Social Justice Perspective: My Role As A School Counselor

Maintaining a social justice perspective would be an important component to the different roles I would play on a day-to-day basis as a school counselor. What’s most important is that I use my background in sociology to help me distinguish issues at my work, specifically concerning the students. As a counselor, my main goal will be assisting the students with succeeding in their educational careers and personal goals. To do this, I will embrace a social justice approach by keeping an open mind, eliminating bias, and looking at different situations from all perspectives.
One role that a school counselor plays on a daily basis is being a mediator between a student, parent, and teacher. In this role, it would be important that I take a social justice approach in my handling of the situation because I would need to see each side and evaluate this from every angle. Having an understanding of the types of discrimination that are often found in our country, I would need to use this knowledge on a case-by-case basis in order to distinguish if there were any lines being overstepped between teachers and students, whether it be based on race, gender, sexual identity, religious affiliation, and so on. This could go either way, with the teacher showing bias toward the student, or vice versa. However, it would be important for me to also recognize that, no
Incorporating a social justice approach to counseling means making sure that everyone has a voice and feels like they are being heard. It would be important to make this possible for students by talking one-on-one with them, or with the other students they’re having issues with, in a civil manner. This way, I can lead a facilitated discussions that will hopefully bring about the root of the problem so that we can assess things further and begin to resolve