Running head: BEST PRACTICES IN SCHOOL COUNSELING 1

Best Practices in School Counseling: Cultural Competence

Montclair State University

Stephanie Beristain
 Best Practices in School Counseling: Cultural Competence

Cultural competence is a crucial part of the school counseling training given today. It is

also important for children’s academic and social development. Counselors and other educators

should be aware of the importance of family’s cultural values, beliefs, and languages within their

community. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the percentage of

public school students in the United States who were ELLs was higher in fall 2015 than in fall

2000 (NCES, 2018). The increase was about one million students during those years and only

expected to continue increasing. Their data also shows that majority of the students are Spanish,

Arabic, Chinese, and Vietnamese native speakers. The data alone gives an indication of the

importance of cultural acceptance and understanding. Cultural competence will help school

counselors create, execute, and gather data of academic and social development for ELLs

students who are adjusting to their new educational environment. Apart from the one on one

interventions school counselors will be able to respectfully interact with parents/guardians of

students keeping in mind their cultural values.

School Counselors perform various jobs throughout the school and interact with other

educators who might gain from cultural awareness. Creating a safe environment for students and

families who have different cultural values will help parents and/or students feel safe to ask for

assistance. It will also help others in the school feel comfortable to express themselves based on

their cultural beliefs. A safe environment for students, colleagues, and parents is important to

have a welcoming and supportive environment. Apart from freedom of expression they can help

contribute to ideas on how important culture is within the educational system. School counselors

who are cultural competent will be able to recognize potential areas that need work on cultural
needs. Not only taking the makeup of the school but the community as well. Counselors should

be aware of the community resources parents can access or what changes need to occur.

As data continues to show the increase of diverse classrooms the importance of cultural

competence has become more important for new and current counselors. School counselors can

create lesson plans for both students and teachers to become aware of the importance of cultural

awareness and respect. New counselors can become the voice to the older school counselor

generation that have been part of an education system that might be exhibiting the new need of

cultural competence due to the new population in their school system.

Cultural Competence and School Training

A collective study by Judith Nelson, Mrs. Bustamante, Mrs. Sawyer, and Mrs. Sloan used

the experiences of graduate student who are working toward their school counseling degrees to

investigate the awareness and exposures of cultural competence in public schools. The

counselors in training who were part of the study were all bilingual, all but one is native Spanish

speakers the other counselor also spoke Spanish but as a second language. The researcher used

the School-Wide Cultural Competence Observation Checklist (SCCOC) to collect data from

public school participants. Participants varied from librarians, parents, student leaders, and

teachers. The surveys were offered with liker-type scale for quick and reliable data collection.

The SCCOC, focused on the school as a whole and then individualized the questions to specific

roles within the school such as teacher involvement, the community as a whole, and the cultural

exposures demonstrated throughout the school. The results of the study varied from finding

positive factors in their school and other finding out their understanding of cultural competence

was not what they have considered cultural competence. As educators the study was able to

provide recognition and basic knowledge of cultural competence. The study was beneficial for
both the public school where data was collected and the counselors in training conducting the

study. They both were able to gain from the experience for future ideas on how to improve

school cultural competence and how to collect data. Overall the study was successfully

conducted with common limitations of bias perspectives but everyone was able to come up with

way to improve the system based on their finding of the study its self.

Second Language Acquisition

The relationship between cultural competence and multilingual individuals can

strengthen the awareness of cultural competence as a whole. Simply understanding that cultural

competence is a crucial part the counseling profession which can help identify and develop

resources for those who do not speak or fully understand English. The article by Ivers, Ivers Jr.,

and Duffey explained the importance of the second language and counseling and made a clear

distinguish that even if some clients spoke or understood English it was sometimes not enough to

understand counseling services. Not only for language barriers but due to the possible lack of

awareness of others cultural awareness and even a full understanding of their own cultural

representation. Discussing multicultural and becoming immersed in cultures other than the one

the counselor identifies was the most efficient way to gain awareness according to the authors.

