The Guidance Officer is employed by Education Queensland to support the needs of children, families and staff. A Guidance Officer is allocated to each school based on the number of students at the school. Ipswich East State School’s current allocation is 3 days a fortnight.
Guidance Officers working in schools are qualified teachers who have undertaken further tertiary studies in a Masters of Educational Studies and specific training in guidance, counselling and psychology.
The Guidance program in our school is there to support the entire school community in a variety of ways. The Guidance Officer works collaboratively within the school context. There are times that students, parents, caregivers or teachers may need someone to talk to for various reasons. This is generally done as one-to-one counselling or sometimes as part of a group process.
Other issues that the Guidance Officer may help with is formal psychometric assessments, referrals to other agencies for appropriate support for children and their families as well as providing information about education, behaviour, resilience, available programs to support parents and children , child development and other issues that may arise around these areas of interest to children and their families.
Before the Guidance Officer works with a student who has been referred, written permission is obtained from parents/carers to do so. Confidentiality is important and maintained between the Guidance Officer and student, except when someone (student or other) is in danger. This is explained to students at the first session, while also encouraging them to talk to someone at home or in their community that they trust.
If you have any concerns regarding your child, please talk with your child’s class teacher first. After consideration, the teacher, Principal or Deputy Principal may suggest that a referral needs to be made to the Guidance Officer, either directly if urgent or through the Special Needs Committee. Cases are discussed in this forum and prioritised so that the most urgent issues are dealt with first. Parents will be informed of how the process is progressing and what needs to happen in relation to the student, their well- being and their learning.