Preparing Leaders for Social Justice: Lessons from an Exemplary Counseling Psychology Department

Abstract

The literature on preparing educational leaders does not take into account what we can learn from other disciplines that have been successful in preparing professionals for social justice over a long period of time. To address this gap in the literature, this case study examined the policies and practices of an exemplary Department of Counseling Psychology oriented toward social justice. In so doing, we addressed these research questions: (a) What are the critical elements of this successful program? (b) What types of resistance did the program face? And, (c) how can these critical elements and resistance inform educational leadership programs? Drawing on a framework for preparing leaders for social justice, we addressed the research questions by interviewing key faculty and students in the program and extensively analyzing documents and archival date. During the change process, we found that (a) evolving meanings of diversity, multiculturalism, and social justice emerged; (b) the need to manage tensions was key, and (c) leveraging funding was critical. Their key policies and practices included (a) recruiting and hiring diverse faculty; (b) recruiting and selecting diverse students; (c) depicting the public “face” of the department and (d) implementing culturally responsive knowledge, skills, and pedagogy. We identify six lessons for educational leadership programs for social justice include (a) focusing on the world in which we are preparing leaders to lead; (b) hiring faculty of color and recruit students of color; (c) exploring the meaning of equity/social justice and how it should inform department policies and that practices should be an on-going conversation; expecting and valuing conflict in the process; (d) aligning all department decisions with the department equity mission; (e) leveraging university resources, and (f) developing courses, curriculum, and pedagogy that prepare leaders for diverse contexts. The paper concludes with limitations of and suggestions for the framework.