School Counsellor
A school counsellor provides mental health support and psychosocial interventions to students within an educational setting, addressing emotional, behavioural, and social difficulties that impact learning and wellbeing. They assess student needs, develop individualised intervention plans, and coordinate with teachers, parents, and external health services to support student development.
What this job is
A school counsellor provides mental health support and psychosocial interventions to students within an educational setting, addressing emotional, behavioural, and social difficulties that impact learning and wellbeing. They assess student needs, develop individualised intervention plans, and coordinate with teachers, parents, and external health services to support student development. The role operates within Australian curriculum frameworks and duty-of-care obligations, including mandatory reporting requirements under state child protection legislation.
Are employers advertising this role?
Falling, down 21.5% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Conduct individual and group counselling sessions using evidence-based therapeutic approaches to address student anxiety, depression, trauma, and behavioural concerns. Assess student mental health and psychosocial functioning using standardised screening tools and clinical observation to identify needs and risk factors. Develop and implement individual student support plans aligned with student goals and school policies. Maintain contemporaneous case notes and clinical records in compliance with privacy legislation and school record-keeping standards. Fulfil mandatory reporting obligations under state child protection legislation when identifying indicators of abuse or neglect. Liaise with parents and guardians regarding student wellbeing, progress, and recommendations for support at home. Collaborate with classroom teachers and school leadership to integrate psychosocial support into the broader school environment and curriculum. Refer students to external mental health services, medical practitioners, or specialist providers when needs exceed school-based capacity.
Who does this now
About 4,100 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
What this role asks for
Bachelor degree or higher (ABS skill level 1)
Can employers fill these jobs
Employers hiring for this occupation were generally able to find suitable applicants in 2025. This measures how hard employers found it to fill jobs. It is not a count of jobs, and it does not say whether the occupation is growing.
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a bachelor degree or higher (ABS Skill Level 1). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
You'll carry heavy emotional weight. Kids disclose trauma, abuse, and suicidal thoughts to you regularly. Mandatory reporting means you'll sometimes break confidentiality, which damages trust. Burnout is real because caseloads are huge and you can't fix systemic problems like poverty or family breakdown.
Where the jobs are
Jobs concentrate in capital cities and larger regional centres where schools have dedicated counselling roles. Rural and remote schools rarely hire full-time counsellors. Government schools employ most, but independent schools hire too. No remote work. State education departments are the biggest employers.
Pay
Published for ANZSCO unit group 2721, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.
This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.
Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
Skills
- Active Listeningcore
- Case Note Documentationcore
- Confidentiality and Privacy Compliancecore
- Conflict Resolutioncore
- Cultural Awareness and Sensitivitycore
- Empathy and Emotional Intelligencecore
- Inclusive Practicecore
- Participant or Client Advocacycore
- Professional Boundaries Maintenancecore
- Report Writingcore
- Risk Identificationcore
- Service Navigation and Referralcore
- Trauma-Informed Communicationcore
- Verbal Communicationcore
- Written Communicationcore
- Continuous Learning and Upskilling
- Goal Setting and Planning
- Group Facilitation
- Incident Reporting
- Policy and Procedure Adherence
- Record Management
- Referral Coordination
- Regulatory and Legislative Awareness
- Stakeholder Communication
- Time Management and Prioritisation
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
What School Counsellor workers move into, from ten years of tax records.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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