A novice counselor educator’s action research on teaching: An undergraduate counseling practicum course based on awareness and reflexivity-focused training

This action research was initiated from the aspect of a researcher’s reflection on being a novice counselor educator. The researcher in this study was the instructor of an undergraduate level practicum for the first time and reflected on the manner in which this course should be arranged based on the guidance and counseling professional development context in Taiwan, professional development requirements of students, connecting course instruction, students’ learning, and professional practices. This study aimed to develop a course plan for undergraduate counseling practicum in terms of the Taiwanese context. Data collection was conducted using three focused group interviews that were conducted at the beginning of the course, in the middle of the course, and 3 months after the end of the course. As the researcher was an instructor and a supervisor of the course, all the interviews were conducted by research assistants who received focused group interview training in order to ensure individual participants’ rights protected. The researcher did not access the research data until the participants’ grades of the course were submitted. An inductive analysis was used for data analysis. The observations and findings obtained during the action research were as follows. First, the participants reported the following at the beginning of the course: (1) previous supervisory experiences, (2) expectations from the practicum course, and (3) their entire status before receiving supervision. Second, the participants described the following in the middle of the course: (1) observations of the supervisor’s attitudes, (2) observations of the supervisor’s supervision strategies, (3) influence after receiving supervision, and (4) recommendations for future course arrangement. Finally, the participants reported the following 3 months after the end of the course: (1) learning gained from the practicum course, (2) details pertaining to “supervisee-centered” supervision, (3) supervisor’s supervision strategies, (4) influence after receiving supervision, and (5) recommendations for course arrangement in the future. The researcher’s modification of the course plan based on the results of this study, reflections on this action research, and continuous actions of the researcher are presented.