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Becoming a
Multiculturally
Competent School
Counselor
So far, we’ve seen that…
• Large achievement gaps exist between
minority and low income and White and
affluent kids
• Gaps between groups are wider today than in
1990
• These gaps begin before children arrive at
the schoolhouse door
• But, rather than organizing our educational
system to ameliorate this problem, we
organize it to exacerbate the problem
• By giving students who arrive with less, less
in school, too.
www.edtrust.org
Some of the most devastating “lesses” are
•A function of choices that
we educators make:
• about what to expect of whom…
• about what to teach whom…
• about who teaches whom…
www.edtrust.org
Different groups of young
Americans obtain degrees
at very different rates.
www.edtrust.org
What Can
School
Counselors Do?
What Can You Do?
• Edward, an African American 9th grader in a high poverty
school, is told to see the school counselor because of recent
confrontations with his English teacher. Edward tells the
counselor that he is tired of being told what to do by these “f--g teachers.” “They want to tell us what to do…I don’t need
anyone telling me what to do. I look after myself. These
teachers come in here and then go back to their nice families
and nice houses, and leave us here…with nothing. I hate
y’all!”
• The counselor recognizes Edward’s anger and frustration.
Edward has a D in English, but the counselor notices he has
an A in World History and Public Speaking classes.
• The counselor also notices that this scenario represents a
consistent pattern with African American boys and some
teachers in the school.
What Can We Do?
An awful lot of educators
have decided that we
can’t do much.
www.edtrust.org
What We Hear Many Educators Say:
• They’re poor
• Their parents don’t care
• They come to schools without
breakfast
• They don’t speak English at
home
• Not enough books
• Not enough parents
www.edtrust.org
But if they are right, why are
low-income students and
students of color
performing so much
higher in some schools…
What does it mean?
Multicultural Competence
Defining Cultural Competence
“Cultural competence is the ability to engage in actions or
create conditions that maximize the optimal development
of client and client systems. It is the acquisition of
awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to function
effectively in a pluralistic democratic society (ability
to communicate, interact, negotiate, and intervene on
behalf of clients from diverse backgrounds), and on an
organizational/societal level, advocating effectively
to develop new theories, practices, policies and
organizational structures that are more responsive to all
groups.”
(Sue & Sue)
Multicultural Competence
• Multicultural Competence: What is it?
• Pope-Davis, Reynolds, Dings, and Ottavi (1994, p. 466)
suggested that multicultural competence in counseling is “an
appreciation of and sensitivity to the history, current needs,
strengths, and resources of communities and individuals who
historically have been underserved and underrepresented by
psychologists.”
• Sue (1998) offers a more scientific approach. He suggested that
cultural competence consists of three characteristics:
• being scientifically minded,
• having skills in dynamic sizing, and
• being proficient with a particular cultural group.
• When does one know he or she is multiculturally competent?
• When a counselor possesses the necessary skills to work
effectively with clients from different cultural backgrounds, and
acknowledges client-counselor cultural differences and
similarities are significant to the counseling process.
Erford, Transforming the School Counseling Profession
Multicultural Competence (cont.)
•
Three main areas or dimensions:
1) Awareness: stresses the understanding of personal
worldviews and how counselors are products of their own
cultural conditioning.
2) Knowledge: reinforces the importance of understanding the
worldviews of culturally different clients (Sue & Sue, 1990).
3) Skills: deals with the process of actively developing and
practicing appropriate intervention strategies for culturally
diverse clients.
•
Counselors must understand the client’s worldview
and actively develop and practice appropriate
intervention strategies needed for work with
culturally different clients.
Erford, Transforming the School Counseling Profession 2/e
Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Pedersen’s Cultural Competence Model
Skills
Knowledge
Awareness
Mason et al. (1996) Cultural Competence Model
Cultural Destructiveness
Refusal to acknowledge the importance of cultural differences;
differences are suppressed; schools endorse the myth of
universality
Cultural Incapacity
Individual or organization chooses to ignore culture differences;
emphasis may be on cognitive growth vs. addressing issues of
cultural awareness
Cultural Blindness
Individuals or organizations believe that cultural differences are
of little importance; people are viewed through western
mainstream lens
Cultural Pre-Competence
Individual or organization responds to cultural differences;
educators seek out new information regarding diversity
Cultural Competence
Individual or organization values and appreciates cultural
differences; students’ cultural experiences are valued and
integrated into the learning experience
Being Multiculturally Competent
means…
being able to talk about the ELEPHANT in the room:
The Need for Culturally Competent Professional
School Counselors
• Need to close achievement gaps between
students of different cultures.
