Teacher School Counsellor

**Position Information**:
School counsellors are an essential part of the department’s school counselling service.

They provide counselling and psychological assessment of students to complement and enhance the work of teachers to strengthen student learning and wellbeing outcomes, and they help families understand and manage their children’s learning and mental health needs. This is a truly collegiate role offering unique challenges and opportunities - both in your professional development and your ability to make an impact on the lives of children and young people.

School counsellors receive regular, individual professional supervision with the Senior Psychologist Education and participate in group and peer supervision as a member of the broader district school counselling team. You will most likely be collaborating with a number of school communities and colleagues, as well as outside agencies, with the opportunity to use and expand the full range of your skills and expertise as part of a supportive, multidisciplinary team. School counsellors are provided with regular opportunities to participate in continuing professional development and the NSW Department of Education will support you to complete or maintain your registration with the Psychology Board of Australia. Other benefits include school holiday leave, travel allowances, and health and wellbeing benefits such as our Fitness Passport program. The department will also cover your indemnity insurance as a psychologist.

Cabramatta High School is an innovative, dynamic and complex school situated in Southwest Sydney. The school has 1500 students and 160 teaching and non-teaching staff members. Ninety-six percent of students are from language backgrounds other than English with a high proportion from Southeast Asian countries. Cabramatta High School has an Intensive English Centre (IEC) with 165 students and a Support Unit with 50 students. The school facilitates an inclusive and integrated approach to education. The counsellor position is based in the Intensive English Centre, providing holistic support to newly arrived students and their families.

The school attracts a high number of international students and retains the majority of students exiting the IEC. In total there are 54 language groups in the student body. Currently there are 100 students who are identified as coming from a refugee background. The school has a strong focus on academic excellence, collaborative practice, student wellbeing and community partnerships; ensuring a learning environment where every student is known, valued and cared for.

**Selection Criteria**:
We are looking for School Counsellors with qualifications in Education and Psychology. To be successful in these roles you will have:

- Teaching qualifications and eligibility for an approval to teach in NSW Department of Education schools
- Be a registered or provisionally registered psychologist, or eligible for registration with the Psychology Board of Australia
- Have demonstrated understanding of the mental health needs of children and young people
- Experience in counselling children and young people using evidence-based interventions
- Experience in cognitive, emotional and behavioural assessment of children and young people
- Well-developed interpersonal, oral and written communication skills, including report writing
- Ability to work collaboratively and liaise with key stakeholders to enhance outcomes for children and young people
- Knowledge of and commitment to the Department's Aboriginal education policies

**Conditions**:
Ability and willingness to travel between worksites.

**Special Notes**:
Successful applicants will be provided with a Departmental induction program, ongoing professional learning and professional supervision.

Find out more about working in the school counselling service

Visit the Department’s School counselling service pages to discover more about working as a school psychologist or school counsellor in NSW public schools.

About the NSW Department of Education