An exploratory study of the relationship between multicultural counseling competence and selected demographic variables among school counselors: Empirical findings

One of the challenges facing universities today is to ensure that school counselors are properly trained to work with the growing number of multicultural students attending public school. Thus, this descriptive, quantitative study attempted to investigate multicultural competency among school counselors working in public education by utilizing the school counselor version of the Multicultural Counseling and Training Survey (MCCTS), a valid/reliable, Likert-type, self-report instrument designed to measure multicultural competence. The MCCTS is comprised of 32 items divided into five subscales, i.e., multicultural knowledge, multicultural awareness, multicultural terminology, racial identity development and multicultural skills.;The study included 92 elementary, middle and high school counselors employed by a Southwest Georgia school district. The findings suggest that the respondents perceived themselves as most competent in relation to defining stereotype, discrimination and prejudice, and discussing their own ethnic/cultural heritage and their family's perspective regarding acceptable and non-acceptable codes-of-conduct. Conversely, they perceived themselves as least competent to discuss models of White racial identity development and research related to mental health issues among culturally/ethnically different populations. Additionally, the respondents perceived themselves as most competent in the area of multicultural terminology and least competent in being able to discuss racial identity development. School counselors from CACREP (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs) and non-CACREP programs did not differ significantly on self-perceived multicultural competence, and African-American respondents scored higher on the multicultural knowledge subscale than Caucasian respondents. The findings also suggest that the respondents did not differ significantly on self-perceived multicultural competence by school assignment (elementary vs. middle vs. high school), years of work experience, time spent working with race-based minority students or gender. Ed.S.-level respondents scored higher on the multicultural awareness subscale than M.A.-level respondents, and those in the age group 47 to 51 scored higher on the multicultural terminology subscale than those in the 37 to 41 group. Interestingly, participants with 25% or more race-based minority friends scored higher on the multicultural knowledge subscale than those with 10% or less race-based minority friends. The study briefly examines the history of miscegenation in America, and implications for practice and future research are discussed.