• Need to increase numbers of college bound
students from various cultures.
• Need to represent students of various
cultures in Advanced Placement and
accelerated courses.
Erford, Transforming the School Counseling Profession 2/e
Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Increasing School Counselor
Multicultural Competence
•
Five ways in which professional school
counselors can increase their level of
multicultural competence:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Investigate one’s own cultural or ethnic heritage;
Attend workshops, seminars, and conferences on
multicultural and diversity issues;
Join organizations that are focused on multicultural
issues;
Read literature written by ethnic minority authors or
about ethnic cultures;
Become familiar with multicultural education
literature.
Erford, Transforming the School Counseling Profession 2/e
Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Can you think of a situation in which
you wish you were
more culturally competent?
BECOMING CULTURALLY COMPETENT
1. Become culturally aware of our own values,
biases and assumptions about human behavior.
• What stereotypes, perceptions, and beliefs do we hold about culturally diverse
groups that may hinder our ability to form a helpful and effective
relationship?
• What are the worldviews we/they bring to the interpersonal encounter?
• What value systems are inherent in the professional’s theory of helping,
educating, administrating, and what values underlie the strategies and
techniques used in these situations?
• Without such an awareness and understanding, we may inadvertently assume
that everyone shares our world view. When this happens, we may become
guilty of cultural oppression, imposing values on our culturally diverse clients.
BECOMING CULTURALLY COMPETENT
2.
Acquire knowledge and understanding of the
worldview of culturally diverse groups and
individuals.
• What biases, values and assumptions about human behavior do these
groups hold?
• Is there such a thing as an African American, Asian American,
Latino(a)/Hispanic American or American Indian worldview?
• Do other culturally different groups (women, the physically
challenged, gays/lesbians, etc.) also have different world views?
BECOMING CULTURALLY COMPETENT
3.
Begin the process of developing appropriate and effective
helping, teaching, communication and intervention
strategies in working with culturally diverse groups and
individuals.
•
This means prevention as well as remediation approaches, and
systems advocacy intervention as well as traditional one-to-one
relationships.
•
Equally important is the ability to make use of existing indigenoushelping/healing approaches and structures which may already exist
in the minority community.
BECOMING CULTURALLY COMPETENT
4. Understanding how organizational and
institutional forces may either enhance or
negate the development of multicultural
competence.
• It does little good for any of us to be culturally competent when the very
organization that employs us are filled with monocultural policies and
practices.
• In many cases, organizational customs do not value or allow the use of
cultural knowledge or skills. Some organizations may even actively
discourage, negate, or punish multicultural expressions. Thus, it is
imperative to view multicultural competence for organizations as well.
• Developing new rules, regulations, policies, practices, and structures
within organizations which enhance multiculturalism are important.
How multiculturally competent
are you?
Multicultural and Anti-Oppression Terminology
• Culture is defined in a variety of ways:
(1) the ways in which people perceive their experiences of the world so
as to give it structure;
(2) the beliefs by which people explain events;
(3) a set of principles for dealing with people as well as for
accomplishing particular ends; and
(4) people’s value systems for establishing purposes and for keeping
themselves purposefully oriented.
• Lack of consensus in defining culture has created a debate as to
how inclusive the construct of “multicultural counseling” should
be.
Erford, Transforming the School Counseling Profession 2/e
Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Culture
• The sum total of ways of living developed by a group of
human beings to meet biological and psychosocial needs.
• The integrated pattern of human behavior, which
includes thoughts, communication, action, customs,
beliefs, values, and instructions of a racial, ethnic,
religious, or social group.
• Passed from one generation to another.
Culture
is like an
Iceberg.
6/7th’s of it is UNDER
the water.
Weaver’s Iceberg’s Concept of Culture
BEHAVIOR
BELIEFS
VALUES
AND
THOUGHT
PATTERNS
Race
• Originally the term race was used to sort races on the
basis of phenotypic or physical characteristics
• Currently, race operates as a social construction that
frequently refers more to social and political interactions
and dynamics that subordinate non-White groups than to
skin color, genetic, or biological features.
• This social/political construct reinforces divisions and
hierarchies that benefit the dominant group.
Race
• Race is a term that has been defined in various ways:
• Behavioral scientists explain that race has been used to denote genotypically homogeneous human groupings (Kluckhohn, 1985).
• Baba and Darga (1981), indicate that defining race through the practice
of racial classification by biological characteristics is practically
impossible.
