The four main school counseling program interventions used include: school counseling core curriculum classroom lessons and annual academic, career/college readiness, and personal/social planning for every student; and group and individual counseling for some students. School counseling is an integral part of the education system in large numbers of countries and in others it is emerging as a critical support for elementary, middle, and high school learning and/or student health concerns.

An outdated term for the profession was guidance counselor; school counselor is preferred due to school counselors’ role in advocating for every child’s academic, career, college readiness, and personal/social success in every elementary, middle, and high school.In the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific, some countries with no formal school counseling programs use teachers or psychologists to do school counseling with a primary emphasis on career development.