Antiracist Andragogy in School Counselor Education

Black students continue to experience trauma in response to racial, social, political, and cultural discrimination. Therefore, there is a need for antiracist work to push beyond awareness and to seek action for systemic change on their behalf. School counselors are uniquely positioned to encourage spaces of equity and justice however, counseling students have reported feeling unprepared to work with unfamiliar groups of people (Littleford et al., 2010). School counselor training programs are expected to prepare counselors to address racism through comprehensive counseling programs that emphasize advocacy and social justice. Drawing from Critical Race Theory, this article examines the context of the impact of discrimination and racial injustices against Black students. This article further outlines culturally responsive andragogy designed to prepare future practitioners to engage in anti-racist work on behalf of Black students.

and examples are presented with the intent to better prepare school counseling graduate students for their professional role as antiracist social justice advocates and practitioners.

THEORETICAL FOUNDATION
ntiracism is the action of actively identifying, opposing, and dismantling systems that perpetuate racist ideologies, policies, and laws toward ending the perpetuation of racist beliefs and practices.Critical Race Theory (CRT), coined by Dr. Kimberle Crenshaw (1989) and first introduced to the field of education by Gloria Ladson-Billings and William F. Tate (1995), asserts that racism is embedded in American culture due to the historical patterns of racebased oppression in the U.S. As a framework, CRT is designed to examine racism, privilege, oppression, and power within socio-political, institutional, and organization systems that impede equitable access and create barriers for marginalized populations (Delgado & Stefanic, 2017).Because K-12 schools and higher education institutions have historical precedents of racism, CRT is an ideal framework to identify and dismantle current racist policies and practices.
The first tenet of CRT states that racism and systemic oppression are embedded in American culture.Second, CRT opposes deficit-based ideologies of meritocracy and colorblindness, seeking to name systems of privilege that provide unearned attainment of power and capital.Third, CRT posits that Black people need to tell their own story about their lived experiences to provide a counterstory to the dominant narrative.Fourth, CRT suggests that the socio-political gains of Black people only occur when their interests converge with White people.CRT also asserts that our social and cultural identities intersect and influence how we experience privilege and oppression.And therefore, CRT commits to social justice, defined as equitable access and distribution, as well as equitable rights and privileges.
As systems of oppression continue to exist for Black students, the tenets of CRT provide a ripe foundation for counselor educators to examine and challenge racist and oppressive ideologies within program curriculum and to practice antiracist andragogy to prepare future school counselors to do this work.

CRITICAL ISSUES FOR (FUTURE) PRACTITIONERS
s graduate students prepare for professional service, they must be well-informed about the issues that impact their future clients.CRT purports that systemic oppression is embedded in every aspect of American society, including education (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017).Correspondingly, research demonstrates significant disparities for Black students in areas such as retention, discipline, gifted/talented identification, special education, and advanced placement (Bruce et al., 2009;Davis et al., 2013;Gibson, 2020;NCES, 2017a;NCES, 2017b;Sandifer & Gibson, 2020).While professional literature commonly portrays a considerable achievement gap between Black and White students, there is limited traditional literature that accounts for discriminatory and oppressive policies that obstruct successful outcomes for Black students.Contemporary scholars suggest opportunity gaps (Valencia, 2015) such as inequitable resources, racialized tracking, implicit bias, and discipline disparities continue to exist (Milner, 2010; Wright A A ANTIRACIST ANDRAGOGY 4 et al., 2017).This suggests either a lack of attention or the use of ineffective/ inappropriate interventions (Gibson, 2020).
Another area of concern relates to mental health issues of this population.Black students are diagnosed with mental health conditions at a disturbing rate and the prevalence of self-injurious behavior and suicide is increasing (CBC, 2019).Notably, Black youth suicide rates rose by 73% over the last two decades, representing a significantly higher percentage compared to any other subgroup (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017).Although exact reasons for this trend are unknown, some literature presents a connection to race-related stressors (Walker et al., 2017).Additionally, these students face barriers to accessing affordable services.Problematic issues include healthcare coverage, cost, transportation, and available appointment times (Planey et al., 2019).Another key factor that impacts treatment concerns the cultural mistrust of the Black community directed toward providers.Historic oppression, discrimination, and marginalization negatively influences help-seeking behaviors in the Black community (Fripp & Carlson, 2017).Counselor educators have an ethical obligation to prepare school counselors to address systemic barriers that impede equitable access to high quality educational opportunities and advocate for diverse populations (ASCA, 2018).

MULTICULTURAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN SCHOOL COUNSELOR EDUCATION
ounselor educators are required to prepare master's level students to apply theories and models of multicultural counseling, cultural identity development, social justice and advocacy (F.2.b), and to understand the impact of heritage, attitudes, beliefs, understandings, and acculturative experiences on an individual's views of others (F.2.d) (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs [CACREP], 2016).Despite these standards of preparation, coursework related to multicultural development is minimally provided within many counselor education programs, often offering only one course to address this topic.While some programs blend cultural considerations into each course throughout the program, this is not guaranteed nor is it enough.In recognition of this fact, governing bodies of the counseling profession (i.e., ASCA and American Counseling Association [ACA]) have developed tools and resources to guide expansion of this work.For example, ASCA provides guidance through the Eliminating racism and bias in schools Standards in Practice and applicable position statements (i.e., Cultural Diversity and Equity for all Students).ACA provides guidance through the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) and Advocacy Competencies.Ethical guidelines from these organizations also address responsibilities in these areas.As practitioners are compelled to adhere to these standards of practice, it is imperative that these expectations are introduced early as school counseling graduate students are developing their professional identity.C 5 SANDIFER ET AL.

ANTIRACIST ANDRAGOGICAL APPROACHES
ntiracist work in schools can be unsettling and requires intense and focused training in order for school counseling graduate students to feel adequately prepared to meet these demands.School counselor educators committed to the development of antiracist counselors should demonstrate this belief and practice throughout the program curriculum (Sandifer et al., 2021).
As school counselor involvement in addressing the causal sequence of racism increases, so does the need for in-depth and specific preparation.Furthermore, many counseling programs do not offer training related to understanding the impact of racial trauma and/or how it manifests in the school setting, causing many practitioners to rely heavily on post-graduate training in order to develop these important skills.
In line with CRT, school counselors are expected to develop and deliver targeted techniques and interventions to combat racist practices and policies and must be prepared to do so.School counselor educators can prepare school counseling graduate students for antiracist action in schools through the integration of antiracist andragogical approaches within the counselor education program in the areas of course design and delivery, centering culturally affirming theories (i.e., Narrative Theory), modeling, supervision, and leadership training and collaboration designed to develop the necessary skills for these professionals to work on behalf of Black students.

