The Cost of Misaligned Roles: School Climate, Non‐Counseling Demands, and School Counselors’ Program Implementation and Work Engagement

ABSTRACT School counselors face persistent challenges in implementing comprehensive school counseling programs (CSCPs) amid complex organizational demands, yet the conditions shaping these challenges remain underexamined. Grounded in job demands–resources theory and role theory, we tested a mediation model examining school climate as an organizational antecedent, non‐counseling work demands as a mediator, and CSCP implementation and work engagement as dual outcomes among 530 practicing school counselors. Results indicated that school climate had significant positive direct effects on both CSCP implementation and work engagement. Non‐counseling job demands partially mediated the relationship between school climate and CSCP implementation but did not significantly mediate the climate–work engagement relationship. Findings highlight school climate as a structural job resource with positive effects on school counselor professional outcomes. Findings also emphasize non‐counseling duties as job demands that erode the effect of positive school climate on CSCP implementation. Implications for counseling practice, training, and policy are discussed. Public Statement : When schools create positive, supportive environments, and school counselors are better protected from being pulled away from their students by administrative tasks, substitute teaching, and clerical duties that fall outside their professional role. Our research shows that this protection is the key mechanism through which school climate improves both the quality of school counseling programs students receive and the degree to which counselors remain energized and engaged in their work.