Professional Research Project

By: Kaitlyn Hembree

Ethical and Professional Behavior

School counselors must:
Keep things confidential.
Be fair and honest.
Be mindful of diversity.
Keep a professional relationship with students, parents,
coworkers and administration.

Problems School Counselors May Face

Not every ethical standard is specific to every situation.
Counselors have to figure out what to do in certain situations.
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Society, issues, and counselors change.

Counselors will struggle to take the appropriate actions.

Counselors also face the matter of confidentiality.

They have to make hard decisions of breaching student confidentiality

to report certain information.

How Ethics is Being Addressed with School

American School Counselor Association
Counselors
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School Counseling Legal and Ethical Specialist program

School Counselors can earn Continuing Education Units

This program focuses on being an ethical school counselor and staying on top of legal
issues.

School Counseling Center

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The center addresses ethical and legal issues for school counselors.

They also have professionals look at school counseling programs and help counselors
reach their goals.

School Counseling Principles: Ethics and Law by Carolyn Stone

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Raises awareness for professional behaviors and actions for school counselors.

Ways I Can Help With This Area of Professionalism

- Research different professional development opportunities for myself and
other school counselors in my area to attend.

- Put together my own workshop for teachers and fellow counselors to attend
that have interest in legal and ethical issues.

- Take time at one of our faculty meetings to go over new laws with our
teachers that may affect us in the school system.

Resources:
American School Counselor Association. (n.d.). Legal and ethical specialist training.
American School Counselor Association. Retrieved from:
http://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors-members/professional-development/asca-u/legal-specialisttraining
Huey, W. C., Remley, T. P., Jr. (1990). Ethical and legal issues in school
counseling. Eric Digest. Retrieved from:
http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9214/legal.htm
The School Counseling Center. (n.d.). Services and programs. The School Counseling
Center. Retrieved from:
http://schoolcounselingcenter.org/services.html
Bray, B. (2016). Behind the book: The counselor and the law. Counseling Today.
Retrieved from:
http://ct.counseling.org/tag/ethics-legal-issues/
Stone, C. (2005). School counseling principles: Ethics and law. Alexandria, VA: American
School Counseling Association.
Iyer, N. N., Baxter-MacGregor, J. (2010). Ethical dilemmas for the school counselor:
Balancing student confidentiality and parents right to know. Northeastern
Educational Research Association Conference Proceedings. Retrieved from:
http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=nera_2010