Academia vs Employment: The Impact of COVID-19 on School Counselor Preparation by Taryne M. Mingo and Alexis Moore

School counselor (SC) preparation programs are charged with training future school counselors in accordance to the American School Counseling Association (ASCA) National Model and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Although role ambiguity within the SC profession has been a long-standing issue (Cinotti, 2014; Culbreth et al., 2005), the pandemic exacerbated challenges by creating additional duties that do not align with the ASCA National Model. In 2022, North Carolina (NC) K-12 educational settings began to see an increase in teacher shortages as a residual consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the desperation of many schools to fill positions and classrooms, many graduate students faced the dilemma of accepting K-12 employment offers which provided financial stability while also completing educational requirements and developing the required skills of professional school counselors (ASCA, 2021). A faculty member and doctoral student in a counselor education department who have professional backgrounds in school counseling conducted a study to understand the impact of COVID-19 on school counselor preparation. Specifically, we sought feedback from current school counselor practitioners (SCP) and provisionally-hired school counseling (PHSC) students to assist in the redesigning of a core SC course, recognized as a capstone course that embodies the skills required of SCs in adherence to ASCA and CACREP standards. 

Method

Drawing from a transformative school counseling framework and utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the purpose of the study was to explore the impact on school counselor preparation after the COVID-19 pandemic and consequential teacher shortages. Essentially, if the profession has changed, how has higher education adapted in the preparation of future professionals? The following research question guided the study: (1) How did SCP and PHSC experiences post-COVID-19 align with the school counselor preparation capstone course?

The researchers distributed 40 surveys attached with the fall 2022 capstone course syllabus. The survey consisted 10 questions, based on 4-point rating scale between “Strongly Agree” (1) and “Strongly Disagree” (4) with opportunities to provide a reason for answer choices. The survey requested the input of SCP and PHSC about three primary projects to be completed in the capstone course syllabus and its alignment with current practices of SCP post-COVID-19. Across the 10 survey questions, question 1 requested participants acknowledge the capstone course syllabus had been fully reviewed prior to completing the survey. Questions 2 and 3 request input about project 1= P1 (i.e. Supporting School Counselors as Leaders), questions 4 and 5 requested input about P2 (i.e. Promoting College and Career Readiness), and questions 6 and 7 requested input about P3 (i.e.Understanding Data and Advocacy in SC). Question 8 requested input about the appropriate scaffolding of appropriate skills to become a school counselor, post-COVID-19, from projects 1 to 3. Question 9 requested input regarding the feasibility of PHSC completing projects 1 through 3 while employed. The tenth question requested additional insight from participants to improve alignment of school counselor preparation, post-COVID-19, across projects 1 through 3.

Findings

Based on a total of 15 responses, 100 percent (12 SCP and 3 PHSC) responded “Strongly Agree” to question 1. From a total of 15 responses, 100 percent of participants selected “Strongly Agree” for questions 2 through 5 indicating all participants believed the first two capstone projects were aligned with SC experiences post-COVID-19. However, 14 out 15 participants, 93 percent (12 SCP and 2 PHSC) responded “Strongly Disagree” indicating most participants did not believe project 3 (questions 6 and 7) accurately reflected SC experiences post-COVID-19. Qualitative responses about project 3 included: “Having to create, implement, and reflect on a schoolwide initiative is crucial. ASCA is heavy on data, it’s important to make sure faculty are helping students in the way they need to be helped!”; “Our school is data driven, so it would make sense to develop an assignment to an issue at the school.”; “This expectation should create a targeted intervention to close the gap on what was lost during remote instruction in 2020.” ; “This assignment is good theoretically, but for PHSC they need applicable projects.”

Regarding question 9, when all 15 participants were asked about the realistic ability of PHSC managing academia with employment obligations, 2 of 3 PHSC participants believed the capstone course, overall, should not be changed but more advocacy with principals allowing PHS/SCP to complete their job as described by ASCA was warranted. They believed administrators not fully understanding of how their role as school counselors contributed to the difficulty of completing academic obligations as many were asked to complete tasks outside their role as school counselors (i.e. substitute teaching due to teacher shortages). All 12 SCP participants felt that while the capstone course would be difficult to manage with employment, it would prepare them for the profession. “It is a lot of work for a semester, but also preparing them for the real workforce. SCs are needing to juggle multiple things at the same time. Just how it is.” Nine out of 15 participants responded to the tenth question, acknowledging institutions of higher education (IHE) were taking the right steps forward in conducting these studies as a means of continuously gauging school counselor preparation based on realistic expectations in the professional field of school counseling, post-COVID-19. The remaining six participants left this question blank in the survey.

Evidence-Based Solutions

As a result of these findings, a modified syllabus was developed during summer 2023 where projects 1 and 2 remained the same but project 3 was modified to reflect participant responses about the importance of implementing applicable interventions in a post-COVID-19 school environment. Specifically, the capstone course instructor (lead author) incorporated five SCP as course guest speakers with more than ten years of experience implementing evidence-based data interventions and sharing post-COVID-19 applicable skills with students. During fall 2023, these SCP guest speakers provided students with de-identified data from their schools to allow PHSC and non-PHSC an opportunity to use real data in their development of evidence-based interventions while simultaneously adhering to a post-COVID-19 school environment. As a result, PHSC were able to use strategies from guest speakers, connect data directly from their place of employment and meet expectations for the capstone course’s project 3. Thereby balancing commitments between academic versus employment obligations. Strategies from guest speakers included how to conduct needs assessment to identify students most impacted by remote learning and lost educational time during the pandemic. From these needs assessments, PHSC and non-PHSC learned how to advocate for themselves with administrators to protect their time with students and avoid being tasked with non-school counseling-related activities despite teacher shortages.

Recommendations

While the data sample was limited, researchers saw an opportunity for advocacy across all 3 levels of advocacy based on the findings from this research study. In accordance with the American Counseling Association (ACA) Advocacy Competencies, featuring micro-, meso-, and macro-level advocacy, the researchers advocated on behalf of PHSC students at the micro-level of the classroom through a modified syllabus incorporating more flexibility within assignments. Specifically, allowing PHSC students the opportunity to align project 3 in adherence to the needs of their respective schools allowed students to meet both academic and employment obligations simultaneously and in adherence with ASCA and CACREP standards.

The researchers also saw an opportunity to work at the meso-level by collaborating with SCP. Specifically, inviting SCP as guest speakers for the capstone course and school counselor educators inviting principals to campus for a school counselor-administrator collaboration training conference to be hosted by the researchers’ institution next spring has the potential to increase awareness of the school counselor role in a post-COVID-19 school setting. This meso-level advocacy will involve providing detailed description of the roles of school counselors and the benefits of using school counselors’ time effectively, especially PHSC. Recognizing this study as an opportunity at the macro-level to advocate for PHSC students entering the SC profession, researchers empathized with the student predicament of choosing between employment and academia. We implore other institutions of higher education (IHEs) to conduct similar studies as the lingering effects of COVID-19 impact us all at varying degrees. 

About the Scholars

Bibliography

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