Fostering Antiracist Initiatives in Online School Counseling Graduate Programs

Abstract

In online school counseling programs, school counselor educators and supervisors (SCESs) are responsible for educating future school counselors. In fostering culturally competent practices, it becomes increasingly essential for school counselor educators and supervisors to teach graduate students how to explore cultural identities, privileges, and biases while self-examining these concepts in their professional practice. This chapter will provide an overview of the antiracist lens in school counseling. Interwoven with professional experiences and grounded in the literature, the chapter will describe the goal of teaching graduate students to become leaders and advocates in their school communities, understanding the school counseling graduate students, and the need for cultural competence in the behaviors of SCESs. Additionally, the material in this chapter will involve ideas to help online graduate students and SCESs explore personal cultural identities, biases, and values while sharing proactive ways to transfer these lessons into practice with K-12 students.