The Counselor as Teacher

This paper explores the complexities in transitioning from the role of a counselor to that of a counselor educator, integrating a review of the literature on counselor pedagogy with personal experience. The role of the counselor, the teacher, and the parallels and disjunctions between those roles as well as possible ways to bridge them are among the topics examined. The paper discusses the apparent dearth of discussion and debate in the literature concerning the process of counselor education and supervision and the demands of the counselor educator role. In an effort to explore these concerns, the paper first traces the counselor role and its implications, focusing primarily on attributes of counselors. The role of the teacher is similarly explored for comparison with that of the counselor. Supervision is suggested as a potential conceptual bridge between counseling and teaching since it is as close to either role and shares much in common with both. Supervisors do engage in raising awareness, helping supervisees to examine aspects of themselves that may be stimulated by the process, as well as general self-exploration about professional development, ethical issues, or even personal issues. The paper concludes with a discussion on the process of becoming a counselor educator, subsequent learning experiences, and a beneficial model for the educating of counselors. (Contains 22 references.) (GCP) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Counselor as educator