Student Counsellor, 60% Term (External Posting)

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 49,000 - 61,000; Part time

Job summary

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is seeking a Relational Care Practitioner at Gloucester High School for a 60% term assignment to June 25, 2027 (10 month year). The RCP uses the everyday school environment as a living classroom to build relational proximity and empower students to become positive peer leaders.

Reporting to the principal, the RCP will coach, mentor, and support students, especially from equity-deserving groups, through structured activities and clubs.

Qualifications

• Degree from a recognized university in a related discipline; two years of relevant experience or equivalent.
• Ability to work in school environment and provide mentoring and guidance to students.
• Awareness of equity-deserving groups and culturally relevant mentorship.
• Fluency in Arabic and lived experience valued for mentorship and inclusion.

Responsibilities

• Engage with students in daily school settings to foster self-regulation and leadership.
• Mentor students, lead peer mentorship initiatives and clubs.
• Collaborate with school staff to create inclusive, supportive spaces.
• Provide identity-specific mentorship to equity-deserving youth.

Skills

Coaching & guidance

Student engagement

Leadership development

Relational approach

Cultural responsiveness

Education

Degree in a related discipline

Job description

External Posting - applications from approved casual and term ESP employees and external candidates. (Regular (permanent) ESP employees must apply to the Internal posting)

About the OCDSB

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is the largest school board in Eastern Ontario and offers students and parents a world of choice for learning. Our nearly 150 schools offer a wide range of programs to promote learning excellence and meet the individual needs of students, parents, and the community at large. Our schools are teaching communities where principals, vice-principals, teachers and support staff nurture student well-being and challenge students to achieve their best.

We are seeking a creative, dynamic, committed professional to join our team:

STUDENT COUNSELLOR
Location: Gloucester HS
Position Status: 60% Term Assignment to June 25, 2027, 10 month work year
Hours of Work: Monday to Friday, 21 hours per week
Affiliation: OSSTF District 25 - Educational Support Professionals (ESP)
Salary range: $35.32 to $44.44 per hour (Level 8)

Job Summary

Reporting to the School Principal and working as an integral member of the school team, the Relational Care Practitioner uses the natural, day-to-day school environment as a live canvas for positive change and leadership development. Rather than acting as a crisis stabilizer, a clinical therapist, or an academic pathway advisor, the RCP focuses on sustained relational proximity within the natural rhythm of the school day to build students' capacity. The core focus of this role is to transform the school's common social spaces into environments where vulnerable students proactively learn to amplify their personal agency and develop as positive peer leaders.

Qualifications

• Completion of a degree from a recognized university in a related discipline, with two years of relevant experience. An equivalent combination of education and experience may also be considered.
• Depending on the community and ethnic group being served by this position, Section 14 of the Ontario Human Rights Code may be a requirement.
• Utilize the school environment (classrooms, hallways, lunchrooms, and school) to provide scheduled and ongoing coaching, modelling, and guidance, drawing entirely on the strength of a sustained practitioner-student relationship to foster long-term self-regulation.
• Actively seek out, listen to, and elevate student perspectives, ensuring that youth—especially those from marginalized or vulnerable backgrounds—have a meaningful say in the school culture. Act as a supportive sounding board, helping students articulate their experiences, ideas, and needs to school leadership.
• Provide structured, behind-the-scenes scaffolding to students who express a desire to lead events, workshops, awareness campaigns, or cultural initiatives of their own design. Guide them through the planning, problem-solving, and execution phases, transitioning the practitioner's role from director to facilitator of student success.
• Identify, mentor, and cultivate leadership capacities within youth. Design and facilitate peer mentorship initiatives and prosocial school clubs that empower students to become active, positive culture builders among their peers.
• Maintain a consistent, supportive presence in public and common spaces to engage students during routine daily interactions. Teach, model, and reinforce daily social-emotional skills during the natural social rhythms of the school day.
• Provide identity-specific mentorship for students from equity-deserving groups (including Black, racialized, and marginalized youth) to foster a sense of intersectional belonging. Given the school demographics, lived experience as a Muslim male and fluency in Arabic are highly valued to facilitate deep connection, linguistic accessibility, and culturally relevant mentorship that reinforces social inclusion and cultural pride.
• Partner directly with students experiencing alienation or school disconnection, building a reliable, low-barrier connection at school to foster a sense of belonging and encourage voluntary daily engagement.

Application Process

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board uses Apply to Education (ATE) to manage applications for job competitions. OCDSB employees can apply to this job posting using their existing ATE account. Please ensure your resume is in the Board approved format before submitting your application.

If you are not a Board employee and do not have an existing ATE account, you will be asked to create one at https://ocdsb.simplication.com . Choose Job Category 'ECE, EA and Support Staff'.

Applications will be considered in accordance with the ESP Collective Agreement, in the following order:

1. Applications from Regular full-time and part-time employees within the ESP bargaining unit are given first consideration. (Internal Posting)

2. Applications from term and casual employees within the ESP bargaining unit are given 2nd consideration. (External Posting)

3. Applications from External candidates (including Board employees that do not belong to this bargaining unit) will be considered only if applications from 1 & 2 have been exhausted.

If you are a Regular part-time ESP member and also on the ESP Casual List, you will see both postings. However, you must apply to the "Internal" Job posting in order to be given 1st consideration.

In accordance with the collective agreement, a newly hired regular employee is not eligible to accept another position for a period of six (6) months.

OCDSB employees serve students, colleagues, families and community partners. We invite people of all abilities, orientations, faiths, ethnicities, races, genders and ages to join us as we create learning and working spaces that honour the unceded and unsurrendered land of the Algonquin people, and respect, value and increasingly reflect the diversity of Ottawa. Your lived experience is an essential contribution to deliver the education every student deserves with dignity.

If you require accommodations at any point in the selection process, please send an email to [e-mail] at any time.