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Education · Helping & Teaching

School counsellor: what the job actually is

Helping students with course choices, post-school plans and personal problems, usually from a small office in a school.

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School counsellor: quick facts

School counsellor salary in Ontario: the median pay is $40.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is moderate. The job usually needs a university degree.

Median pay in Ontario
$40.00 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$22.00 to $55.63 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Moderate
People working in it in Ontario
9,250
Usually needs
Usually a university degree

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 41320. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Job Bank describes counselling students on educational issues such as course and programme selection and study skills, and advising on career or vocational issues including career exploration and planning.
  • The group is broader than school guidance. Job Bank lists school counsellor, academic counsellor and career counsellor in education, and says employers are school boards and post-secondary institutions: high schools, colleges and universities.
  • The listed duties also include coordinating co-op programmes and student orientation, administering standardised tests of aptitude and interest, and supporting students with personal and social issues such as substance abuse, depression and sexuality.
  • Crisis counselling is part of it. A school counsellor is often the first adult in the building who hears something serious.
  • It is a different job from a psychologist (see the psychologist page) and from a classroom teacher (see the teacher page), though in an Ontario school the counsellor is usually a teacher first.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 7:50 — In. A line of students outside the office before the bell, none of whom want to say why they are there.
  2. 8:15 — A Grade 12 student who has changed their mind about university three times. You go through the options with them without picking for them.
  3. 9:30 — Course selection meeting with a Grade 9 student and a parent who disagree about which pathway to pick.
  4. 10:45 — A student you did not expect comes in and starts crying. Nothing else on the day matters until that is dealt with.
  5. 12:00 — Lunch, interrupted by a teacher who is worried about a student.
  6. 13:00 — Work on timetables and co-op placements. This is the part of the job that looks like administration and decides whether someone gets a placement.
  7. 14:15 — Referral call to a community mental health service. You explain, again, what you cannot do yourself.
  8. 15:30 — Write up what you need to record from today, and keep what is confidential confidential.
  9. 16:15 — Prepare for tomorrow's presentation on post-secondary applications.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You like being the adult in a school who has no marks to give out, and can just listen.
  • You are happy to explain the same options clearly to a hundred different students.
  • You can hear something worrying and stay calm and practical, and you know when to hand it to someone else.
  • You like both halves of the job: the planning and the people.
  • You are willing to start as a classroom teacher and work toward it.
You may hate this if
  • You do not want to teach first. Job Bank says a teacher's certificate and some teaching experience are typically required for school-based counsellors.
  • You cannot carry other people's problems home. Counsellors hear the things nobody else hears, and cannot talk about them.
  • You need the job to be stable. Job Bank's text for this group says employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions, with retirements still opening others, and that school board funding and priorities affect counsellor ratios.
  • You want to work with students in a therapy role. School counsellors often have to refer people on to others because the school is not set up for long-term counselling.
  • You dislike conflict between students, parents and the school, because you will be in the middle of it.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Education degree, then Ontario College of Teachers membership

    Job Bank says school-based counsellors typically need a teacher's certificate in Ontario and some teaching experience. The Ontario College of Teachers says to be certified you need a minimum three-year postsecondary degree from an acceptable institution, a four-semester teacher education programme, and to apply to the College and pay annual membership fees.

  2. A bachelor's degree in a related field

    Job Bank says a bachelor's degree in counselling, career development, education or social sciences is required for school settings, and that a master's degree in counselling psychology or a related field is usually needed.

  3. Additional qualifications

    The Ontario College of Teachers offers Additional Qualification programmes for certified teachers, with a list of approved providers on its site. We could not read the page for a counselling-specific additional qualification, so we are not naming one. Ask your school board which one it expects.

  4. College and university counselling is a different door

    Job Bank says colleges and universities also employ educational counsellors, and says its text on post-secondary prospects is tied to the decline in international student enrolment. Requirements vary by posting, so read each one.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Educational counsellors: requirements in Ontario · NOC 2021 — Unit group 41320 profile · Ontario College of Teachers — Requirements to become a teacher · Ontario — Qualifications for teaching in Ontario · Job Bank — Educational counsellors: Ontario wage report

The money

School counsellor salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$22.00
Low (hourly)
$40.00
Median (hourly)
$55.63
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 41320. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — School counsellor wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Moderate3 out of 5 stars

  • Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions.
  • Several positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • Demand strongly influenced by student registration
  • Increase in enrolment in secondary schools
  • Educational counsellors are hired more in secondary schools than elementary schools; however, annual funding amounts and school board priorities may affect student-to-counsellor ratios and employment opportunities
  • Job prospects in colleges and universities are expected to be impacted by the significant decline in international student enrolment

Who hires for it

  • Majority employed in educational services largely in elementary and secondary schools
  • Colleges and universities are also key employers
9,250
people work in this job in Ontario
77%
are women (48% across all jobs)
5%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Educational counsellors job prospects in Ontario (NOC 41320). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Visit your school's guidance office when you are not in a crisis, and ask the counsellor what the job looks like from the inside.
  • Join peer-support, mentoring or tutoring programmes if your school has them. They are the closest thing to the work a student can do.
  • Ask about co-op. Co-op coordination is part of the job, and doing a placement yourself shows you what a counsellor is arranging.
  • Volunteer with younger students: a homework club, a reading buddy programme, or a youth centre.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Help someone through one real decision this week

About 60 minutes
  1. Find a younger student, a cousin or a friend who has a school decision coming, such as course selection, a pathway or a programme choice.
  2. Ask what they are choosing between, and what each option would give them and cost them. Write it down in two columns for them.
  3. Do not tell them what to pick. Ask what they would regret not trying, and let the silence run.
  4. Look up your own school board's pathways page, or the course types guide on this site, so you know where to point them for the facts.

What it tells you. If you enjoyed helping someone see their own choice without making it for them, and found the planning part interesting too, the job's day-to-day will suit you. If you wanted to simply tell them what to do, or the emotional part felt like too much, that is useful: counsellors need to hold back and also stay steady when things get heavy.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What percentage of your time is course and pathway planning, and what is personal counselling?”
  2. “How many students are you responsible for?”
  3. “What is the hardest thing you have had to handle, without telling me anything private?”
  4. “How did you move from the classroom into counselling?”
  5. “How secure is your position given your board's funding and enrolment?”
  6. “What do you refer to others, and who do you refer to?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Not as a school counsellor, since the job is employed by a school board or a college or university. Some people later leave to run private career-coaching or education-consulting practices. That is a different job with different clients and no board behind you.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a school counsellor make in Ontario?

The median pay for a school counsellor in Ontario is $40.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $22.00 to $55.63 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a school counsellor in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as moderate for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions. Several positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a school counsellor in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a university degree. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Education degree, then Ontario College of Teachers membership; A bachelor's degree in a related field; Additional qualifications.

Where does a school counsellor work in Ontario?

Majority employed in educational services largely in elementary and secondary schools. Colleges and universities are also key employers. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as a school counsellor in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 9,250 people working in this job in Ontario. 77% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

If this appeals, look at these too

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.