School Counsellor - Provisional, KickStart Graduate Employment Program

NSW Department of Education – Sydney CBD NSW

About the Role
Want to Kick Start your psychology career?
ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY
Full time employment.

Have you considered a career as a School Counsellor? If so, apply for the KickStart School Counselling Program today.

This graduate program offers eligible teachers, who have completed their fifth year of psychology studies, tailored training and supervision to become registered psychologists and join the NSW Department of Education's School Counselling Service.

As a KickStart participant, you will work collaboratively with a team of dedicated professionals to make a positive impact on the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people in NSW public schools.

If you have approval to teach in NSW and are a psychology graduate who has successfully completed 5-year psychology degree and are ready to start or have started your internship year of your 5+1 psychology registration pathway, then this chance is for you.

Working with Australia's largest provider of public education and one of the largest employers of psychologists in NSW, the NSW Department of Education will provide opportunities for you to engage with diverse school and student communities like no other child/adolescent psychologist role can. This is a chance to develop and use your skills to make a real difference in the lives of children and young people when it matters most.

What we offer you

As a participant of the KickStart program, you receive:

- Temporary full-time employment as a School Counsellor with provisional registration.
- Professional support and supervision to complete your provisional psychology internship with the Psychology Board of Australia.
- A comprehensive onsite tailored training program to equip you with the necessary skills to work full-time within the School Counselling Service within NSW public schools.
- Upon successful completion of the KickStart program, you will have gained the knowledge, skills and experience to apply for permanent School Counsellor roles within the NSW Department of Education.

Conditions

Locations

Opportunities are available in a range of locations state-wide. Applicants must nominate at least three areas in which they are willing to work.

- Albury
- Armidale
- Bankstown
- Batemans Bay
- Bathurst
- Blacktown
- Bondi
- Bourke
- Broken Hill
- Campbelltown




- Central Coast
- Clarence/Coffs Harbour
- Deniliquin
- Dubbo
- Fairfield
- Granville
- Griffith
- Hornsby
- Lake Macquarie
- Lismore
- Liverpool
- Maitland
- Moree
- Mount Druitt
- Muswellbrook
- Newcastle
- Northern Beaches
- Orange
- Parramatta
- Penrith
- Port Jackson
- Port Macquarie
- Queanbeyan
- Ryde
- Shellharbour
- St George
- Sutherland
- Tamworth
- Taree
- Tweed Heads/Ballina
- Wagga Wagga
- Windsor
- Wollongong

Successful applicants will be placed in a base school within their selected area and may also work in other schools within that area, or neighbouring areas.
To view a list of the staffing areas please Click here

Special Notes

This temporary opportunity commences 28 January 2027.

Please note that successful applicants are provided with temporary employment only. Should applicants wish to gain permanent employment, they must apply separately for permanent employment after successful completion of their KickStart program.

Successful applicants will be provided with a Departmental induction program, ongoing professional learning and professional supervision.
Visit the Department’s School Counselling Service pages to discover more about working as a school psychologist or school counsellor in NSW public schools.

As this is a child-related position, you will also be required to obtain a Working with Children Check (WWCC) Clearance number as a condition of employment (if you do not already have this). For more information, please visit the Office of the Children's Guardian

About the NSW Department of Education

The Department of Education is the largest provider of public education in Australia with responsibility for delivering high-quality public education to two-thirds of the NSW student population. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, including but not limited to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, people of any age or gender, people from culturally and linguistically diverse groups and/or from the LGBTQIA+ community, veterans, refugees,



people with disability, people with sensory differences, and neurodiverse people. If we can make some adjustments to our recruitment/interview process to better help you shine, please reach out to the contact person for this recruitment, details listed above. For more information, visit the NSW Department of Education’s Diversity, equity and inclusion webpage.

Merit selection application guidelines for classroom teachers, executives and principals provide clear advice for applicants and selection panels. The guidelines are availablehere.

To meet the page limits outlined in the guidelines, all application attachments must be submitted in PDF format. Please note that late applications will not be accepted.
For technical support in applying for the role please contact School Recruitment Support at ***.

Additional Information

We are looking for eligible teachers with dual qualifications in education and psychology. To be successful in these roles you will have:

- Full approval to teach or eligibility for approval to teach in NSW Department of Education schools.
- Completion of the required psychology studies with available transcripts to make you eligible to undertake your 5+1 internship program as a provisional psychologist.
- Be a provisionally registered psychologist, or eligible for registration with the Psychology Board of Australia ready to start or continue your 5+1 internship program.
- Have demonstrated understanding of the mental health needs of children and young people.
- Training and/or experience in counselling children and young people using evidence-based interventions.
- Training and/or experience in cognitive, emotional and behavioural assessment of children and young people.
- Well-developed interpersonal, oral and written communication skills, including report writing.
- Ability to work collaboratively and liaise with key stakeholders to enhance outcomes for children and young people.
- Knowledge of and commitment to the Department’s Aboriginal Education Policy, Partnership Agreement with the NSW AECG Inc and the Diversity, equity and inclusion

Documents

Aboriginal Education Policy

Job reference 0000BC7Z. Applications Close - Wednesday 14 October 2026 at 11:59pm

For more information, please contact Hendy Kurniawan on telephone *** or via email to ***************@det.nsw.edu.au

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📌 School Counsellor - Provisional, KickStart Graduate Employment Program (Sydney)
🏢 NSW Department of Education
📍 Sydney