Using Creative Strategies to Explore Career Theories with Counselors in Training

Understanding how people make career decisions is rooted in career theories and is an essential step for counselors-in-training (CIT) to establish a knowledge base of the career counseling process (Osborn, 2009).The study of theories can oftentimes be dry and lead to boredom and, for counselor educators, finding a way to bridge theory with practice can be challenging. According to Oberman and Studer (2009), “the use of creative strategies facilitates students’ learning and further comprehension of career development” (p. 1). CIT’s may develop a greater appreciation for the influence that career philosophies have through a counselor educator’s ability to formulate exceptional collaborative strategies that are relevant and pertinent to counseling theories (Oberman & Studer, 2009). If the CIT can connect with the material on a personal and professional level, the more meaningful the theories become, and increases the likelihood to utilize this learning in their future practice. This article explores some best practices counselor educators may use when teaching career theory to CIT’s.

Theory Collage Oberman and Studer (2009) created a collaborative teaching strategy known as the theory collage. This activity would take up to 60 minutes to complete the assignment. Students are randomly placed into small groups that are each assigned a specific career counseling theory, then directed to create a collage that represents the concepts of their assigned theory. The trainees may use available classroom resources to research their career theory and are required to include no more than ten pictures that would best describe the key strategies of their assigned career counseling theory. The students would then create a brief slide presentation, carefully arranging the photos that concisely summarize the assigned career counseling theory. Upon completion of the task, the collages would be posted to the class website with each group presenting their assigned theory to the rest of the students (Oberman and Studer, 2009) This in-class assignment allows students to work together in groups of two or three to formulate a visual understanding of career theories. The Theory Collage is an interactive method that would result in a brief overview of the key concepts of each of the theories and provides a sense of ownership to the students who illustrated them. This type of method may appeal to various learning styles.

Flipped Class Design

Common core curricular areas such as career counseling that require some explanation of the subject, however profit from application-based activity and practice in the classroom, are the best choices for a flipped class design. When learning about career theory, Merlin (2016) proports that the flipped class design helps to avoid student negative expectations such as dry content material and boredom, and instead affords learners increased class time for activities and discussion while enhancing student engagement. Career Theory subject matter can be taught to learners via pre-recorded video lectures while still meeting CACREP National Standards (2016). Merlin (2016) created an outline that demonstrates the relevant standards that can be presented via a flipped class design (p.19). as illustrated in the Table 1.

Considering that the medium for instruction in higher learning institutions continues to advance towards distance, blended, and online learning formats, with limited live classroom time (and more so since the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic), the flipped classroom design may be a valuable tool for counselor educators to maximize the time allotted for experiential classroom exercises.

Role Plays

“Savickas (2002) in the spirit of Julian Jaynes, asserted that the history of vocational psychology and vocational psychology itself are inseparable” (Briddick & Sensoy-Briddick, 2009, p. 36). Role plays are a tried-and-true method of engaging students in the learning process and is an effective way of connecting theory with process. One creative method of role playing that is simple to accommodate in career counseling courses begins with formulating smaller groups of students with each team member selecting a notable individual associated with a career theory. A brief position paper is written by each team member on their assigned individual and then the group works together in creating a play, scene, or debate involving all the prominent persons they selected. (Briddick & Sensoy-Briddick, 2009, p. 38) Whatever method the teams select to present their findings, it will be interesting enough to capture the attention of the counseling students, while developing an enhanced comprehension of our career counseling forefathers and their schools of thought.

Please check page 75 for table graphic

This article explored a few best practices that counselor educators may use when teaching career theory to counseling students. Although the best practices examples noted here are limited, they do demonstrate that implementing some creativity into the classroom can be a positive experience for learning even the drier course contents. For future counselor educators, finding meaningful ways to personally connect career counseling theories with the process of counseling can serve to assist in the development of the practical skills needed to guide counselors-in-training and can also serve as a valuable tool to assist clients.

References

Briddick, W. C., & Sensoy-Briddick, H. (2009). Dabbling toward our future's Past: Teaching the history of career counseling. Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, 25(1), 36-45. Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.edmc.edu/login? url=http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/docvie w/204144088?accountid=34899

Merlin, C. (2016). Flipping the counseling classroom to enhance application-based learning activities. The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision. https://doi.org/10.7729/83.1127

Oberman, A. H., & Studer, J. R. (2009, March). Strategies for effectively teaching career counseling. Paper based on a program presented at the American Counseling Association Annual Conference and Exposition, Charlotte, NC. Retrieved from https://www.counseling.org/Resources/Library/VISTAS/2 009-V-pt.2/Oberman-Studer.pdf

Osborn, D. S. (2009). Teaching career theories, career assessments, and care information. Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, 25(1), 46- 57. Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.edmc.edu/login? url=http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.edmc. edu/ docview/204094838?accountid=34899

Written By: Maria Giuliana, LMHC

Maria Giuliana, LMHC, Qualified Supervisor, is a 20-year Navy Veteran and founder of Beyond The Matter Counseling and Consulting Services in Jacksonville, Florida. She holds positions as the Regional Director Northeast of the Florida Mental Health Counselors Association and Military Services Committee Chairperson. Currently a doctoral candidate at National Louis University in the CES Program, her research focus is on Military Cultural Competency with an emphasis on LGBT Veterans. Her Leadership and Advocacy experience includes presenting at professional conferences on a variety of clinical topics, including military cultural competency, trauma and other issues related to Military, Veterans, and their families, and addressing unique issues related to the LGBTQIA+ community.