Insights of International Faculty into the Role of Instructor Factors in Educating Counselors: A Qualitative Study

It is critical for counselor education (CE) to increase knowledge in effective teaching practices specific to CE (ETP-CE) in order to prepare counselors optimally. Research in higher education has established the significance of instructor factors (IF) in enhancing instructor-student relationship, predicting instructors’ self-efficacy, and informing quality teaching. However, the literature specific to ETP-CE reveals a limited focus on the connections of IF to counseling students learning and development and has has yet fully addressed the complexities and nuances of IF in CE. This highlights the need for further research investigating the roles of IF in CE to fill this gap and advance the understanding of ETP-CE. Additionally, the growing presence of CE international faculty members (CE-IFM) brings new perspectives and contributions to ETP-CE. Based on this, the aim of this study is to explore the role of IF in counseling students’ learning and development through the perspectives of CE-IFM. A qualitative inquiry was conducted involving 10 CE-IFM with experience teaching master's degree courses in CACREP-accredited programs. Six major themes related to instructor factors emerged from the data and reveals that IF are multifaceted, reflect instructors’ identities, are pervasive across all teaching related actions, and require intentionality to be effectively articulated to activate the learning community and benefit the teaching and learning process. The implications of this study provide suggestions for strengthening the body of research in ETC-CE and improving the preparation of emerging counselors.

Keywords: counselor education, counseling, effective teaching practices, instructor factors, international faculty members