Preparing Culturally Relevant Educators and Counselors Dr. Theresa J. Canada, Chair Dr. Bonnie Lee Rabe, Assistant Professor Department of Education & Educational Psychology Western Connecticut State University Winter Roundtable, Teachers College Columbia University February 15, 2008

Session Objective Participants will review the research that guides undergraduate and graduate programs in the area of cultural awareness and will apply the research in authentic scenarios.

This review… Will highlight the relevance of cultural awareness for two groups:  Pre-service teachers  Counselors-in-training

“Cultural Awareness” defined: familiarity and exposure to various racial and ethnic populations, the ability to recognize and appreciate cultural differences between populations, and the ability to recognize stereotyping and essentializing the individual.

Teacher training and multicultural education historically tends to be reactive rather than proactive seeks to ameliorate racial and ethnic tensions results in hastily conceived and weak programs (Goodwin, 1997, p.9)

Teacher training and multicultural education students learn what they need to pass exams (McDiarmid and Price, 1990) mainly focuses on African American and Latino students (Chinese students) see increased opportunities to learn from each other in cultural diversity training classes (Sheets and Chew, 2000)

Counselor training and multicultural education multitude of approaches School counseling curriculum need to emphasize choice of textbooks, ethnicity of lecturers and contact with minority student ( Lewis and Hayes, 1991) Carter (2001) and Sue ( 2001) stress the importance of counselors learning about other cultural and ethnic groups

Counselor training and multicultural education Constantine ( 2001) found interdependent self-construal reliability predicted increased cultural competence among female school counselors Type of cultural orientation “independent” verses “interdependent” in which individuals are socialized ( Yeh and Arora, 2003)

What the research tells us… Faculty and instructors need to be representative of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

What the research tells us… The curriculum must focus on multicultural education theory as well as racism, gender, sexism and white privilege concerns.

What the research tells us… Students need to have exposure and interaction with people from different ethnicities and cultures.

Authentic Scenarios Break into groups Review the scenario Discuss how to provide positive support in the situation Produce a brief response for the group Report out

Reporting Out

What you’ve completed today... Reviewed the research that guides undergraduate and graduate programs in the area of cultural awareness Applied the research in authentic scenarios Discussed recommendations

Contact us… Dr. Theresa J. Canada, Chair (203) Dr. Bonnie Lee Rabe, Assistant Professor Department of Education & Educational Psychology Western Connecticut State University (203)