Ethics in School Counseling: Policies and Procedures

Ethics in School Counseling: Policies and Procedures is a self-paced course designed for international school counselors seeking a comprehensive, practical, and culturally responsive understanding of ethical practice. Grounded in the ASCA Professional and Ethical Standards and viewed through an international lens, this course explores the school counselor’s responsibilities to students, families, schools, and self while navigating the realities of local laws, school policies, limited resources, and diverse cultural contexts.

This course covers the unique landscape of digital ethics, including AI use. Participants will review resources and participate in self-paced experiential exercises throughout the course to further identify and develop their personal understanding of ethics within their context.

This course is required as part of the ISCA-Certified Counselor Program.

Intended Audience

International school counselors

ISCA Student Standards

This course will support you in providing strategies for your students to be able to:

SE:C1:2 Develop skills to utilize personal and community resources related to mental health

SE:C1:3 Recognize and advocate for personal boundaries, rights, and privacy needs

SE:C1:4 Examine the relationship between rules, laws, safety, and the protection of human rights of the individual

GP:A1:5 Examine the ways in which cultural values and beliefs may conflict

SE:C1:8 Demonstrate digital citizenship focusing on internet safety skills

ASCA Professional Standards and Ethical Standards and Practices

This course is aligned to the following school counselor standards and competencies:

A.2. Confidentiality School counselors:
a. Promote awareness of school counselors’ ethical standards and legal mandates regarding confidentiality and the appropriate rationale and procedures for disclosure of student data and information to school staff.
b. Inform students of the purposes, goals, techniques, rules and procedures under which they may receive counseling. Disclosure includes informed consent and clarification of the limits of confidentiality.
j. Protect the confidentiality of students’ records and release of personal data in accordance with prescribed federal and state laws and district and school policies.
k. Recognize the vulnerability of confidentiality in electronic communications and only transmit student information electronically in a way that follows currently accepted security standards and meets federal, state and local laws and school board policy.

A.3. Comprehensive School Counseling Program School counselors:
a. Provide students with a culturally responsive school counseling program that promotes academic, career and social/emotional development and equitable opportunity and achievement outcomes for all students.

A.5. Sustaining Healthy Relationships and Managing Boundaries School counselors:
a. Engage in professional roles and relationships with students and stakeholders that foster wellness and student success.

A.6. Appropriate Collaboration,
Advocacy and Referrals for Counseling School counselors: a. Collaborate with all relevant stakeholders, including students, school faculty/staff and parents/guardians, when students need assistance, including

Essential Questions

1. How do school counselors navigate ethical decision-making when professional standards, local laws, and cultural contexts may conflict?
2. What responsibilities do school counselors have in protecting student confidentiality, safety, and rights, especially in digital and global contexts?
3. How do a counselor’s personal values, professional standards, and cultural awareness shape ethical practice and relationships with students and stakeholders?

Participants will have knowledge about:

1. the core ethical standards, responsibilities, and professional expectations that guide school counseling practice, including responsibilities to students, parents and guardians, schools, and self.
2. how international contexts, local laws, cultural norms, and resource limitations can shape ethical practice in areas such as confidentiality, child protection, marginalized populations, and referrals.
3. key ethical considerations related to digital practice, including privacy, recordkeeping, remote counseling, technology use, and emerging concerns related to AI.

Participants will be able to:

1. Apply ethical decision-making principles to real world school counseling dilemmas in international school settings.
2. Evaluate school counseling practices, policies, and referral options for alignment with ASCA ethical standards, local laws, and culturally responsive best practice.
3. Engage in self-of-therapist exploration that might impact professional ethics and relationships.
4. Connect with peers via discussion boards to broaden their sense of the professional international school counseling community.

Sarah Kwawu, L-CAT, ATR-BC, LMFTA

Sarah Kwawu is a Licensed and Board-Certified Creative Arts Therapist and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist associate with over fifteen years of experience working both locally and internationally. She began her career in New York City and later expanded her clinical reach, living and working in both West and North Africa as an international school counselor. Her work has spanned the United States Peace Corps, school-based services, private practice, and community settings. Sarah is deeply committed to helping clients strengthen their connection to themselves, using their own creativity as their guide. Sarah currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina where she provides individual and group therapy through a private practice, facilitates art therapy groups in an intensive outpatient program, and works at Cedar Crest College as an adjunct professor.

Price: FREE for certificate candidates

Dates and times of offerings:

Option 1: May 1 to July 30, 2026

Option 2: Sept 20 to Nov 30, 2026

Option 3: Feb 20 to Apr 30, 2027

Contact Hours: 3 hours

This course is fully asynchronous and organized into three modules, designed to be completed over a three-month period.

Each module includes video content and a discussion-based assessment. To receive credit, participants are required to engage in the discussion boards by submitting three posts per module (nine posts in total). For each module:

• An initial post is due by the 20th of the month
• Responses to peers are due by the last day of the month

The discussion boards serve as the primary form of assessment, providing an opportunity to reflect on content, engage with peers, and demonstrate understanding.

Participants must complete all modules and required posts within the three-month timeframe to successfully earn course credit.

Time commitment between sessions: Participants should expect to spend 2-3 hours per month engaging with course materials and discussion activities.

Required Resource(s): None