Teaching Counselors and Therapists: Constructivist and Developmental Course Design

A guide to innovative mental health education is urgently needed. Despite the hundreds of programs in existence for training students in counseling, human service, social work, and psychology, teachers in such programs have relied on an informal network of information exchange to guide their teaching practice. Yet, constructivist and developmental theories now point to sound, innovative practices for teaching. This volume delineates those practices.

Despite years of research on effective adult education, university teaching fails, in practice, to incorporate research-supported teaching principles. Current university instruction is still dominated by the teacher-as-authority. The teacher downloads information from the front of the class and expects students to regurgitate it in papers and on exams. The authors offer a different vision of classrooms that are characterized by the themes of meaning-making, collaboration, equality, and activity in the learning environment.