Course Design and Delivery
Counselor educators can prioritize and infuse disparity and social justice issues through the development and implementation of focused courses as well as class assignments and activities.As the expectations for the learning environment are set within the syllabus, it should also reflect a commitment to antiracism and advocacy (Fuentes et al., 2021).Syllabi considerations may include a course-specific diversity statement, antiracist learning objectives, culturally diverse texts and readings, and an explanation that addresses the explicit purpose of this selection.Class activities should be structured in a manner to elevate Black voices.As CRT purports, it is important for Black people to story their lived experiences (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017).While reading publications from Black scholars may be beneficial, the use of Black guest speakers can also be advantageous.Inviting Black school counselors and doctoral students to share their expertise and interact with master's level students serves to provide diverse interactive experiences that may provide more meaningful learning opportunities.It is also important to note that this strategy may be of mutual benefit, as although Black speakers and doctoral students hold some privilege, they also hold a marginalized racial identity.This experience further serves to amplify Black voices while expanding the knowledge base of the audience.
It is imperative that school counseling graduate students receive explicit instruction on actionable items for antiracist school counseling.As counselor educators encourage future counselors to evaluate the needs of their students from a cultural, historical, ecological, psychosocial, and sociopolitical lens as recommended by CRT, it is equally important that they receive guidance on A ANTIRACIST ANDRAGOGY 6 how to do so.Gibson and Sandifer (2020) presented a practical strategy for school counseling graduate students to gain experience in assessing student and stakeholder needs.These school counselor educators outlined a class activity designed to help students conceptualize data collection and inform decision-making.In this activity students created a needs assessment, disseminated the instrument, interpreted the responses, and presented a report of results and recommendations.In a subsequent assignment, students created a written reflection of the process and described the structure of the needs assessment, the implementation procedures, a summary of the data, and recommendations.Students were required to include a copy of the assessments as well as relevant details such as time and method of distribution and graphic data representations.These assignments allow school counseling graduate students to experience the data collection process in a real-life application and gain valuable data on relevant needs they can then use to inform services and programming.
In a similar vein, school counseling graduate students should be taught how to develop goals that center on equity and social justice while also developing programming and interventions that meet student needs.One resource that may be particularly helpful is the book, Culturally Sustaining School Counseling by Grothaus et al. (2020).This book includes prompts and written activities that allow for reflection and the establishment of personal objectives.ASCA also provides resources for the development of program goals that align with social justice issues.Recently, ASCA released the Eliminating racism and bias in schools (Standards in Practice, 2020) that explicitly articulates the school counselor's role in antiracism.School counselor educators may use this tool with students to demonstrate the process of creating program goals that support marginalized students.Specifically, the section on systemic change addresses recommended counselor actions such as collecting and reporting data on inequitable outcomes and creating action plans to reduce these inequities.As action plans may include opportunities for school-wide programming, considerations for planning should be addressed with school counseling graduate students.School counselor educators may reflect on the following questions: • What (and how) do we teach school counseling graduate students as we prepare them to develop school counseling core curriculum?• As school counselors commonly prepare social-emotional lessons for teachers to deliver, how do we as counselor educators teach school counseling graduate students how to infuse social justice and antiracism within these lessons?How do we utilize resources such as Social Justice standards and Black Lives Matter At School curriculum?• How do we teach school counseling graduate students how to respond to school needs in the wake of public displays of injustice (e.g., riot at Capitol Hill, police violence on Black bodies, etc.)? • As Black students are overrepresented in the number of discipline referrals, how do we teach school counseling graduate students effective classroom management skills and practices?
Intentional teaching helps foster conscious practitioners.The questions posed above are intended to help counselor educators reflect on their approach to school counselor preparation.CRT challenges school counselor educators to recognize deficit ideologies and move toward antiracist and culturally affirming andragogical theories.

