School Counseling Faculty Perceptions and Experiences Preparing Elementary School Counselors

Abstract

An Interview With Theodore P. Remley, Jr.This interview begins the Lifetime Achievement in Counseling Series at TPC that will present an annual interview with a seminal figure who has attained outstanding achievement in counseling over a career.

Counselor Educators' Experiences Preparing Preservice School Counselors: A Phenomenological Study

“…Similar to participants as reported in previous research (Goodman‐Scott et al, 2016), our study participants believed school counseling students should be prepared within a P–12 framework that exposes preservice school counselors to content across all educational levels (e.g., elementary, middle, high schools). This sentiment seems consistent with an American Counseling Association (ACA) report showing that most school counselor state licenses/certifications were K–12 (ACA, 2012), reflecting a move away from certifying/licensing school counselors by level.…”

“…Echoing the evolution toward professional unification, school counselor education has begun to use a broad K–12 framework that prepares school counselors to work at multiple educational levels (e.g., elementary, middle, high schools; Goodman‐Scott, 2015; Goodman‐Scott, Watkinson, Martin, & Biles, 2016; Pérusse, Goodnough, & Noël, 2001; Pérusse, Poynton, Parzych, & Goodnough, 2015). Researchers studying school counselor education trends reported recently that the percentage of school counselor education programs offering courses specific for the elementary and secondary level decreased dramatically over the course of a decade, from approximately 14% of programs in 2000 to about 2% in 2010 (Pérusse et al, 2001, 2015).…”

“…To further examine school counselor education within a K–12 framework, Goodman‐Scott et al (2016) conducted a national survey examining how school counselor educators ( N = 132) prioritized content that was specific to the elementary level. They found that school counselor educators only moderately differentiated preparation content for the elementary level and that their pedagogical decisions were influenced by external forces, such as state licensure requirements, school counseling job openings, and student enrollment.…”

Kindergartners Are Ready to Learn: Applying Student‐Within‐Environment Theory to a School Counseling Intervention

“…Elementary school counselors favor classroom guidance lessons as a preferred modality toward meeting students' personal and social development needs (Goodman‐Scott et al, ). However, with respect to interventions focusing on younger children, the empirical evidence for school counseling interventions is limited (Sink et al, ).…”

“…Elementary school counselors report that the delivery of classroom guidance lessons is the preferred approach to support students' personal and social development (Goodman‐Scott Watkinson, Martin, & Biles, ). While the delivery of preventive approaches to large groups of students is preferred, there is limited empirical evidence related to specific school counseling classroom guidance interventions for younger children (Sink et al, ).…”