faculty embraces opportunities to work with students beyond the classroom for co-curricular activities.
- Interfaces with outsourced specialists, i.e. hearing, OT, speech, medical personnel, or outside therapists. Provides information about appropriate community resources.
- Provides an ongoing program of individual, small group, and large group counseling services in the areas of academic advisement and social/personal development per the national standards established by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) and the International Model for School Counseling (ISCA).
- Consults and works collaboratively with administrators, teachers, school personnel, and parents to meet the counseling and educational planning needs of the middle school students, including schoolwide needs.
- Interprets and utilizes school records, including cognitive, aptitude, and achievement tests, for educational planning.
- Reviews and evaluates student records and transcripts.
- Provides preventive and responsive services, including crisis counseling as needed, and addresses student mental health needs as appropriate.
- Facilitates the involvement of parents in the education of their students, including assisting in parent/teacher/counselor conferences and leading parent education classes.
- Assists students in developing self-understanding, self-acceptance, and effective interpersonal skills.
- Support divisional leaders during the scheduling process. Assist collecting students' schedules options, create and fix students' schedules, advocate for students during this process.
- Assist with students' grade level transitions. Collaborate with the counselors in the other divisions and assist the Assistant Principal in divisional student transition.
- Support teachers, parents, and students that have an ILP or ASP. Advocate for students under their case load to make sure accommodations and plans are being followed.
- Facilitates Care and Concern meetings with teachers, parents, and Assistant Principal.
- In collaboration with the classroom teacher, maintain appropriate documentation for students with educational needs.
- Maintain a positive, nurturing, and collaborative relationship.
- On regular school days, on duty between 7:45AM and 3:45PM, not inclusive of activities, duties, and meetings.
- Ensures that the comprehensive school counseling program and its goals are made available to all stakeholders via the school website.
- Other duties as assigned.
- Purpose: To provide guidance and instruction in, and support for the growth and social-emotional development and the acquisition of pro-social skills that enable each child to be successful in the educational setting.
- Implements developmentally appropriate and prevention-oriented group activities to meet student needs and school goals.
- Conducts classroom wellness lessons covering academic, social, career, and global perspectives. Lessons have standards and competency.
- Conducts small and large group activities based on the guidance curriculum.
- Purpose: Counselor provides ongoing planning sessions with faculty, administrators, outsource personnel, and parents (when needed) to ensure that students in need have collaborative educational planning.
- Assists all students, individually or in groups, with developing academic, personal/social skills, goals, and plans.
- Conducts counseling sessions with students.
- Accurately and appropriately interprets, maintains and utilizes student data.
- Collaborates with parents/guardians and educators to assist students with educational planning.
- Sends written communications to parents/guardians and teachers
- Apprises teachers of adaptive materials and services that exist and are available to students.
- Purpose: To enhance the child’s experience of success at school by supporting the child and child’s family’s ability to adjust to new situations, cope with life’s difficulties or handle developmental challenges.
- Provides individual and group counseling to students with identified concerns and needs.
- Consults and collaborates effectively with parents/guardians, teachers, administrators, and other educational/community resources regarding students with identified concerns and needs.
- Advocates for equity and access for all students.
- Provides staff with resources to accommodate individual differences and the needs of students.
- Implements and maintains an effective referral and follow-up process.
- Accurately and appropriately uses assessment procedures for determining and structuring individual and group counseling services.
- Conducts a yearly program survey to review extent of program effectiveness.
- Collects and analyzes data to guide program direction and emphasis.
- Measures results of the school counseling program activities and shares results as appropriate.
- Monitors student academic performance, behavior, attendance and assists with appropriate interventions.
- Available to support the staff through short-term crisis.
- Contributes to spiritual climate and emotional climate of the school through programming.
- Contributes to service learning.
- As a school grounded in the Christian faith, we hire Christian teachers and administrators. Concordia seeks to hire candidates who are able to model Christ’s teachings through interpersonal skills, respectful relationships and problem solving, are interested in the complex questions of faith and spirituality, and are keen to learn and interact with others of different faith traditions.
- Establish collaborative relationships with all staff, students, and parents.
- Engage parents and students in meaningful discussions about student growth and achievement.
- Commit and contribute to the school community—play an active, positive, and supportive role in addressing the needs of the whole child and the ethos of Concordia beyond the classroom. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Leading extra-curricular activities (ECAs) during the school year
- Leading a student club
- Leading a service project
- Integrate the school curriculum with the Schoolwide Learner Outcomes (SLOs).
- Insightful Learners
- Effective Communicators
- Reflective Spiritual Beings
- Principle-Centered Leaders and Team Members
- Active Global Citizens
- Set continuing professional growth goals and take advantage of opportunities for personal and professional development.
- Other duties as assigned.