Centering Culturally Affirming Theories
CRT asserts that our social and cultural identities intersect and influence how we experience privilege and oppression.Traditional theories of human development and behavior overlook the impact of historical and systemic oppression and injustice of marginalized groups.Therefore, the authors assert that centering culturally affirming theories, such as Narrative Theory and Relational Cultural Theory can also be used as an antiracist andragogical approach.In turn, counselor educators should teach application of culturally affirming counseling theories and techniques into practice, as these theories directly benefit Black K-12 students.
Narrative Theory (NT) is a culturally affirming theory that intentionally creates a relational environment and addresses experiences of oppression with culturally diverse clients (Epston et al., 2012).Narrative approaches are grounded in historical and philosophical thought which have long considered the paradigm of individual storytelling and multiple subjective truths to be of great importance.To this end, narrative is a social constructivist approach (White & Epston, 1990) that proposes an individual is the expert on their own story, which is shaped by complex socio-cultural, relational, and ecosystemic experiences (Epston, 2012).Through hearing and exploring narratives, counselors and clients can collaboratively identify values, dominant stories, and personal meaning of lived experiences.There are six core concepts that shape narrative work: By educating graduate students to facilitate dialogue about the influence of cultural messaging on Black students' identity and worldview, trainees, and the students they will counsel can understand the socio-cultural context of the presented problem (Combs & Freedman, 2012).For example, the power-over dynamic is a key concept of Relational Cultural Theory (RCT) which suggests one person's power to make decisions that change or limit another person creates a power dynamic where one person holds power over another (Jordan, 2017).This phenomenon can make the person with less power feel limited in their ability to be their authentic self and increase fear or threat of judgment or punishment.School counseling graduate students should be equipped to uncover internalized dominant narratives that demonstrate power over relationships and contribute to Black students' self-image.Conjointly, school counseling graduate students should be prepared to help their Black students function in a society driven by privilege, power, and Western norms.To this end, narrative approaches will help school counseling trainees work with their Black students to claim personal power over the authoring of their own identities and narratives (Combs & Freedman, 2012).Although there is limited literature on integrating narrative approaches in counselor education, CRT highlights the importance of storying for people of color.
In their article exploring CRT as a teaching practice, Haskins & Singh (2015), challenge counselor educators to engage in reflection about curriculum decisions and consider the dominant discourses being told to students, which may counter students' lived experiences.Antiracist counselor educators should intentionally include Black voices in curriculum through assigning readings by Black scholars that present a counternarrative to dominant traditional theory, as well as teaching theoretical frameworks.Narrative andragogy requires students to push beyond their understanding of content and challenges them to be reflective, make meaning of content, and explore personal significance of content to the field (Diekelmann & Diekelmann, 2000).With this in mind, counselor educators can embed course curriculum, approaches, and assignments that use storytelling to demonstrate complex socio-cultural life situations, explore content topics, elicit emotional connection and discussion (Harrawood et al., 2013), and challenge deficit frameworks and discourse.Effective practices include having students view and reflect on movies (Hudock & Gallagher-Warden, 2011) and read and discuss autobiographies (Harrawood, et al., 2013) to gain diverse perspectives on topic areas.Counselor educators can also adapt traditional student engagement strategies, such as case study analysis, to intentionally include cultural reflection.For example, assign client case studies that represent diverse cultures and demonstrate the intersection of identity.Have school counseling graduate students conceptualize case from a culturally affirming lens and ask students to identify and discuss their cultural biases and assumptions.Also, ask school counseling graduate students to explore the origin of their biases and assumptions.In addition, counselor educators can have graduate students construct personal narratives that reflect on socio-cultural discourses that have influenced their self-view and worldview and assign graduate students an end-of-course assignment that requires them to reflect on and narrate their growth as a culturally affirming and antiracist counselor.Each of these assignments can be completed using various mediums to include written narratives, oral histories, digital storytelling, collage narratives, narrative photography, and journaling.
Equally important is the relationship between graduate students and the instructor, as it may significantly impact learning (Manis, 2012).In fact, Relational Pedagogy suggests that human interaction is at the core of learning, therefore interpersonal connection and environmental settings can encourage or discourage a student's investment in their own learning (Boyd et al., 2006).To this end, educators should make every effort to confront and explore power within and among the relationships in the learning environment (e.g., educator/student relationship, student/student relationships, etc.; Lertora et al., 2020).Furthermore, a relational learning environment provides space for Black school counseling graduate students to share lived experiences that contribute to diverse dialogue about culture and worldviews.However, educators must be mindful to not make one student the spokesperson for all Black students or their experiences.As counselor educators engage in Relational Andragogy in their courses, they are simultaneously modeling relational practices.

Modeling
While school counseling graduate students learn from explicit instruction and class exercises, they also learn from observations and modeling.With this in mind, school counselor educators should be purposeful in their scholarship and service activities and share relevant works with students.Gibson et al. (2021) emphasized the need for counselor educators to set a precedent of antiracist practice in this manner.As counselor educators, the authors noted that this infusion of antiracist intentionality serves to further enhance school counseling graduate students' growth and development as they observe the application of cultural considerations in faculty endeavors.As such, professional publications and presentations provide optimal opportunities to incorporate the contributions and perspectives of Black scholars and elevate these voices as well.The previously mentioned strategy of inviting Black speakers may serve multiple purposes, especially if the speaker is a Black doctoral student.These students often have less professional development opportunities so this invitation provides an additional experience they may grow from and add to 9 SANDIFER ET AL.
their curriculum vitae.In addition to the content of the presentation, school counseling graduate students may also benefit from this experience as they observe strategic collaboration on behalf of the instructor.Counselors must learn how to effectively engage in cultural brokering to best support the students and families they serve.Cultural brokers are individuals from a different background can help counselors understand and connect to other members of this background (Bryan et al, 2020).These intentional partnerships help establish relationships and new perspectives.Program faculty can also incorporate an antiracist lens in their grant work.During this process, applicants can assess the needs of marginalized groups within the community and advocate for systems of support with financial backing.The following case example demonstrates efforts of one of the authors and provides a model for consideration.
This particular counselor educator engaged in community service endeavors to support local counselors through the leadership dimensions of systematic collaboration, resourceful problemsolving, and interpersonal influence.In an effort to collaborate with practitioners, the counselor educator proposed a culturally affirming small group intervention for Black male middle school students.The proposal included co-facilitation of sessions between the counselor educator and school counselors.As a means to solicit resources for the project, the counselor educator successfully applied for a grant through the American Counseling Association Foundation.Grant funds provided monies for materials, workbooks, and all-expense paid field trips to the university and for a leadership symposium.The counselor educator also used her interpersonal influence to recruit Black males from the community to serve as mentors for group participants.The mentors attended each session and actively contributed to the process and content.This collaborative intervention positively impacted the social/emotional skills of participants and resulted in a sense of mattering.While it is important for program faculty to demonstrate culturally affirming leadership within the community, it is equally important for them to inform school counseling graduate students about this process.Faculty efforts can be shared through a variety of methods to include program websites, newsletters, social media, and bulletin boards.As school counselor educators model antiracist works, students are able to view standards in practice.