• In counseling and psychology, race has been used in three main ways:
(a) differential sociopolitical and economic socialization;
(b) biogenetic psychological characteristics inferred from the presence of
observable “signs” commonly assumed to be racial; and
(c) differential cultural (e.g., values, beliefs, rituals) socialization
(Helms, 1996).
• Professional school counselors must remember that race has been used in
schools to carry out:
• segregation,
• stereotyping groups of students’ academic achievement,
• tracking,
• selection of students for special resources, and
• lowering teacher expectations for ethnic minority students
Erford, Transforming the School Counseling Profession 2/e
Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Ethnicity
• Ethnicity refers to “a segment of a larger society
whose members are thought, by themselves and/or
others, to have a common origin and to share
important segments of a common culture…”
(Yinger, 1976, p. 200)
• Defined by Schaefer (1990, p. 27) as “a group set
apart from others because of its national origin or
distinctive cultural patterns.”
• It is within this ethnic identity that an individual
is socialized to take on the group’s values, beliefs,
and behaviors.
Erford, Transforming the School Counseling Profession 2/e
Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Oppression
• A system that allows access to the services,
rewards, benefits, and privileges of society
based on membership in a particular group
(Reynolds and Pope, 1991).
• An umbrella term that captures all forms of
domination and control, including racism,
sexism, heterosexism, and classism.
Oppression
• Young (1990) further expanded the definition of
oppression by delineating five conditions of an
oppressed group: exploitation,
marginalization, powerlessness, cultural
imperialism, and violence.
• Other forms of oppression: individual,
cultural, systemic, internalized, and
externalized oppression.
Erford, Transforming the School Counseling Profession 2/e
Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Internalized Oppression
• Belief that the oppression and
marginalization received by one’s reference
group is warranted and right or that it does
not even exist (Andersen & Collins, 2004).
Power
• A sociopolitical process that refers to the capacity to
effect change and wield influence over others,
especially in a manner that diminishes one’s sense of
personhood (Pinderhughes, 1989).
• Occurs particularly under circumstances in which
status differentials exist between an individual with
more power and one with less power.
Powerlessness
• The inability of a person to effect change and
influence the outcomes in her or his life.
• Feelings of anger, hostility, frustration,
hopelessness accompany powerlessness.
Privilege
• McIntosh (1988) defines White privilege as, “an
invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions,
assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports,
visas, clothes, emergency gear and blank checks” (p.
1).
• Privilege grants a set of benefits and system rewards
to one group while simultaneously excluding other
groups from accessing these advantages.
Forms of oppression that are found throughout society, including K-12 schools.
Ableism
Prejudice against persons with disabilities
Ageism
Prejudice used by adults against children and the elderly.
Beautyism
Prejudice used by those with dominant standards of beauty against persons with nondominant appearances, e.g., overweight people.
Classism
Prejudice used by wealthy people against poor people.
Familyism
Prejudice used by those of traditional families against those of less traditional families.
Heterosexism
Prejudice used by heterosexuals against homosexuals.
Linguicism
Prejudice used by persons speaking a dominant language toward people who do not
speak a dominant language.
Racism
Prejudice used by one race against someone of another race.
Religionism
Prejudice used by persons of one religion against persons of another religion.
Sexism
Prejudice used by persons of one sex against persons of another sex.
Erford, Transforming the School Counseling Profession 2/e
Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
What is Racism?
Racism
• Prejudice or discrimination based on an individual's race.
• Goes beyond individual acts of meanness.
• A system whereby a group maintains power and
privileges by disadvantaging others or failing to
recognize others based on race and ethnicity.
• A particular form of oppression that refers to the
systematic process of enlisting institutional resources, not
only to support and promote a belief in the inferiority of
groups on the basis of skin color, but to deny
opportunities to one group and subsequently grant them
to a preferred group (Nieto, 1996; Tatum, 1997).
Forms of Racism
• Overt
• Overt racism is an intentional and deliberate form
of racism that is purposely enacted to inflict pain
solely on the basis of race
• Covert
• Covert racism is not explicitly public and lacks the
planned calculation of overt racism, but results in
similar consequences
Forms of Racism
• Institutional
• the establishment of institutionally sanctioned
policies and operating procedures (intended and
unintended) that penalize members of a particular
group on the basis of race.
• Societal
• Exists on a broader scale.
• When prevailing social and cultural assumptions,
norms, concepts, habits, and expectations of one
racial group are favored over those of another.
