A journey from modernism to postmodernism: Counselor education for a new millennium

The goal of this research was to create collaboratively curricular materials for counselor education classes which reflect the postmodern position. Prior to the actual creation of the material, the landscape of postmodernism was surveyed. First, the concept and importance of postmodernism was explained. This was followed by an analysis of how three disciplines particularly relevant to counseling---philosophy, science and psychology---have responded to the challenge of this new perspective. After this consideration of the impact of postmodernism on allied disciplines, it was necessary to review the history of curriculum in order to better understand how the postmodern perspective would impact the development of curriculum. This brief review of the history of curriculum development was followed by a review of the literature dealing directly with applying postmodernism to education, and even more specifically, to the field of counselor education.;The active research phase began with the interviewing of five faculty members from a midwestern university's Department of Counselor Education. The object of these interviews was to elicit from these faculty members their understanding of postmodernism, their interest in incorporating the postmodern perspective into their classes, and any suggestions they might have for the creation of curricular units.;The next phase of the research involved creating curricular units which reflect the understanding of postmodernism that had emerged through the research process. These units were then "tested" on the five faculty participants by providing them with the newly created postmodern curricular units, followed by another interview to elicit their reactions to thew potential units. The final stage involved revising the curricular units in light of the feedback provided by the faculty participants.;The study concludes with a series of recommendations about how to incorporate the postmodern perspective into counselor education classes.