Ethical Principles & Legal Standards
The federal law that safeguards the privacy of student education records and regulates their disclosure by schools and educational agencies.
What is FERPA?
Ensures that information shared by students during counseling sessions remains private and protected.
What is confidentiality?
This refers to maintaining appropriate relationships and refraining from actions that could exploit or harm students.
What are boundaries?
The role school counselors play in supporting and promoting the rights and well-being of students within the school system.
What is advocacy?
A written set of guidelines issued to member school counselors to help them conduct their actions in accordance with the organization's primary values and ethical standards.
What is the ASCA code of ethics?
The legal obligation requires school counselors to report suspected child abuse or neglect to the appropriate authorities.
What is mandatory reporting?
The process through which school counselors obtain permission from students or their parents before initiating counseling services.
What is informed consent?
These are the local norms framing acceptable conduct.
What are community standards?
An action that a school counselor takes when a student's needs go beyond their expertise, requiring assistance from other professionals or resources.
What is a referral?
The practice in which school counselors receive guidance and feedback from qualified professionals to enhance their counseling skills and ensure ethical practice.
What is supervision?
Legal and ethical obligation that requires school counselors to intervene or take action when a student poses a serious threat to themselves or others.
What is duty to warn?
The practice of school counselors collaborating with teachers, parents, and other professionals to address student needs and promote academic and social-emotional growth.
What is consultation?
Situations where school counselors hold multiple roles with students, potentially compromising objectivity and professional boundaries.
What are dual relationships
Emphasizes the importance of creating an environment that is equitable and inclusive for all students, regardless of their background or abilities.
What is inclusion?
Situations or statements that impart a personal value of the person involved that may not be true in the strictest sense but instead is based on personal opinion/values.
What is value-laden?
An ethical principle that emphasizes the importance of avoiding harm and minimizing potential risks to students.
What is nonmaleficence?
How similarly qualified school counselors wold manage a student's care under the same or similar circumstances.
This occurs when a school counselor's personal or financial interests may compromise their professional judgment.
What is a conflict of interest?
A role that school counselors play in providing a safe and empathetic space for students to express their feelings and concerns.
What is emotional support?
When a school counselor carelessly makes a representation while having no reasonable basis to believe it to be true.
What is negligent misrepresentation?
Ensures that students have the right to a fair and unbiased disciplinary process in schools.
A duty owed; that duty was breached; there is a causal connection between the breach and the injury; and there was an injury suffered are the four required tenets of this legal term.
What is negligence?
Boundary violations often begin in these three basic areas.
What is role, time, and place?
Refers to a counselor's ability to understand and appreciate the cultural backgrounds and diversity of their students.
What is cultural competence?