Professional Identity: High School Counselors' Perceptions of Non-counseling Duties

This generic qualitative research study examined the impact that non-counseling duties have on school counselors’ professional identity. The 10 participants were tenured school counselors who worked in a suburban county in a mid-Atlantic state. This generic qualitative study explored how school counselors can perceive non-counseling duties and how those duties may be redefined by integrating clinical components to align them with the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model. Generic qualitative methodology structures the study for a greater understanding of a phenomenon, school counselors’ perceptions of their professional identity and does non-counseling duties impact those perceptions. Semi-structured interviews revealed the participants’ perceptions towards their roles as school counselors, non-counseling duties, their own professional identities, and their ability to change their perception of non-counseling duties to align with the ASCA National Model. Thematic analysis of the data revealed themes that addressed how those participants perceived non-counseling duties and their perceptions of their professional identity. This study indicates there was a direct effect on professional identity due to the assignment of non-counseling duties and the perception of the school counselors of those duties. The participating school counselors spoke of a positive perception of their school counseling role, which focused on how they performed their job. They perceived non-counseling duties to be an interference to performing their role as a school counselor. In addition to their perceptions to non-counseling duties, the school counselors that participated struggled to describe their perceptions of their professional identity