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Abstract

School counselors advocate for equitable schools and educational outcomes for all students, especially those from historically marginalized groups, including multilingual learners (MLLs). Due to the unique needs of this population and calls to better serve MLLs from education and school counseling organizations, we conducted a phenomenological investigation to understand the lived experiences of 11 school counselors who primarily supported their schools’ MLL student populations. This study resulted in six themes: (a) advocating for equity, (b) unique challenges and responsibilities within the multilingual-learning-focused school counselor role, (c) linguistic nuances, (d) collaboration is crucial, (e) mutual respect and empathy with MLL students, and (f) adapting interventions specific to MLL students. We also explore implications for practice, preparation, advocacy, and future research.

Keywords

school counselor multilingual learner phenomenology relational-cultural theory

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The Experiences of Multilingual-Learning-Focused School Counselors: A Phenomenological Investigation

Abstract

Keywords

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