A Pedagogical Model for Increasing Race- Related Multicultural Counseling Competency

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The Counseling Psychologist38(5) 691 –713

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DOI: 10.1177/0011000009360917http://tcp.sagepub.com

A Pedagogical Model for Increasing Race-Related Multicultural Counseling Competency

Tamara R. Buckley1

and Erica Gabrielle Foldy2

Abstract

With the increasing need for multicultural competence, questions have emerged about the appropriate classroom strategies to cultivate growth in this area. These questions have been further complicated by a growing focus on self-awareness, which has increased the affective demands of and student resistance to the material. This article proposes a pedagogical model to enhance what the authors call race-related multicultural counseling competency, which focuses on race, racism, and racial identity development. The fundamental premise is that two types of safety, psychological safety and identity safety, must be present. The authors further argue that safety requires attention to both course content and teaching processes as well as an incremental learning approach that emphasizes race-related competence as a lifelong developmental process.

Keywords

race, multicultural, training, counseling, pedagogical model

1City University of New York, NY, USA2New York University, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:Tamara R. Buckley, School of Education, Hunter College, City University of New York,695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 11065Email: [email protected]

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692 The Counseling Psychologist 38(5)

Only if I feel that I will retain my identity or integrity as I learn some-thing new or make a change, will I be able to even contemplate it.

—Schein (1992, p. 300)

IntroductionMore than three decades ago at a conference in Vail, Colorado, the American Psychological Association (APA) mandated that psychology departments prepare students to function in a multiracial and multicultural society (Korman, 1974). Working without knowledge of best practices for visible racial/ethnic groups was deemed unethical (Fouad & Arredondo, 2003). A flurry of profes-sional activity ensued, including the development of multicultural counseling competencies (i.e., Arredondo et al., 1996; Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992; Sue et al., 1982), professional practice guidelines (APA, 2003), and conceptual models (e.g., Ridley, Mendoza, & Kanitz, 1994; Toporek & Reza, 2001). In the late 1970s, 1% of APA-accredited programs offered a multicul-tural counseling course; by 1997, 89% of accredited programs offered at least one course (Ponterotto, 1997), with some emphasizing a broad range of dimensions including gender, race, sexuality, religion, social class, and ability status and others focusing primarily on race, racial identity, and racism. In this article, we articulate a model for this latter approach, one that increases what we call race-related multicultural counseling competency. We define our pedagogical approach as one among many in the broader domain of multicul-tural counseling training (MCT). Therefore, we use the term MCT when referring to the broader field of multicultural counseling and the term race-related counseling competency when referring specifically to our model.

During the period described above, pedagogical approaches to MCT were evolving. Earlier training approaches emphasized knowledge of racial and ethnic groups more than awareness of one’s own racial and ethnic background (Cornelius-White, 2005; Utsey, Gernat, & Bolden, 2003), leading to higher levels of multicultural competence in the cognitive rather than affective domain (Collins & Pieterse, 2008). Current pedagogical approaches recognize self-awareness as a precursor to multicultural competence (Fouad & Arredondo, 2003), which has increased the affective demands of MCT. Increasingly, courses are designed to develop students’ awareness of their own racial and cultural heritage, biases, and assumptions in addition to building knowledge about other racial and cultural groups and the skills to work across culture. As a result, for example, students may be better equipped both to understand Asian cultural norms (i.e., knowledge) and to recognize their own stereotypes regarding Asians (i.e., awareness).

Buckley and Foldy 693

This pedagogical shift has benefits and challenges. Awareness has been found to lead to better counseling outcomes in general and multicultural counseling outcomes specifically (Torres-Rivera, Phan, Maddux, Wilbur, & Garrett, 2001; Vinson & Neimeyer, 2000). Awareness has also been found to help clinicians challenge their own ethnocentrism and empathize with clients from various racial and cultural backgrounds. However, increased attention to self-awareness has increased the affective and emotional demands of MCT. Consequently, educators and scholars report that a growing number of students—both White students and students of color—have become defensive and resistant to learning the material (Abreu, 2001; Jackson, 1999; Kiselica, 1998; Mio, 2003; Tomlinson-Clarke & Wang, 1999).

