Guidance and Counselling Services Lead

Description

The Guidance and Counselling Services Lead at Pak Turk Maarif International Schools & Colleges serves as the national functional authority for the Guidance and Counselling Services (GCS) across all campuses in Pakistan. This role is critical in shaping and maintaining the quality and consistency of guidance and counselling provisions, reporting directly to the Manager of Student Affairs and Global Engagement. The position requires leading policy implementation, programme development, professional training, monitoring, and quality assurance initiatives aimed at aligning with educational objectives and student welfare. The successful candidate will take full responsibility for the established GCS Policy and Practices framework and oversee the Guidance Curriculum for Grades 1 to 12 to ensure continuous development and effective integration into the academic environments across all campuses. The role demands regular coordination and campus visits throughout Pakistan to promote cohesive national standards and improvements in student support services. With a required experience of at least eight years, the Guidance and Counselling Services Lead manages a team of five professionals comprising School Counselling Officers and Student Development Fellows. The leader ensures functional directions reach school personnel through administrative channels and works closely with school leadership to secure implementation and resolve any identified gaps. This position emphasizes comprehensive service delivery that integrates developmental and preventive guidance, targeted student support, teacher practice enhancement, proactive family engagement, and managed external referrals. The role demands strong accountability for curriculum leadership, professional training, case management, confidentiality, safeguarding procedures, and fostering student and parent engagement initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Lead the national Guidance and Counselling Services framework, defining campus priorities, service expectations, implementation timelines, and reporting requirements in line with approved policies.
• Develop, revise, and improve guidance programmes, intervention resources, procedures, and implementation tools based on data-driven evidence and professional insights.
• Provide functional directions to school counselling staff through school administration and collaborate with school leaders to ensure effective implementation and gap resolution.
• Review existing GCS policies and procedures periodically, submitting necessary substantive revisions through departmental hierarchy for approval.
• Plan, implement, and continuously develop the guidance curriculum for Grades 1 to 12, focusing on personal-social, educational-academic, and vocational-career guidance with clear learning outcomes and responsibilities.
• Develop and provide facilitation guides, learning activities, and resources aligned with grade-level outcomes to support classroom teachers and school counsellors.
• Establish delivery standards and evaluation methods while monitoring curriculum coverage, classroom practices, student participation, and the achievement of intended outcomes.
• Design and deliver national training programs for counsellors, classroom teachers, and school leaders based on needs assessments and implementation feedback.
• Create induction materials and practical training for curriculum facilitation, student observation, case formulation, referral processes, confidentiality, and safeguarding protocols.
• Lead professional meetings, case consultations, peer learning sessions, and provide professional supervision within competence areas; arrange external expertise where necessary.
• Contribute technical input for counsellor recruitment, induction, and performance reviews in collaboration with management.
• Establish and oversee a national GCS quality assurance cycle entailing service standards, campus reviews, classroom observations, record sampling, and follow-up visits.
• Assess GCS implementation adherence for procedures including target groups, timing, practitioner authorization, evaluations, records, and support services.
• Verify evaluation of completed forms and ensure appropriate consultations, interventions, or referrals occur effectively.
• Analyze data from campus audits, student concerns, disciplinary referrals, and teacher feedback to identify recurring needs and guide programme improvements.
• Document findings and require formulation of campus improvement plans with designated owners and deadlines, verifying completion and escalating unresolved issues.
• Direct the professional response to complex or recurring student support concerns, reviewing intervention plans and external referral follow-ups.
• Strengthen collaboration between counsellors, teachers, and parents in observing learning difficulties and developing Individualised Education Plans while ensuring observation tools remain distinct from clinical diagnosis.
• Maintain the highest professional standards concerning student consent, confidentiality, safeguarding, escalation, and appropriate disclosures.
• Ensure urgent student concerns are followed up via established channels and coordinate specialist support services as necessary.
• Lead the Parent Academy initiative, including conducting needs analysis, preparing programmes, practitioners, and evaluating national and campus sessions.
• Monitor counselling-related components of the Complaints, Queries, and Suggestions process, ensuring documentation, referral, response, and follow-up are effectively managed.
• Collaborate with the Department Manager to align GCS objectives with career guidance, clubs, and school activities supporting student development, inclusion, and belonging.
• Oversee consistent usage of GCS forms, classroom files, student support records, and approved digital systems ensuring record quality, access control, and confidentiality.
• Prepare national reports covering curriculum delivery, service coverage, student needs, training effectiveness, referral follow-ups, and campus improvement actions.
• Maintain aggregated and anonymized data for evaluation and management reviews with strict control of identifiable case information to authorized purposes.
• Exercise national functional authority in setting professional and implementation standards, approving campus plans and resources, requiring reports, corrective actions, and leading training and quality assurance reviews.
• Collaborate with management on policy approvals, staffing decisions, budgets, and external institutional commitments, maintaining discretion and protocol compliance for external referrals.

Experience

8 Years

Apply By

Nov 19, 2026

Required Skills

• Referral Management
• Leadership
• Programme Management
• Team Management
• Guidance and Counselling
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Reporting
• Quality Assurance
• Case Formulation
• Safeguarding
• Confidentiality
• Student Support
• Curriculum Leadership
• Monitoring and Quality assurance
• Professional Training
• Programme Development
• Policy Implementation

Nice to Have Skills

• Training delivery
• Conflict Resolution
• Communication
• Data Analysis
• Record Keeping
• Digital Systems
• Student Voice
• Parent Engagement
• Evaluation methods
• induction materials
• external expertise
• Peer learning