Supervision
CACREP (2016) standards require school counselor educators to prepare culturally affirming practitioners.Supervision is a critical element of a school counseling graduate student's course of study (Magnuson et al., 2004) and provides an opportunity for school counselor educators and supervisors to model integration of cultural concepts and strategies in the educational experience.During this process, school counselor educators and supervisors could acknowledge that there are other ways to view the world outside of a Eurocentric perspective, which is the underpinning of U.S. educational institutions and practices.One alternate philosophy is the Afrocentric worldview, which is grounded in the idea that Black people, as syncretic Africans, possess a worldview that positively reflects traditional African values.This worldview and related terms (e.g., Afrocology, Afrocentricity) were coined by scholar and activist Molefi Asante (1980) and recently noted by author Ibram Kendi (2017) in "Stamped from the Beginning" as an idea which calls for a cultural and philosophical center for Black people.These principles are designed to counter assimilationist ideas which purport that Black people should work hard to appeal to Eurocentric belief systems instead of embracing the authentic self.
In addition, Black supervisees may experience supervision as a power-over relationship (Jordan, 2017).Using a relational supervision process can increase self-efficacy, engagement in supervision, energy asserted toward improvement, investment in the client, and provide a sense of mutual respect (Gazzola & Thériault, 2007).The noted three relational processes that created a relational experience for supervisees including: (a) the use of an egalitarian relationship, where shared power and social equity are centered; (b) a balance of challenge and support, and (c) a co-structuring of supervision sessions, wherein the supervisor and supervisee contribute to the focus and goals and mutual feedback is expressed.Also, counselor educators may introduce culturally affirming supervision that encourages trainees to reflect on how their identities impact work with marginalized clients.During these sessions, supervisors initiate explorations of cultural backgrounds, trainee awareness, and application of culturally affirming skills.Narrative methods include asking trainees to critically examine their roleplays, mock counseling sessions, and clinical sessions to identify and discuss the origin of their cultural biases and assumptions and critically examine the role of culture in their use of counseling interventions, as well as peer feedback (Winslade et al., 1997).
Supervisors may also find the Cross-Cultural Counseling Inventory-Revised to be a beneficial resource for feedback (Chung & Bemak, 2012).This tool assesses cross-cultural counseling skills, socio-political awareness, and cultural sensitivity.Results from this evaluation may be discussed during supervision and subsequent plans of improvement may be collaboratively developed.As school counselor educators provide targeted feedback on the use of culturally affirming techniques, graduate students may experience personal and professional growth.A continuous focus on trainee development is important as the school counselor role is critical to the culture of the school.

