Critical consciousness of school counselors in Turkey

Abstract

Critical consciousness defines as the process of continuously reflecting upon and questioning how biases, assumptions, and cultural worldviews affect the ways of perceiving the difference and power dynamics between individuals (Pitner & Sakamoto, 2005, p.4). Counselors should provide objective counseling practices to clients, students, and families to have an ethical stand. ASCA (2016) stated that school counselors should examine their own biases and prejudices, and if they have their perceptions interfering with the counseling process, they should refer the clients. Thus, school counselors should develop critical consciousness to reflect upon these issues. Furthermore, they should understand the privilege and power dynamics inside society to evaluate their students and clients by considering the socio-political context to help them effectively. This study aims to understand how school counselors in Turkey use critical consciousness in their professional practices. In this study, 12 school counselors from different regions in Turkey are conducted semi-structured interviews about the issues and the needs they encounter inside the school in connection with the aim of the study. There are four main themes due to the interviews with school counselors titled as awareness, context, respect, praxis, empowerment, and transformation.

Keywords

• critical consciousness
• qualitative research
• school counseling
• content analysis

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