An Exploration of School Counselor Experiences in a Yearlong Social Justice Program

Abstract

Background: K-12 students have experienced increases in the amount of hate crimes and prejudice they encounter. School counselors are well-positioned to reduce oppression in schools, but often lack the means to develop advocacy skills that would do so. Objectives: We implemented the School Counselor Equity Fellowship (SCEF), a yearlong cohort-model social justice advocacy program for school counselors. We designed the program so that participants could develop and promote anti-oppressive, social justice advocacy skills to support their K-12 students. Research Question: What are the experiences of participants in a training program for social justice school counseling? Methods: We used a qualitative case study approach to explore participants’ experiences ( N = 12). We used an instrumental case study and Yin’s (2017) case study analysis procedures. Data came from participant journal entries written throughout the SCEF and participant interviews completed before and after the SCEF program. Findings : Seven themes characterized participant experiences in the SCEF. Participants were impacted in the program through personal multicultural factors (1), encountered positive experiences (2), and reported a range of benefits (3). Participants also faced barriers to social justice work and SCEF participation (4), as well as challenging emotions in the program (5). Lastly, participants used school data in response to SCEF participation (6) and engaged in social justice advocacy in their schools (7). Conclusions: Findings indicate that the SCEF program may serve as a promising model for supporting school counselors and their social justice advocacy work in schools.