• Deviations from this dominant cultural dictate are
frequently regarded as an aberration and, consequently,
devalued.
Microaggressions
• Microaggressions are “brief, everyday
exchanges that send denigrating messages” to
a target group like people of color, women and
gays.
• These microaggressions are often subtle in
nature and can be manifested in the verbal,
nonverbal, visual, or behavioral realm and are
often enacted automatically and unconsciously
(Solorzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000).
Color Blind Racial Attitudes
• White people do not see color, they see everyone the same.
• Color blind racial attitudes are predictive of racist
attitudes and multicultural competence (Utsey & Neville).
• Not being able to have candid discussions about the dual
system (inequities) that exist for White and People of
Color, can be harmful.
• Subtle, nuanced racism.
• New racism.
• Discomfort with discussions of race. Resistance to
addressing race, ethnicity, and color.
What are People’s Responses to Racism?
Racial Identity Development
• Racial identity pertains to the degree and quality of
identification individuals maintain towards those with
whom they share a common racial designation (Helms,
1993).
• Racial identity development “involves and individual’s
continual, and at times highly conflicted assessment of
the people who comprise his or her externally ascribed
reference group as well as the people who comprise other
racial groups (Thompson & Carter, 1997).
RACIAL IDENTITY ASSUMPTIONS
• 1. Racism is a basic and integral part of U.S. life and permeates all
aspects of our culture and institutions.
• 2. Persons of color are socialized into U.S. society and, therefore, are
exposed to the biases, stereotypes, and racist attitudes, beliefs, and
behaviors of the society.
• 3. The level of racial identity development consciousness affects the
process and outcome of interracial interactions.
• 4. The most desirable development is a multicultural identity that
does not deny or negate one’s integrity.
Self/Other Perceptions
1. Attitude and Beliefs toward Self.
2. Attitudes and Beliefs toward Members of the
Same Minority.
3. Attitudes and Beliefs toward Members of
Different Minorities.
4. Attitude and Beliefs toward Members of the
Dominant Group.
Sue & Sue’s Racial/Cultural Identity Development
Conformity
Preference for the dominant culture, accepts belief in White superiority
and minority inferiority; own group’s physical and cultural
characteristics are a source of shame.
Dissonance
Person challenges previously dominant-held beliefs and attitudes; realizes
racism exists; internal conflict.
Resistance and
Immersion
Person endorses minority held views and rejects dominant values of
society and culture; anger at cultural oppression; pride in own group;
distrust of White society.
Introspection
Person recognizes unhealthiness of resistance and immersion stages;
increased discomfort with rigidly held views (“All Whites are bad);
Integrative
Awareness
Person has a balanced appreciation of own and others’ culture; Not only
is there an integrated self-concept that involves racial pride in identity
and culture, but the person develops a high sense of autonomy.
Cross’ Racial Identity Development Model
Pre-Encounter
Person devalues Blackness and endorses Eurocentric notions
of Blackness; identifies with White people and culture.
Encounter
Person experiences a catalytic event that
causes reconstruction of issues of race and ethnicity.
Immersion-Emersion
Person basks in newfound Black identity
and idealizes everything that is Black.
Internalization
Person achieves a more balanced
appreciation of both Blacks and Whites
Internalization-Commitment
Person maintains Black identity while resisting societal
oppression to all marginalized groups
WHITE RACIAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT - Assumptions
• 1. Racism is a basic and integral part of U.S. life and
permeates all aspects of our culture and institutions.
• 2. White Americans are socialized into U.S. society and,
therefore, inherit the biases, stereotypes, racist
attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the society.
• 3. The level of White racial identity development in an
interracial encounter affects the process and outcome of
our relationships.
• 4. The most desirable development is not only the
acceptance of Whiteness, but also defining it in a
nondefensive and nonracist manner. There is an
understanding that to deny the humanity of any one
person is to deny the humanity of all.
Helms’ White Racial Identity Development Model
Status
Description
Contact
Oblivious of own racial identity.
Disintegration
Conflict over contradictions between beliefs and behaviors.
Reintegration
Retreat to previous attitudes about superiority of Whites and the
inferiority of people of color.
Pseudo-Independence
Intellectualized acceptance of own and others’ race.
Immersion/
Emersion
Honest appraisal of racism and significance
of Whiteness.
Autonomy
Internalization of a multicultural identity with non-racist Whiteness as
its core.