Recognizing this dynamic, educators have developed strategies to reduce student resistance. Locke and Kiselica (1999) suggested creating an egali-tarian professor-student relationship in which a professor models appropriate self-disclosure and encourages a student to take responsibility for his or her learning (Rooney, Flores, & Mercier, 1998, p. 24). There is also almost uni-form agreement that the classroom should be a supportive container (Fouad & Arredondo, 2003; Kiselica, 1998; Utsey et al., 2003), which may be enhanced by a person-centered approach (Cornelius-White, 2005). Finally, scholars have discussed the importance of presenting didactic and cognitive material first, followed by experiential and affective activities to reduce student resistance (Tomlinson-Clarke & Wang, 1999).

These strategies are important. However, we suggest that MCT pedagogical approaches and strategies have not kept pace with the broadened demands of these courses. The multicultural training literature is replete with content models for increasing cultural competency (e.g., Ridley, Mendoza, & Kanitz, 1994). In addition, a growing number of scholars have begun to attend to classroom environment (Cornelius-White, 2005; Kiselica, 1998; Locke & Kiselica, 1999). Our model combines these two approaches by attending to both content and process as well as emphasizing safety as the critical factor. This approach is consistent with APA’s most recent Guidelines on Multicul-tural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists (APA, 2003): Guideline 3 encourages faculty to infuse educa-tion with a multicultural-centered perspective and to create safe learning environments.

Our model also focuses on enhancing race-related multicultural counseling competency, in particular, which we define as the knowledge, skills, and awareness to comprehensively and sensitively address issues related to race, racism, and racial identity. Helms and Cook (1999) noted that race continues to be a “missing link” in multicultural training programs (p. 9). An insufficient number of graduate programs in counseling psychology focus on racial and


cultural awareness (Hills & Strozier, 1992; Utsey et al., 2003), perhaps because discussions about other dimensions of cultural identity such as gender are not as “potentially charged [as those] about race and racism” (Utsey et al., 2003, p. 152). Yet race is a characteristic that continues to be used to maintain the existing hierarchy by defining who has access to societal resources and how those resources are dispensed (Helms & Cook, 1999); race is also used to organize people into groups such as those who are intelligent or trustworthy (Helms & Cook, 1999). These categorizations have profound social, emotional, and psychological consequences when people accept as fact stereotypes about a group of people based solely on the group members’ skin color (Carter & Pieterse, 2005).

In sum, our model proposes an answer to this question: How can professors teaching race-related multicultural counseling courses create the conditions to foster safety and learning and thereby increase race-related counseling com-petency? Next, we provide an overview of our model followed by a more detailed description of each element. We end with implications of our model for the nuts and bolts of teaching race-related multicultural counseling courses, its limitations, and implications for future research.

A Pedagogical Model for Increasing Race-Related Multicultural Counseling CompetencyFigure 1 displays our pedagogical model for enhancing race-related multicul-tural counseling competency. The backbone of our model is the relationship among the classroom, psychological safety, and race-related counseling com-petency. The fundamental premise is that psychological safety, which is the belief that the classroom is safe for taking interpersonal risks, must be present for learning around the charged and often taboo topics of race and racism. For safety to be present, we argue that a professor must create a supportive “holding environment” (e.g., Winnicott, 1986) akin to a learning laboratory, in which students can learn, share their ideas, and try out new behaviors while continuing to be supported—much like what is necessary for learning and change in a therapy context.

Studies document that team learning is enabled by psychological safety (Edmondson, 1999; Edmondson, Bohmer, & Pisano, 2001). Psychological safety has been linked to learning behaviors such as expressing ideas that may go against the status quo and providing and receiving feedback. We argue that establishing psychological safety can be very difficult, given the nature of the material and the societal and institutional contexts in which MCT takes place. However, we also suggest that it will be facilitated by the presence of identity


safety, or the individual belief that one’s social identity—in this case, racial group—is acknowledged, is welcome, and will not incur risk in the class (Markus, Steele, & Steele, 2000).

Despite the challenges, we believe that creating safety is possible and that it requires attention to both course content and the teaching process. Specifi-cally, we suggest that faculty use a multiculturally centered teaching approach, adapted to focus on race-related issues. This would require including a repre-sentative sampling of material about different racial groups (Crocker, Major, & Steele, 1998) and an inclusive teaching approach that attends to differences deriving from race both in course content and in teaching strategies. We also suggest that faculty emphasize race-related multicultural competence as a

Institutionalcontext

(school &program)

Multiculturally centeredteachingapproach

Race-RelatedMulticulturalCounseling

Competency

PsychologicalSafety

Race-RelatedMulticultural CounselingTraining

Identitysafety

Societalcontext Incremental

learningapproach

Figure 1. Model for Increasing Race-Related Multicultural Counseling Competency


lifelong, developmental process by encouraging learning goals (Collins & Pieterse, 2008; Dweck, 1991; Dweck, Chiu, & Hong, 1995; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Sue et al., 1992). We begin by addressing the spine of the model—the relationship between training, safety, and competency—and then address each element of the model in greater detail.

