This paper presents findings from a Doctor of Education (Ed. D.) study conducted at Maynooth University. The study examines guidance counselling and school counseling roles within contemporary education systems and explores how professional agency is exercised through engagement with policy and professional frameworks in Ireland and the United States.

Guidance counsellors in Ireland and school counselors in the United States occupy complex professional roles encompassing educational, career and social and personal guidance within whole school contexts at post-primary level. In Ireland these roles are shaped primarily through Department of Education and Youth policy articulated through Circular 0001/2025 and Information Note 0001/2024 and is supported by the strategic direction of the National Strategic Framework for Lifelong Guidance 2024 - 2030. In the United States school counseling practice is guided through professional standards articulated by the American School Counselor Association, most notably The ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs, as opposed to statutory national policy. Although operating within distinct governance arrangements, both contexts delineate normative expectations that shape role scope, programme enactment, and professional learning for guidance professionals working in post-primary school settings.

Existing research has largely examined policy frameworks, professional standards, and professional learning structures as discrete and analytically separate domains. Comparatively little attention has been paid to how guidance professionals interpret these frameworks in relation to their professional role, or to the ways in which professional agency is exercised in the enactment of role expectations in practice. This omission is consequential, given that guidance counselling constitutes a form of relational and contextually situated professional work, shaped through the interaction of school level contexts, systemic structures, and professional judgement, as theorised within policy enactment scholarship (Ball, Maguire and Braun 2012).

Drawing on a completed sequential explanatory mixed methods design this paper explores the interplay between policy and professional framework’s role expectations and professional agency. The study investigates how role expectations are articulated how they are reflected in professional learning experiences and how guidance counsellors and school counselors interpret and enact their role within diverse institutional contexts.

The central research question guiding this paper is:

How do guidance counsellors in Ireland and school counselors in the United States navigate the interplay between policy and professional frameworks, professional agency, and role enactment within their practice?

The analysis is informed by Ball’s theory of policy enactment which conceptualises policy as an interpretive process shaped by situated professional material and external contexts (Ball, Maguire and Braun, 2012). Kennedy’s framework for continuing professional development provides a complementary lens enabling examination of how professional learning structures align with role expectations and support professional agency reflection and sustained practice (Kennedy, 2014).

Through a comparative perspective this paper contributes to European and international discussions on guidance roles professional learning and practitioner agency. Rather than evaluating the effectiveness of specific frameworks the paper foregrounds practitioner interpretation and sense making within guidance counselling and school counseling practice across two education systems.

The study employs a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, situated within a pragmatic research paradigm. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected sequentially and integrated at the interpretive stage to provide a comprehensive understanding of guidance counselling practice across contexts. The quantitative phase involved the administration of the Assessment of School Counseling Practice Survey (ASCPS 2021), a validated instrument developed by Dahir and Stone, to practising school counselors in the United States (n=50) and guidance counsellors in Ireland (n=42). Descriptive analyses of the survey data highlight response patterns on role priorities, perceived responsibilities, engagement with guidance activities, and access to professional learning. Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted to identify patterns within and across the two national contexts. Findings from the quantitative phase informed the design of the qualitative phase. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five qualified guidance counsellors in Ireland and five school counselors in the United States to explore how practitioners interpreted survey patterns and articulated their professional experiences in greater depth. Interview questions focused on participants’ understandings of role expectations, experiences of professional learning, and perceptions of how policy or professional frameworks shaped their practice. Qualitative data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, allowing for the identification of themes related to interpretation, agency, and contextual mediation. Analysis was conducted within and across cases, supporting a comparative examination of similarities and differences between the two contexts. Integration occurred during the interpretation phase, where qualitative findings were used to elaborate, contextualise, and explain quantitative patterns. This mixed-methods integration enabled the study to move beyond surface-level comparison, offering insight into how guidance professionals actively make sense of frameworks within their daily practice. Ethical approval was granted by Maynooth University. All data were anonymised, and reflexivity was maintained throughout data collection and analysis, particularly in relation to the researcher’s insider role within the Irish guidance counselling context.

The findings indicate that guidance counselling and school counseling practice is shaped through an ongoing interplay between professional role expectations, professional agency, and policy or professional frameworks, rather than through linear implementation of prescribed models. Across both Ireland and the United States, guidance counsellors and school counselors demonstrated active professional judgement in interpreting frameworks and prioritising student needs within the realities of their school contexts. Quantitative survey data revealed broadly shared role priorities across the two contexts, particularly in relation to student wellbeing, academic guidance, and career development. However, qualitative findings provided important explanatory depth, illustrating how these priorities were enacted differently in practice. Guidance counsellors in Ireland described considerable flexibility in role enactment alongside ambiguity regarding role boundaries, reflecting the broad framing of guidance within national policy. In contrast, school counselors in the United States reported clearer articulation of role expectations aligned with professional standards, particularly those of the American School Counselor Association, alongside stronger accountability mechanisms shaping practice. Professional learning emerged as a critical mediating factor in the exercise of professional agency across both contexts. Participants emphasised the value of professional learning experiences that support reflective practice, collaboration, and contextual responsiveness. Where professional learning was perceived as fragmented, overly transmissive, or insufficiently aligned with the complexity of the role, practitioners reported challenges in sustaining coherent and balanced practice across the personal, educational, and career domains. Overall, the findings highlight guidance counselling and school counseling as forms of interpretive professional practice, requiring discretion, relational expertise, and contextual judgement. The study suggests that policy and professional frameworks are most effective when accompanied by professional learning structures that recognise role complexity and actively support professional agency. These findings contribute to international debates on guidance provision and professional learning and have implications for the design of systems intended to sustain guidance professionals within increasingly complex educational environments.

American School Counselor Association. (2025) The ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs. 5th edn. Alexandria, VA: American School Counselor Association. Ball, S.J., Maguire, M. and Braun, A., (2012[JP28.1]) How Schools Do Policy: Policy Enactments in Secondary Schools. London: Routledge. Dahir, C.A. and Stone, C.B. (2021) Assessment of School Counseling Practice Survey (ASCPS). Unpublished survey instrument. Department of Education (2024]) Information Note TC 0001/2024: Information note for Principals, Guidance Counsellors and Guidance Teams in relation to Whole-School Guidance. Dublin: Department of Education. Government of Ireland (2023) National Strategic Framework for Lifelong Guidance 2024–2030. Dublin: Government of Ireland. Kennedy, M.M. (2016[JP160.1]) ‘How does professional development improve teaching?’, Review of Educational Research, 86(4), pp. 945–980.