The study discussed the language barriers and how teacher and school counselors are developing

and lacking in interventions for their students and the families.

Perspectives on Immigration Barriers to Family School Collaboration

The research study by Soutullo, Smith, Sanders, and Navia discussed the barriers

immigrant parent have within the educational system. The study was from the school

psychologist and teacher’s perspective. The increase in immigrant students was also illustrated in

the article as the main reason why the study was conducted. The increase in multicultural and
multilingual families with children entering the school system must be address to distinguish and

discuss potential interventions for the families in need. The study spoke about the importance of

education for immigrant families yet have been faced with negative reactions from the

educational system mostly being correlated to the areas the immigrant families are living in. the

involvement of immigrant parents with the school system came with many positive benefits.

However, the families were also faced with many barriers due to the lack of awareness, language

barriers, and fear of the system. The problems with the barriers that parents felt were not

acknowledged by the educators making it harder for parents to feel comfortable asking about the

academic needs and progress of their children. The need to understand barriers and how to

address them as a system was the focus in their study. The main concern many immigrant

families had was the record keeping of the system, afraid of their illegal status. Educators were

able to identify the lack of information given to parents to not fear immigration knocking on their

door because they participated in school activities. Teachers were able to use their finding from

the study with the training and resources they were offered before the study was conducted.

Language was also a huge barrier for many of the immigrant families and having bilingual

educators was a solution but the finding was somewhat unreachable because there was no control

to what how many languages educators were fluent in. The study also distinguishes the

difference in cultural backgrounds between educators and the families in need of interventions.

They concluded that similar studies will continue to be conducted due to the predicted increase

in diverse population and need for educational awareness and interventions.

Strengths and Weaknesses

All three studies expressed the need to be aware of the increase of multicultural families

and students that will need school counselors and other educators to advocate for their academic
growth. Language was discussed as a barrier that needs to be addressed to help parents

understand the importance of parent involvement in their child’s educational development. Most

of the studies used bilingual educators in which most were fluent in Spanish. Studies showed that

Spanish native speakers were in the high percentage of those being affected due to cultural

competence in schools but there was a lack of information on other languages. Apart from

language, cultural competence plays a role in many other aspects of family values, roles, and

beliefs. The articles touched on other cultural values briefly without putting too much importance

on those values and the educational system. There might be more to learn from the other aspects

in cultural differences. Another weakness in the studies were the small number of participants

which made data easier to get but also left a lot of room for unanswered questions. Again, many

of the participants were of the same race which can become a problem with results due to

potential bias responses.

Collaboration

The importance to include those who make the system is important to continue the

growth of cultural competence. The community, school, educators, parents, and politicians are a

critical part to strengths the education foundation for children. The more stakeholders the more

contribution there is to the issue. Contribution that can go positive or negative in diverse

populations. Barriers can be found when individuals do not believe cultural competence is an

important aspect in children’s education and time plus money should not be spent in creating

lesson plans or extra activities surrounding the topic. The help of other stakeholders in favor of

the intervention can slowly integrate plans where minimal time and money are needed. Small

data collection can also be used to provide those against it for more solid information of why

their system is in need of cultural competence interventions.

Parents/Guardians

As school counselors the relationship between educators and parents is important to take

in consideration. One of the main reasons why parents need to be part of the system is for their

consent to work with their children. Even though consent is necessary to provide counseling

services to young children it is important to give parents a better understanding of what school

counselors provide for their children and the system. Demonstrating that school counselor’s care

about their beliefs and cultural values is as important to create a safe environment for parents.

School counselor might encounter parents that have never been exposed to the idea of counseling

and might feel threaten and refuse interaction with their children due to fear. We have to take in

consideration that some cultures believe family problems stay between them and no one outside

the family circle needs to know. The concept that the women in the household does not make

decisions can also be a barrier that counselors might come across with diverse cultures.

Educators should no see refusal of services as a neglect but should consider cultural reasons first.