The Relationship Among Race-Related MCT, Psychological Safety, and Race-Related Multicultural Counseling CompetencyLearning in a Race-Related MCT Context

Learning is a central element of our model. We begin by highlighting the particular dynamics of learning within a group setting, the classroom.

Learning in a group context includes several interrelated dynamics: individuals’ voicing ideas and making their tacit knowledge explicit, the group’s reflecting on and integrating these disparate ideas, and the group’s developing new understandings (Argote, Gruenfeld, & Naquin, 2001; Cook & Seely Brown, 1999). In other words, surfacing and engaging difference is at the heart of learning in a group context. However, research has generally found that these processes can be inhibited by group interaction. Individuals are often concerned about how they will be evaluated by others, which inhibits the expression of novel ideas (Gallupe, Bastianutti, & Cooper, 1991). Individuals often focus on the information they have in common rather than share their unique perspectives (Stasser, 1999). Even if individu-als raise conflicting views or perspectives, they are often reluctant to engage those ideas if they challenge existing ideas and perspectives (Edmondson, 2002). These dynamics may be amplified by power asymmetries deriving from different social identity groups, such as racial groups.

We suggest that these challenges are likely to emerge in race-related mul-ticultural counseling courses that include experiential and group activities that both seek to broaden students’ attitudes and beliefs about race and examine their role in maintaining existing power dynamics deriving from racial group membership (Parker & Schwartz, 2002). A combination of the course reading and personal racial exploration has been found to trigger a range of emotions in students, including shock, guilt, anger, and shame, as well as defense mech-anisms including resistance, denial, displacement, and intellectualization (Fouad & Arredondo, 2003; Jackson, 1999). Resistance in the classroom, much like resistance in a therapeutic interaction, can lead to withdrawal, passivity, and anger that can impede communication and learning in the


classroom (Jackson, 1999; Ponterotto, 1998; Tomlinson-Clarke & Wang, 1999). However, these dynamics are not inevitable. We propose that class-rooms with psychological safety encourage students to take interpersonal risks without fear of being sanctioned.

Psychological SafetyPsychological safety refers to a climate in which individuals are comfortable being and expressing themselves (Edmondson, 2003) because of a shared belief that there is mutual trust and respect within the group (Edmondson, 1999). Examples of psychological safety beliefs include the following: “It is safe to take a risk in this group,” and “I can maintain my identity or integrity as I learn something new” (Edmondson, 1999, p. 382; Schein, 1992, p. 300). With these types of beliefs, individuals should be more likely to feel that expressing different or challenging ideas will not result in penalties. As the opening quotation states, learning will not happen unless one’s identity and integrity are not threatened. In other words, psychological safety is necessary for students to feel comfortable sharing aspects of themselves and receiving input from others in service of learning.

Psychological safety is not something that is either entirely present or entirely absent, like a light switch that gets turned on and off. It is a continuum and is likely to vary over time for the group as a whole, as well as for indi-vidual students, depending on the topic being discussed and other factors. That said, some classrooms will be more psychologically safe than others, and our model suggests the characteristics that we believe lead to greater psychological safety.

Furthermore, having psychological safety does not mean that students will always feel comfortable with race-related exploration. Rather, if psychological safety is present, students may be more inclined to tolerate their discomfort as they share their honest reactions and feelings. Students may be more likely to take risks by engaging in productive conflict or openly challenging one another rather than withdrawing. For example, a foreign-born student may share that she has a different view of race than is being presented and needs help understanding race relations in North America rather than withdraw because she fears that her ideas may go against existing classroom norms. This type of exchange may be uncomfortable and disrupt the status quo, but change often requires disequilibrium (Minuchin, 1977).

Previous work on psychological safety in organizational settings pre-sumed that individuals in work groups are likely to share a sense of safety or lack thereof, with little consideration of internal or external influences.


However, establishing psychological safety in a race-related counseling class is a dynamic process influenced by societal, program, and classroom characteristics.

