An Intermediate School Team’s Collaborative Working Relationships
Reflections from a School Counsellor, Senior Leader, Senco and Teacher
Keywords:
intermediate school counselling, teacher–counsellor collaborations, sschool counselling ethicsAbstract
This article presents a reflective discussion of the complex space of school counsellor–teacher collaboration, in response to a gap in New Zealand-based literature and research on this topic. It draws on perspectives from literature and the authors’ experiences as an intermediate school counsellor, senior leader, special education needs coordinator, and teacher. This complexity is primarily seen to be a result of paradigmatic and ethical dissimilarities between teaching and counselling. The authors contend that this complexity requires serious consideration and can be navigated by negotiating middle grounds in response to student needs, developing role clarity, working in ways that enable each party to be creative whilst remaining grounded within their own role and associated ethical and paradigmatic responsibilities, and on-going reflective conversations to strengthen collaboration.
