Racial Identity Development
In a Course on Child & Adolescent Development
Barbara Flom,
Ph.D.
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Project Summary
The project sought to determine the impact of infusing multicultural perspectives on child and adolescent development in a survey course taken by graduate students in school counseling. The research question it addressed was, ³Will learning about racial identity development enhance the multicultural counseling competence of pre-service school counselors?² A unit on racial identity development was introduced into the course content for all students, and project participants provided pre/post intervention data about the effectiveness and utility of the unit.
Student consent to participate in the study was sought at the beginning of the semester. Fifteen of 17 enrolled students participated. A pre-intervention self-rating on multicultural awareness in counseling was administered early in the semester and again two weeks after the instructional unit was conducted. Feedback about the instruction and about barriers/supports for multicultural awareness was also solicited through an anonymous survey.
Results showed a significant increase from pretest to posttest in two aspects of multicultural counseling competence after the instructional unit. In addition, students provided survey feedback indicating a great need for more information in their pre-service training about multicultural perspectives and issues.
Course Context
The course PK-12 Developmental Guidance serves as an overview and introduction to the field of school counseling. It ties theory about child development to the practice of school counseling at levels from pre-kindergarten through grade 12. Prior to this project, the course objectives did not address multicultural issues, and the text, while published recently and used widely in school counseling graduate programs, had little information about diverse populations of students.
Key Learning Activity
An instructional unit on racial identity development was added to the course content. The unit, lasting four class periods, included individual and small group exercises, class lecture on racial identity theory, and a culminating project on racial/ethnic heritage.
Key Findings
The question addressed by this study was ³Will learning about racial identity development enhance the multicultural counseling competence of pre-service school counselors?²
The multicultural awareness portion of Sue & Arredondoıs (1992) multicultural counseling competency framework was administered to participants before and after the instructional unit on racial identity development. A t-test on group means showed significant growth in two areas of multicultural awareness: understanding of the processes of oppression, racism, and stereotyping, and understanding of own communication style and its impact on cross-cultural counseling.
In addition, students were surveyed about program and class barriers and supports for multicultural awareness. Eleven of the 15 reported that assignments in this class had been helpful; other helps were personal experiences and additional coursework. Ten students cited lack of diversity in their environment as a major barrier to cultural understanding. As a group, they issued a strong call for increased learning opportunities about multicultural issues.
Evidence of Student Learning
Growth in the two areas of multicultural awareness was evident in pre/post means comparison on self-ratings. Understanding of the personal impact of process of oppression, racism, and stereotyping was significant at p = .011. Understanding of communication style in cross-cultural counseling was significant at p = . 014.
Student comments on the survey included several about the class assignments, including these as well as others: ³The theory-based discussions and lectures [helped]. I have had everyday life experiences but was not as well aware of the scholarly literature on multiculturalism.² and ³The conversation regarding racism was intriguing, and though frustrating to me as well, it was beneficial to my understanding.² Their concern about lack of diversity in the environment came through clearly in comments too: ³We donıt get enough exposure to actually experiencing multiculturalism. The majority of learning about it is through reading;² and ³Lack of diversity in student body [is a barrier]. We learn most from getting to know each other as people first.² Their calls for more information included ³More courses specifically about multicultural awareness,² ³Have a multicultural counseling class,² ³More culture-specific training,² ³Guest speakersguest panelbooks² and additional similar comments.
Links--optional
Helpful Resources--optional
See Sample at Randy Bass, "Reading the US Cultural
Past," http://kml2.carnegiefoundation.org/html/poster.php?id=6
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to Scholarship of Teaching: 2003-04 Participants and Their
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