Child Safeguarding Lead & ES Counselor

The Elementary School Counselor & Child Safeguarding Lead provides comprehensive academic, social-emotional, and college counseling while championing a safe and supportive learning environment for all students. In addition to guiding students’ social and emotional growth, the role leads schoolwide safeguarding efforts by coordinating child protection protocols, training, and legal compliance. Through proactive collaboration with staff and families, this position ensures student well-being remains at the center of school decision-making. Our ES Counseling program consists of one additional full-time professional.

We look for faculty members with a learning mindset, “can do” approach to teaching and learning, a sense of humor, and a desire to contribute to innovation and improvement as a team player. Tech and AI agility and confidence, and a commitment to excellence in a student-centered school are needed! Additionally, our team is seeking faculty who share a commitment to engaging in a diverse professional community that is growing in its DEIJ principles and practices. 

Key Responsibilities for the Child Safeguarding Lead

• Serves as the primary point of contact for all child protection and safeguarding concerns, facilitating response team meetings, consulting on allegations, and coordinating all reporting and documentation requirements, including compliance with Taiwanese law and communication with the Education Bureau.
• Leads the development, implementation, and regular review of the KAS Child Protection and Safeguarding Handbook and Policy, ensuring alignment with best practices and legal expectations.
• Oversees CPOMS as the school’s child protection online management system, ensuring accurate documentation, monitoring confidential reports, and analyzing patterns and trends to inform schoolwide safeguarding decisions.
• Coordinates safeguarding efforts with the Senior Leadership Team, board representative, and counselors to strengthen processes, conduct risk assessments, and implement improvements to student safety protocols.
• Leads and tracks required child protection training for all stakeholders, including faculty, support staff, Board members, volunteers, and contractors, to ensure full compliance and capacity building.
• Meets regularly with the Senior Leadership Team for planning and updates, and carries out additional responsibilities as assigned by school principals.

Key Responsibilities for the ES Counseling Team:

• Prioritize child safeguarding and maintain documentation related to student protection and well-being. 
• Provide one-on-one and small-group counseling, crisis intervention, and support for behavioral and emotional concerns. Foster a positive school climate and facilitate orientation for new students. 
• Consult with teachers, parents, administrators, and outside specialists to design interventions, behavior plans, and student support processes. 
• Conduct conferences and maintain records related to student observations, interventions, and social-emotional needs. 
• Deliver whole-class social-emotional learning lessons and and collaborate with teachers to support the delivery of SEL classroom lessons. 
• Offer conflict mediation and problem-solving support to students. 
• Assists families in obtaining services for their children through an appropriate referral and follow-up process. 
• Collaborates on the development and management of the comprehensive school counseling program with the school administrator or instructional leader. 
• Serve as a consultant for child protection concerns and fulfill other responsibilities assigned by the principals.

Required Qualifications include:

• A minimum of three years of teaching experience in an early childhood, elementary, or international school setting
• A valid elementary or early childhood teaching license
• Experience teaching within a U.S.-based or international curriculum framework
• Strong understanding of developmentally appropriate practice for young learners

Preferred Qualifications Include:

• A Master’s degree in Counseling, School Counseling, Social Work, or School Psychology is required. 
• At least 5 successful years of experience as an Elementary School or Schoolwide Counselor. 
• Familiarity with International School Counselor Association (ISCA) and The ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs. 
• Ability to analyze data to inform work and decision making, analyze and evaluate available data, assess student needs and develop and implement procedures and policies to support student achievement. 
• Fluency in English; fluency in Mandarin is a plus. 
• A range of experiences in US and/or international schools that have led to the development of multiple lenses and perspectives. 
• Strong understanding and respect for a diversity of cultures and the needs of language learners.
• A demonstrated ability to collaborate including presenting, facilitating, coaching and consulting in order to support and develop highly effective groups. 
• Has life experiences that demonstrate, among other things, a growth mindset, versatility, adaptability and resilience. 
• A commitment to developing and supporting a diverse professional community that is growing in its DEI principles and practices. 
• Experience with creating, facilitating and implementing processes and procedures around child protection and safeguarding

About KAS: 

Kaohsiung American School (KAS) is a private, not-for-profit day school established in 1989 for the children of expatriate families in Kaohsiung. The school is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and offers the IB’s MYP and DP programmes. We receive annual grants and sponsorship from the US Department of State.

Kaohsiung American School moved into its beautiful, purpose-built campus buildings in 2015/2016. We are recognized as the premier international school in southern Taiwan. We currently enroll 790 students from 40+ countries, although most of our students share Taiwanese heritage and Mandarin as a first language. Every year, 65–85% of our students are full IB Diploma candidates, and almost all other students will take certificates in one or more subject areas. All our students are multilingual learners.

KAS is Committed to Child Safeguarding

• KAS conducts rigorous background and reference checks on all candidates. 
• Employees and volunteers at KAS receive training to recognize signs of abuse and neglect and are required to report suspected incidents of child abuse and neglect. 
• Our child protection response team uses a team-based approach to respond to each reported incident in accordance with Taiwanese law and international best practices. 
• KAS is committed to supporting and recognizing the identities of all students. We foster an environment free of discrimination and other forms of identity-based harm. 

Kaohsiung American School (KAS) is a private, not-for-profit day school established in 1989 for the children of expatriate families in Kaohsiung. KAS is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and offers the IB’s MYP and DP programmes. We hold memberships in the East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS), AAIE, CIS, AISA and other regional and global school associations. Our modern campus includes certified LEED Gold and Silver facilities.