Contextual Factors Affecting Psychological SafetyPsychological safety is likely affected by societal-level, program, and classroom-level dynamics. According to embedded intergroup theory, there is an uneven distribution of power, resources, and status across racial groups in society—with Whites relatively more privileged than people of color—that affects different racial group members’ expectations and interactions; these status differentials get imported into organizations, groups, or classes and reflected in group dynamics and interpersonal interactions (Alderfer, Alderfer, Tucker, & Tucker, 1980; Alderfer & Smith, 1982). In race-related counseling multicultural classes, tacit beliefs about how race influences the interpersonal context may powerfully affect minority and majority team members’ assessments of the risks and benefits of revealing different views and experiences in the classroom, which may ultimately inhibit an open exchange of ideas.

The organizational or institutional context (i.e., program or school) in which the multicultural counseling course is being taught may also affect psychological safety. Safety may be enhanced if the program philosophy and mission clearly delineate the importance of multicultural training (Fouad & Arredondo, 2003). However, simply stating this intention is likely not enough. For the past two decades, researchers have called for genuine infu-sion of multiculturalism into training programs by integrating multicultural issues into programs’ missions and philosophies (Reynolds, 1995), hiring faculty who represent the racial and cultural diversity of the United States, including multicultural issues through the overall curriculum (D’Andrea & Daniels, 1991), and infusing a consistent multicultural philosophy and approach throughout programs (Collins & Pieterse, 2008; Ridley, Mendoza, & Kanitz, 1994). Ridley, Mendoza, and Kanitz’s (1994) five-tiered pyramid model asserted that an effective MCT program has several critical levels beginning with program and training philosophies that drive learning objec-tives, including instructional strategies and program designs, and culminating in program evaluation.

Students may assess the congruence between the program philosophy and actual program practices. As an illustration, does the program espouse a mul-ticultural philosophy but offer only one course with multicultural topics? Does the program describe a commitment to diversity yet have a limited


number of faculty from marginalized groups such as women; persons who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered; and those with disabilities? Do core faculty and faculty of all racial backgrounds teach multicultural courses, or are adjunct faculty or faculty of color solely responsible for these courses? These program characteristics will likely affect whether students believe that multicultural competence is truly valued by the program, which may affect their willingness to take the interpersonal risks necessary for developing mul-ticultural competence. These broader contextual influences may also affect classroom dynamics.

Classroom-Level Dynamics Affecting Psychological SafetyOne way that the broader context influences classroom dynamics is through the mechanism of social identity threat. The theory of social identity threat posits that settings can arouse a broad set of cues that can trigger the sense that one is at risk because of his or her identity (Steele, Spencer, & Aaronson, 2002). Social identity threat can be aroused by cues such as the number of individuals who share a given identity, the nature of the diversity philosophy (i.e., whether the setting adopts a color-blind or color-cognizant stance toward diversity), the degree of status accorded certain social identities, and stereotyping. Research suggests that in a given setting, these cues can affect individuals’ trust, comfort (Purdie-Vaughns, Steele, Davies, Diltmann, & Dolman, 2008), and performance (Kiefer, Sekaquaptewa & Barczyk, 2006; Steele, 1992, 1997).

Social identity threat theory was initially conceptualized to help under-stand the experiences of “individuals whose identities have been historically devalued” (Purdie-Vaughns et al., 2008, p. 615). People of color, for example, may be more likely than others to anticipate negative consequences because they are more likely to be targets of negative racial stereotypes and more con-scious of racial dynamics (Ely, 1995; Steele, 1997; Tajfel, 1982), even when Whites are in the numerical minority (Purdie-Vaughns et al., 2008; Steele, 1992, 1997). In addition, people of color may be more likely to believe that their comments or errors will reflect negatively on them as individuals and on their race as a whole (Steele et al., 2002). A Black student, for example, may be reluctant to share her views because she is keenly aware of the possibility of being stereotyped as the angry Black woman or being labeled as the spokes-person for her race. A White heterosexual man may, on the other hand, feel authorized to share and safe sharing with the class his unique point of view regarding race relations.

However, classrooms engaged in race-related MCT are different from most contexts in that they explicitly privilege knowledge about race and


culture and draw on life experiences related to race. Students of color are likely to have greater knowledge of race and culture—their own and Whites’—than White students because Eurocentric cultural values and norms are dominant in North America. For this reason, White students may also be likely to experience identity threat, perhaps related to being perceived as racist, which may limit their classroom interaction and reduce psychological safety for the class as a whole.