Identifying what cultural consideration must be in place in the system to make parents feel

comfortable and understood when interacting to them. Parents and guardians are the gateway to

children who will benefit from counseling services whether they are for academic or social

development.

Colleagues

Depending on the school and grade level school counselors work with they might be a

one-person team with more than one hundred children. Other schools do have teams of three to

four school counselors in site. Not knowing what the team might look like might become

intimidating for many but colleagues including teachers and administrators might be helpful to

provide supportive ideas, spreading awareness, and allowing the opportunity to introduce
yourself to students/parents. Administrators play an important role in many school counselor

plans because they help decide whether to approve anything that is not already implemented to

the student’s curriculum. A positive relationship will help advocate and improve the acceptance

of school counselors. It will also help school counselors let the school administrators and other

important collaborators know that school counselors are an important part of the system and

budget and positions should not be cut.

Community

Community involvement is important for any school and as school counselor it is

important to know the needs and resources available within the community. This will not only

help the counselor but the parents, students, and system grow. Due to language barriers parents

might not know that they can benefit from food pantries, medical services, and housing

programs. These aspects of community services not sound like educational needs but a child that

is hungry will not be able to process information the same as a child who is well nourished.

Schools require certain vaccinations in order for students to start school. If a family just migrated

from a different country with no proof of vaccinations, new medical records will be needed.

Providing them the local community clinic might ease their transition to enrolling their child in

the school system. There are numerous children who are part of homeless families and housing

programs might be something they are completely unaware of. The community is a huge source

of assistance for many but with the lack of knowledge and language barriers or other cultural

considerations restrict many of using the services.

Final Thoughts

Studies have all predicted the increase of diversity within our school and counselors in

training are being trained to be cultural competent. New counselors must be aware of the barriers
within the system they will be working for to address the issues that might be ignored or

forgotten due to lack of awareness. As a system cultural competence should become integrated to

help families feel welcomed in their children educational environment. Counselors must be

aware of their own cultural values to avoid implementing their beliefs to their students or other

peers. Being respectful is important to avoid any misunderstanding between the counselor and

parent. As previously mentioned parents are as important as the child who will be offered the

counseling services. Without the parents’ consent, services will not be able to be offered. In most

cases students will not look or feel comfortable talking to a school counselor if the parents have

shown negativity towards counselors or the system. Trust and respect is an important part of

cultural acceptance and awareness. It also plays an important role to gain between parents and

school counselors. There are still many aspects of cultural competence that need to be integrated

within the school systems and the studies talked about the lack of communication between

educators and the parents of families of different cultures. At times educators considered parents

irresponsible and not involved or attentive to the needs their children have in school. There is

still a lot of awareness and implementation of cultural competence to be taught and understood

by current and future educators. As the dynamics of school population continue to change the

system should make adjustments to make everyone feel welcome and safe to express who they

truly are. As new educators continue to learn about cultural competence the studies also show it

is important to teach new counselors to feel comfortable asking those who have been part of the

system what they know and do for their multicultural students.

 References

Ivers, N. N., Ivers, J. J., Sr., & Duffey, T. (2013). Second Language Acquisition: Cultural,

Cognitive, and Clinical Considerations for Counseling Practice. Journal of Creativity in

Mental Health, 8(3), 219–234.

The NCES, Fast Facts Tool Provides Quick Answers. English Language Learners (National

Center for Education Statistics)

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=96

Nelson, J. A., Bustamante, R., Sawyer, C., & Sloan, E. D. (2015). Cultural Competence and

School Counselor Training: A Collective Case Study. Journal of Multicultural

Counseling and Development, 43(3), 221–235.

Soutullo, O. R., Smith-Bonahue, T. M., Sanders-Smith, S. C., & Navia, L. E. (2016).

Discouraging Partnerships? Teachers’ Perspectives on Immigration-Related Barriers to

Family-School Collaboration. School Psychology Quarterly, 31(2), 226–240.