Abstract:

School systems face crisis of a variety of types and forms of student problems. However, to date, there is a paucity of counseling training programs for pre-service teachers, which help them prepare to assist students with problems.

The purpose of this study was to develop a school-based counselor training program for pre-service teachers and evaluate its effectiveness. Before initiation of this school-based counselor training program, literature review was conducted to incorporate recommendations from the previous studies regarding the knowledge and skills needed for pre-service teachers assist students. This was followed by individual and group consultations with in-service teachers, professional school counselors, school-administrators, and counselor education professionals. Based on the literature review and consultations, a school-based counselor training program (Teacher-Healer-Counselor Program: THC Program) was developed and implemented for pre-service teachers. The THC Program included individual counseling skill training sessions (4 hours), group counseling experiences (24 hours), mentoring from in-service teachers for case conceptualization (12 hours), and individual counseling experiences with problem students (4 hours), and used various teaching and learning methods including role playing, group discussions, visual materials, in vivo supervision, etc.

Five groups of pre-service teachers (a total of 226 college students in teacher education program) voluntarily participated in the THC Program over a year and four month period. Program for each group was completed within a 10-week period. Teacher self-efficacy and confidence level were evaluated pre- and post-intervention. Data from 209 pre-service teachers were analyzed using a paired sample t-test. The results indicated significant increases in the subjects' teacher self-efficacy and confidence level after the intervention. The effect sizes were .68 and .83, respectively, which indicate a medium large and a large effect sizes.

The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of school-based counselor training program for pre-service teachers in increasing their teacher self-efficacy and confidence. In addition, the participants reported significantly high satisfaction with the program. The results of the study suggests the importance of implementing counselor training program in teacher education to help pre-service teachers understand a variety of students' problems and better deal with difficult students. Limitations for the study and suggestions for future study were discussed.

Keywords:

Counselor education, pre-service teacher education, teacher self-efficacy.