School Counseling

COUNSELING

Counseling: School Counseling Case Study

With the emergence of globalization, it is inevitable for schools to prevent diversity inclusion. It has recently become evident that schools that welcome diversity are more successful in helping children gain academic success. However, they have to struggle to become culturally competent in school culture, environment, curriculum, language, and teaching practices. This paper aims at responding to the cultural diversity issues at a selected school and signifying different roles within the educational institute regarding their respective actions.

Role as a Leader

In the given case, there is an evident problem of rejection of cultural diversity within the school, among the students and the teachers. As a school leader, I need to foster a culture of acceptance among the students and teachers. Firstly, I need to do this for the teachers since they are role models for the students and rectifiers if any of them acts inappropriately towards diverse ethnic students (Cherkowski, 2010). School leaders have the power and authentication to inspire others and lead the conversation for this specific role so that taking action does not remain a challenge.

With the people and resources at my disposal being in the role of school leader, I can use language that promotes positivity for diversity inclusion (Kampen, 2020). I should correct any teachers’ actions or comments; even if they include insignificant gestures such as smiling towards the children from different cultures and the demeaning comments coming from other students on their clothing, food, or language styles, they should be immediately shunned. The teachers should be seriously asked to stop acting in a derogatory way as the children from other ethnicities would feel welcomed in the school vicinity.

Role as an Advocate

In the role of a school advocate, the hiring practices should be such that the teachers should be employed from different ethnicities. Their background and cultural beliefs help them understand the problems faced by students belonging to the same backgrounds. The student and school environment would be flourished once the demonstration of support for inclusion is ensured. Moreover, the teaching styles and practices should be evidence-based when diversity inclusion is concerned so that other students learn how the curriculum is managed to make other diversities feel engaged and valued (Mills, 2020).

Advocating for enrollment and teaching professionals from varied backgrounds is another strategy that could help solve the case challenge that students like Kash face. Nondiscrimination in school admission should be promoted on a wide scale, and programs should be initiated to support racially diverse populations within the school.

Role as a Collaborator

As a school collaborator, I plan to focus on the collaborative efforts from all the stakeholders and participants in RAMP city, such as teachers, school leadership, management, parents, and local support systems. Talking with each stakeholder individually and asking for their support would instigate a series of activities to create an approach towards diversity inclusion.

Some of the key concepts that come into play due to collaborative improvements that could be brought for diversity inclusion within the school are hard work, respect, trust, taking risks, sharing responsibilities, constant professional development, high levels of governance, working on projects for building relationships and conflict resolutions, emotional competence, team building, valuing opinions, decision making and problem-solving (Slater, 2004).

Role as a Consultant

The role of a school consultant is critical in eliminating the cultural barriers that students like Kash have been facing lately within the selected school. Other students and teachers have been engaged in unacceptable gestures and comment that hurt students from diverse backgrounds. As a consultant, I would be the first to know the psychological, social, and emotional stress it would create on the targeted students. I would make observations within the classrooms and outside them to make assessments for identifying students’ special needs and distinct problems individually.

This strategy would help make consultative function as facilitation for suggesting treatment tactics for the entire school and its functions in which teachers are an important part. The school consultant suggests remedial teaching schemes to positively compensate affected students and address their challenges (Hansen et al., 2020).

Response of School Counseling Program for the Challenge Presented In the Case

The comprehensive school counseling program might suggest professional development of the teachers that, in a way, encourage other students to laugh and comment on racially diverse students’ clothing and language mannerisms. This seems to be the main cause that no one has complained about, and parents are unaware of this issue. Formal workshops and seminars could be organized or suggested to them to attend before coming back to school to resume their teaching practices. They should learn pedagogical solutions and collaborative organizational support aimed towards diversities in students’ contexts (Szelei, Tinoca & Pinho, 2019). They should be prepared for the students’ cultural challenges and be actively involved in transnational policies for addressing equity and justice. The socio-cultural learning environment would help the teachers gain knowledge of the complexities between the nationalities and the values attached to their citizens that should be fundamentally respected. The professional development should be taken as an achievement gap that the school seems to be facing currently in the given case. Teachers must understand the significance of this issue and practice how diversity response becomes meaningful to the affected students, their parents, and the entire community.