Service Learning in Graduate Counselor Education: Developing Multicultural Counseling Competency

Abstract

Service learning integrates classroom instruction with community service to enhance learning. This article describes the service-learning model used in a multicultural counseling course. The feedback received indicated service learning enhanced multicultural counseling knowledge, increased examination of cultural bias, increased community feelings of support, and resulted in a powerful learning experience for participants.Servicios de aprendizaje integra las intruciones en la aula con el servicio de la comunidad para mejorar el aprendizaje. Este articulo describe el us0 del modelo de servicios de aprendizaje en un curso de terapia multicultural. La respuesta acogida indica que el servicio de aprendizaje mejoro el conocimiento de terapia multicultural, aumento de examinacion de la parcialidad de cultura, y el aumento de apoyo de comunidad, y result6 en una potente experiencia de aprendizaje para 10s participantes.

Advocacy as Service-Learning

“…Acknowledging these benefits, family science faculty have used service-learning in courses on family diversity (Toews & Cerny, 2005) and aging (Hamon & Way, 2001) in order to expose students to those who are different from themselves. In doing so, family science professors seek to enhance students' understanding of course content and social issues, while fostering the development of tolerance, empathy, and a sense of civic responsibility (Astin & Sax, 1998;Burnett, Hamel, & Long, 2004;Eyler & Giles, 1999;Sedlak, Doheny, Panthofer, & Anaya, 2003).…”

Examining Graduate Student Engagement in Counseling Services with Diverse Populations in P-12 Education

“…Consequently, traditional counselor education focused on didactic and classroom experiential learning may limit the facilitation of understanding of the distinctive needs of diverse communities (Burnett, Hamel, & Long, 2004). As Lee, Rosen, and McWhirter (2014) assert, using a traditional classroom format for cross-cultural counseling instruction may not allow space for understanding multicultural content on an experiential level.…”

The Professional Identity of School Counselors

“…The experience can help students increase their work readiness with future clients by improving their comfort in applying counseling skills learned in class (Arnold & McMurtery, 2011;Mattox & Hurt, 1992), or by increasing students' level of awareness of issues and needs in the cultural contexts and communities where they are working (Burnett, Hamel, & Long, 2004).…”

“…The agencies and experiences were all selected to provide students with a cultural experience different from their own (Burnett et al, 2004). Ockerman and Mason (2012) described how school counseling students engaged in pre-practicum service-learning from a social justice framework to better understand school and community needs and design interventions based on those identified needs.…”