Challenges in Implementing Antiracist Pedagogy Into Counselor Education Programs: A Collective Self‐Study

Abstract

This self‐study examined the challenges experienced by three Black counselor educators when implementing antiracist pedagogy into their classrooms. Two themes emerged: White gaze in counselor education and marked as an outsider within. Counselor educators should engage in continuous self‐reflexivity and positionality while integrating and valuing Black perspectives in counselor education.

An Antiracist Framework for Evidence-Informed School Counseling Practice

“…Antiracist school counseling involves the ongoing process of (a) believing that racism is ever-present and plagues all systems of society, (b) unlearning colonial ways of being, (c) learning about the roots of racism and how all oppression is intersectional, (d) consistently addressing one’s own racist behaviors or internalized oppression, (e) challenging ways of thinking and doing that may feel normal, (f) using critical theories to develop and sharpen a lens to identify oppression, and (g) actively engaging in rooting out oppressive beliefs and policies wherever you find them, even within yourself (Bell, 1992; Kishimoto, 2018; Oluo, 2019; Williams et al, 2021). Becoming antiracist, unlike previous methods and practices used to help students (e.g., restorative justice and social/emotional learning), is a lifetime commitment to unlearning, relearning, and dismantling.…”

“…Becoming antiracist is a personal transformation that permeates across all facets of one’s life and development. This transformation calls for one to engage in learning more about critical theories that provide the language and lens to not only name systems of oppression but also to dismantle them (Washington et al, 2021; Williams et al, 2021). 2.…”

Preparing school counselors for social justice group counseling: Examining, power, privilege, and intersectionality

“…We investigated how SCs perceive their training and preparation, planning, implementation, and evaluation of small groups in their educational settings, specifically as it relates to dismantling systemic racism and promoting social justice. A study such as this is important and attends to recent calls for challenging the status quo within counselor education and providing compelling evidence for a commitment to combat racism in counselor education preparation (Gonzalez & Cokley, 2021;Williams et al, 2021) including research and scholarship (Steen & Prasath, current issue).…”

“…Specifically, “this apology focuses on acknowledging the roles of psychology and APA in promoting, perpetuating, and failing to challenge racism, and the harms that have been inflicted on communities of color as a result” (APA, 2021). Although many scholars have asked for the same in the field of counseling (Ieva et al., 2021b; Gonzalez & Cokley, 2021; Singh et al., 2020), and specifically working to dismantle white supremacy in counseling (Williams et al., 2021; Malott & Paone, 2011), the profession has not heeded the call. In fact, the flagship accrediting body, namely CACREP, has not kept up with these demands to provide guidance on integrating explicit standards on race and the dismantling of racism within the curriculum (Gonzalez & Cokley, 2021).…”

“…In fact, the flagship accrediting body, namely CACREP, has not kept up with these demands to provide guidance on integrating explicit standards on race and the dismantling of racism within the curriculum (Gonzalez & Cokley, 2021). Williams and colleagues (2021) acknowledge that the American Counseling Association (ACA)(ACA, 2020) did issue a resolution in support of Black Lives Matter but perceived as a performative act considering their “deafening silence and complicity inaction to address anti‐Black racism in the past” and calls into question its true commitment to “deconstruct institutions that have historically been designed to benefit White America” (paragraph 4, Washington & Henfield, 2019; Mayes & Byrd, 2022).…”