Counseling and Intervention Planning
• Must be culturally competent
and alert
• Assess environmental factors
that impact client problem
• Use a strengths perspective
and “empowerment-focused”
approach
• Use cultural specific
approaches and strategies
Critical Factors That Affect School Counseling and
the Counseling Relationship
• Cultural differences/expectations
• Prejudiced beliefs,
• History of discrimination (e.g., faulty
beliefs); distrust
• Discomfort, fear
• Social class (poverty)
• Language/communication differences
Two Important Components of Cross-Cultural
Counseling Relationship
• Working Alliance
The alignment between the counselor and
student. The student must see him/herself as
an individual with an issue, rather than as the
issue!
• Transference/Countertransference
The unconscious process by which students’
negative feelings, attitudes, and behaviors are
transferred onto the counselor and vice versa
Empowerment-Focused Interventions
• Empowerment: can be defined as an
increase in power, i.e., personal,
interpersonal, or political power.
• It is multidimensional, social, and a
process.
• Can occur at different levels.
• Similar to a path or journey.
Empowerment-Focused Counseling
• Developing critical consciousness is key to
strengths-based counseling
1. Acknowledge group identification (common
experiences and concern with a particular
group)
2. Group consciousness-- understanding the
differential status of power of groups in society
3. Self and collective efficacy: perceiving one’s
self as a subject of social processes and as
capable of working to change the social order
Empowerment-Focused Interventions
(cont.)
• Professional school counselors can facilitate discussions about
one’s group identification and help students understand how their
group membership has affected their life circumstances.
• Provide students with knowledge and skills to think critically
about their problems and develop strategies to act on and change
problems (Lee, 2001).
• Help build on student strengths.
Erford, Transforming the School Counseling Profession 2/e
Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Counseling Practice
• Edward, an African American 9th grader in a high poverty school, is
told to see the school counselor because of recent confrontations
with his English teacher. Edward tells the counselor that he is tired
of being told what to do by these “f---g teachers.” “They want to tell
us what to do…I don’t need anyone telling me what to do. I look
after myself. These teachers come in here and then go back to their
nice families and nice houses, and leave us here…with nothing. I
hate y’all!” The counselor recognizes Edward’s anger and
frustration. The counselor validates Edward’s anger, “I hear your
anger and frustration with teachers.” Let’s talk.
• What could the counselor say next in order for Edward to explore his
group’s (or groups’) history of oppression? (Developing critical
consciousness--group identification)
• How might you link his group’s history to future empowerment? What
types of activities could you try with Edward? Describe.
• Practice what you would say.
Sample Counselor Responses
• Edward, I believe we have a pretty good relationship…do you
think so? I’m glad to hear that. I want to talk to you about a
subject that I think we should talk about and it’s relationship
to your problems with teachers and school. I want to talk to
you about being an African American male. What does being
African American and male mean to you? What do other
people think of African American males? How does that
meaning relate to your interactions with teachers? How do
you feel about others’ perceptions of you (of African American
males)?
• Edward, let’s talk about fairness and equity. You talk a lot
about fairness when you discuss your teachers. How would
you define equity and equality? Do you see inequities in
other places in this city? Tell me.
Counseling Practice
Ann, a White fourth grader in a mixed SES school,
is picked on/teased by the girls in her class. Ann is
often disheveled and dressed in old clothes. Ann’s
family has been homeless and now she lives with
her alcoholic grandmother. She has had very little
contact with her parents since they left her with
her grandmother. Ann comes to you, the school
counselor, because she says she has no friends and
feels left out. Her teacher reports that Ann’s
grades are in the C-D range. Use an empowerment
and strengths based framework to work with Ann.
Describe what you would do?
Challenge Bias
• Be aware of your own
attitudes, stereotypes and
expectations
• Actively listen to and learn
from others’ experiences
• Acknowledge and appreciate
diversity, don’t just tolerate
it!
• Be aware of your own
hesitancies to intervene
• Expect tension and conflict
• Work collectively with others
Respond to the
following…
Alice and Judy are counselors at a high school with a science
and math magnet program. The magnet program consists of
primarily White and Asian students (96%), whereas the
remainder of the student body is primarily African American
and Latino (95%). Each spring, Alice and Judy make trips to
promote the magnet program at middle schools. When you
ask them why they do not visit some of the other middle
schools in the district, they comment that “students at the
other middle schools would never be successful in our magnet
program.” How would you challenge them?
Important!
• Don’t be afraid to talk about race, gender, class
(SES), sexual orientation, etc. Students will
appreciate your willingness to dialogue about
these “silenced” topics!!!
• Remember, students need role models of
responsible “talk!”