Leadership Training and Collaboration
School counselors are called to be school leaders, change agents, and social justice advocates.As such, they should demonstrate leadership practices that promote and maintain equity (Young & Bryan, 2015).The ASCA National Model for school counselors highlights leadership as one of the four embedded themes in an effective program (ASCA, 2019).ASCA emphasizes the need for school counselors to understand four leadership contexts: structural leadership, human resource leadership, political leadership, and symbolic leadership (Michel et al., 2018).These frames are based on the work of Boleman and Deal (2017) and are described as follows: • structural frame: considers the arrangement of roles and responsibilities and the impact on efficiency and performance • human resource frame: focuses on employee empowerment and support • political frame: addresses the process of networking and collaborating to gain resources • symbolic frame: bring attention to the importance of a shared mission and vision School counselors who effectively apply these frameworks demonstrate transformational leadership; however, school counselors often struggle with development of their professional identity in this area (Robinson et al., 2019).It is important for counselor educators to cultivate this skill set, and while CACREP (2015) requires counselor education programs to document how school counseling graduate students contextualize and demonstrate leadership skills, there is minimal guidance about how to effectively accomplish this goal (Kneale et al., 2018).Also, research shows that when school counselors embrace their roles as school leaders by effectively working together with school principals, they can have a positive impact on educational outcomes (Rock et al., 2017).
Building a solid and joint approach to antiracism should be the common goal of this collaborative relationship in an effort to improve the educational experiences for all students.In fact, the national professional associations of both school counselors and school principals have released statements and practical guidance to encourage and aid in these efforts (ASCA, 2020; National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2020).Although school principals are directly responsible for all programs and services in their school, school counselors are uniquely positioned and trained to address barriers to student success.Despite these professional endorsements, cross disciplinary communication can be challenging, thus confirming the need for interdisciplinary leadership training in graduate programs (Holtzman et al., 2012) to further prepare school professionals for antiracist work.Some programs have already initiated shared training experiences for these groups.DeSimone and Roberts (2016) presented a pilot study of a collaborative model in practice.Using a mixed-methods research design, the authors examined the impact of a collaborative class composed of school counseling and school administration graduate students.This experience provided opportunities for collaborative discussions, reflections, explorations of role perceptions, and shared projects.Resulting data indicated that participants benefited from the experience and looked forward to future opportunities for collaborative work in the school setting.Similar studies contend that collaborative training approaches strengthen each profession as well as service delivery in the educational system (Boyland et al., 2019;Geesa et al., 2020;Romano & Kachgal, 2004).Counselor educators that utilize a collaborative approach to address antiracism may serve to better prepare school counseling graduate students to be stronger leaders and social change agents.

CONCLUSION
chool counselor education programs are expected to prepare counselors as social justice advocates equipped to address racism through implementation of comprehensive school counseling programs.The authors outline applications of antiracist andragogical approaches in adult education which are strategies designed to interrupt systems of oppression and racist ideologies.Drawing from CRT, the authors emphasize the importance of action-based, antiracist work designed to contribute to the removal of systemic barriers for Black students.This article discusses the role of the professional school counselor and highlights the impact of race-based, systemic inequitable practices in K-12 schools on the academic, social, and mental well-being of Black students.As such, the authors explore an integrated approach to antiracist andragogical practices, provide examples, and highlight strategies that school counselor educators might adopt to better equip school counseling graduate students for their professional roles as antiracist practitioners.Now more than ever, school leaders are encouraged to work together on behalf of Black students.Training programs can identify and merge resources in order to maximize adult learning opportunities for future professionals.Antiracist work is exacting; therefore, the authors urge school stakeholders to engage in ongoing, intentional, and proactive efforts.

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Dr. Sarah Brant-Rajahn is an Assistant Professor of Counseling at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania where she serves as the School Counseling Track Coordinator.Prior to becoming a counselor educator, she served as a school counselor for the Cobb County School District, GA and provided mental and behavioral health services in community settings.Her experiences drove her current research interests, which include school racial climate, P-16 Black student identity development, culturally responsive pedagogy and practices, and racial trauma.She has presented at numerous national, regional, and state conferences and facilitated multiple training workshops focused on cross cultural counseling and advocacy.She currently serves as the SACES Multicultural Counseling Interest Network Co-chair.Her publications include: "Developing, Delivering, and Sustaining School Counseling Practices Through a Culturally Affirming Lens", "Cultivating social change and wellness for Black students", "Trauma and children", and "WOKE: Advocacy for African American students".
(a) problem as external; (b) narrative metaphor-people as storytellers; (c) meaning making; (d) modern power; (e) personal agency; and (f) unique view of person.