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Part I Teaching
Section 1 Student Engagement and Dispositions
Counselor educators spend more time teaching than in any other role. The 2016 Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) Standards (CACREP, 2016) specify teaching as a core area, including coverage of a more traditional knowledge base (e.g., models of adult learning) alongside specialty skills for delivering coursework, assessing skills, and addressing problems of professional competence. Likewise, the ACA Code of Ethics (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2014) addresses ethical issues counselor educators may encounter within the classroom, including the importance of self-growth, clear expectations for students, and gatekeeping responsibilities. Furthermore, the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Teaching Initiative Taskforce (2016) provides Best Practices in Teaching in Counselor Education to guide these processes.
Like many tasks in our complex profession, teaching is about so much more than delivering content and ensuring aspiring counselors have the knowledge to pass licensure examinations. Rather, counselor educators must create environments in which students learn content, establish foundations for complex skills, and cultivate the dispositions they need to succeed. Even in courses with a high level of content, counselor educators require self-growth and awareness exercises, model elements of counseling relationships, and navigate intricate intrapersonal dynamics and interpersonal peer relationships. Furthermore, counselor educators engage these tasks in the context of holistic, professional programs, thus adding a layer of complexity to our teaching tasks. This part of the book encompasses 13 chapters grouped within three primary, although sometimes overlapping, areas: (a) student engagement and dispositions, (b) dynamics related to diversity and inclusion, and (c) instructor preparedness.
Student Engagement and Dispositions
Most counselor educators in graduate, professional programs focused on human relationship and communication expect a level of preparedness and engagement from adult learners in the classroom. A number of issues or situations may lead students to not meet expectations for engagement. Whether in part-time programs in which many students navigate work and family demands or in full-time programs in which they may be deluged with coursework (and also navigate work and family demands), students may manage their workload in ways that impact peers and course processes as a whole. In “I Don’t Have a Clue: Responding to Unprepared or Unengaged Students,” an instructor flounders when students have not read or prepared for class and thus cannot engage the lesson he prepared for them. Next “I Did My Part: Responding to Inequitable Group Project Contributions” features a group member who stops engaging with group members, who initially do her work out of fear for their grade; the instructor must decide how to address this, including considering strategies for balancing both the collaborative group process (an important work skill for any workplace) and the content of the assignment.
Counselor educators also encounter situations in which students intentionally or unintentionally violate the ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2014) as part of course experiences. These situations raise critical questions regarding student retention and remediation processes. Instructors must discern how to address concerns related to dispositions or ethical comportment in ways that are developmentally and culturally sensitive yet protect the public. “It’s Not Their Work: A Case of Plagiarism” features an instructor who balances ethics and care when responding to a case of blatant plagiarism, adjusting course materials and processes to prevent future instances. Not all disposition concerns are so clear. In “Too Much Information: Maintaining Boundaries During Skills Practice” a student repeatedly shares her own trauma with peers, even after the instructor sets limits for sharing to help students practice appropriate self-disclosure. Likewise, “I’m a Counselor . . . Well Almost: Boundary Extensions in Service Learning” involves a student who oversteps her bounds of competence and parameters outlined as part of a service-learning engagement, raising questions regarding her self-awareness and willingness to follow supervisory directives.
As is also illustrated in the previous cases, counselor educators have unique responsibilities to help students develop self-awareness, intrapersonal understanding, and interpersonal skills. The ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2014) also directly states that “self-growth is an expected component of counselor education” (Standard F.8.c.), noting the importance of ethical principles and allowing students to decide what to share or withhold in class. These responsibilities are further highlighted in the 2016 CACREP Standards (CACREP, 2016) for experiential learning within multicultural counseling coursework and the requirement for at least 10 clock hours as members within a small-group experience. In “I’m Here, I’m Not Participating: Student Resistance to a Group Experience,” an instructor must decide how to address a student, older than many of her peers, who chooses not to engage in small group.
Dynamics Related to Diversity and Inclusion
The counselor education curriculum must include clear and specific attention to the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC; Ratts et al., 2015). The CACREP Standards (CACREP, 2016) require attention to the MSJCC in programs’ admission processes, in the social and cultural diversity core area, and throughout other core areas, an expectation for infusion that is echoed in the ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2014). All counselor educators must have skills for facilitating growth in the MSJCC and broaching cultural issues and dynamics within programs at large. “Whose Cultural Competence? Students’ Needs in Multicultural Courses” features a multicultural counseling course instructor whose attempt to meet a white student in their developmental space raises questions among peers of color regarding how their needs are met in the course. Likewise, “A Cohort Divided: Navigating Tensions Related to Race and Ethnicity” illustrates how dynamics regarding students’ race and ethnicity can play out even in coursework not expressly focused on cultivation of the MSJCC. In both cases, instructors need to navigate tensions related to student dispositions and development.
At times, students will demonstrate dispositions that raise significant questions regarding their ability to work with diverse clients. Even when not nested within “the” multicultural course, instructors have a responsibility to respond in a timely, ethical manner. “I Need a New Partner: Addressing Cultural Encapsulation and Racism” features a student who requests a new partner for skills practice because she has difficulty understanding her peer’s accent and cultural experiences. The doctoral student facilitator and instructor work to respond to the white student; however, they struggle to address the needs and experiences of the student of color.
Finally, the very nature of adult learning and of self-growth exercises inherent in counselor education can create situations in which students and faculty members feel connected with each other. This dynamic is compounded given the apprenticeship nature of relationships between doctoral students and faculty members. “Interacting With Me: Title IX and Faculty-Student Consensual Relationships” features a case in which a faculty member and doctoral student develop an increasingly flirtatious, personal relationship that ends in a Title IX complaint. Although university policy does not disallow such connections, the case raises important questions regarding boundaries, modeling, and aspirational ethics.
Instructor Preparedness
A final set of critical incidents encountered by counselor educators feature instructor preparedness and competence to engage teaching assignments. Many established counselor educators never engaged in sustained study of teaching and learning. Rather, they use their understanding of human development and relationships to navigate the teaching and learning process, often becoming highly skilled instructors. Although written before the coronavirus pandemic, “Embracing the Digital World: Instructor Preparedness for Online Delivery” highlights a critical issue experienced by the majority of counselor educators in 2020: expectations to move courses online with no or minimal preparation in online teaching and learning.
An additional issue related to instructor preparedness relates to balancing counselor-first and specialty identities. Many counselor educators develop specialty skills in one work setting (e.g., clinical mental health counseling, school counseling) yet teach core curricular coursework for students as a whole. In addition, last-minute budget or personnel issues may force counselor educators to teach courses for which they have little specialty expertise, creating tensions regarding scope of practice. This raises important questions regarding how instructors can ethically and competently help students apply material to their specialty areas. “Does It Apply to Me? Instructor Competency to Teach Specialty Courses” features a counselor educator who helps his department by teaching fieldwork courses outside his specialty area.
Even when they are well prepared in teaching methods and content, counselor educators experience tensions related to intersections of best practice and real-world practice. Often counselor educators lean on guest speakers to help make these connections. At times, however, guest speakers may inadvertently promote problematic practices. In “Something to Share: Promoting Unethical or Illegal Practice,” an instructor must decide how to respond when a protégé discloses a well-intentioned yet fraudulent payment practice.