Although social identity threat is triggered by the setting, students’ pro-pensity to experience social identity threat may in part be influenced by their racial identity status. Racial identity is a developmental theory that acknowl-edges that individuals from the same racial group may differ in their thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs about their own and other racial groups (Carter, 1995; Cross, 1978; Helms, 1990). Racial identity development has implications for both the frequency and the depth of racial discussions (Helms & Cook, 1999). A White student with an advanced level of racial identity may share her obser-vation that another White student appears to be attacking the Black professor and wonder if it is a defensive reaction to his racial privilege. On the other hand, classroom discussions about race may create anxiety for a Latina student with a less advanced level of racial identity who believes that race has minimal relevance to counseling. These feelings may reduce her level of psychologi-cal safety and her willingness to take interpersonal risks. Her resistance, in turn, may build resentment among students with more advanced levels of racial identity and inhibit honest discussion about race, particularly if the professor is not skilled at managing these dynamics.

Alternatively, some students may understand the importance of identity, but race may not be as salient for them as other dimensions of their identity. An Asian man’s gay identity may have greater meaning for him than his racial group membership, and a Black Jamaican student may feel that the ethnic and cultural dimensions of her identity have a greater impact on her worldview and work with clients than her racial group membership. When the class is focusing on race, these students may feel that other important dimensions of their identity are being ignored, which may limit their engagement in class-room discussion, thereby reducing psychological safety.

As with students, a professor’s level of racial identity can be critical, espe-cially for managing student reactions to race that can affect psychological safety. Scholars have written about the challenges facing instructors who teach multicultural counseling courses when students’ emotional reactions are displaced onto them (Fouad & Arredondo, 2003; Jackson, 1999). For example, it is common for a student to vehemently deny that race is salient in therapy and argue that this is the professor’s personal opinion. These types


of interactions can affect classroom dynamics and psychological safety. A professor with an advanced level of racial identity is equipped to establish the emotional distance necessary to keep from internalizing student reactions that can trigger his or her own negative countertransferential feelings. Drawing on racial identity theory, a professor is able to recognize a student’s level of racial identity and to deliver a developmentally appropriate intervention that can enhance learning and safety for that student and others. Finally, racial identity has been found to be a function of ego development. Therefore, a professor with an advanced level of racial identity may also demonstrate higher ego functioning in other domains of identity (Buckley & Carter, 2005; Nghe & Mahalik, 2001). He or she may, therefore, be able to facilitate safety among all students, even those for whom race is not as salient, by discuss-ing multiple identities and intersections among identity while maintaining a focus on race-related competency.

In summary, we suggest that it can be difficult for faculty to establish psychological safety in their classrooms, because of how larger societal and institutional factors can influence classroom dynamics. The combination of these forces can diminish the possibility of learning together, given the estab-lished link between psychological safety and learning. These dynamics, however, are not inevitable. We suggest that identity safety—an individual’s sense of safety and comfort despite (or even because of) one’s group identity—is crucial for establishing psychology safety. We also suggest that pedagogical decisions related to both course content and teaching strategies can enhance students’ identity safety.

Identity SafetyIdentity safety is necessary to reduce the likelihood that a student will experi-ence identity threat in a classroom setting (Markus et al., 2000). Identity safety is an individual-level belief that a student “can function in [a given] setting without fear that [his or her] social identity will evoke devaluation and interference” (Steele et al., 2002, p. 425). An identity-safe environment acknowledges differences in social identity and treats those differences as a source of valuable ideas and perspectives, which may encourage students to surface ideas they might otherwise have kept to themselves (Ely & Thomas, 2001). In other words, an identity-safe environment adopts a “value in diversity” perspective rather than a “color-blind” perspective.

Researchers in social psychology have found that color-blind strategies can raise suspicion and reduce trust and comfort for Black participants (Apfelbaum, Sommers, & Norton, 2008; Purdie-Vaughns et al., 2008),


whereas honest and open discussions about race can actually increase feel-ings of inclusion and identity safety. Students will feel a sense of safety connected to their group identity, which will offset the possibility of identity threat. Identity safety is the individual sense of security that comes from knowing one’s racial group is welcomed—a feeling that facilitates the group-level belief that a class is truly psychologically safe for risk taking. The combination of psychological safety and identity safety should help students to risk raising differing ideas and perspectives and encourage them to tra-verse the path of self-exploration necessary for race-related competence (Jackson, 1999).

In sum, we propose that identity safety will make it more likely that all students will experience the classroom as psychologically safe, which will lead to learning. However, this begs the question of how to create identity safety. We suggest that the use of a multiculturally centered teaching approach will facilitate identity safety in MCT classrooms.

Multiculturally Centered Teaching ApproachResearchers (e.g., Abreu, 2001; Steele, 1997) have found that a multiculturally centered approach to education may help to counteract the types of auto-matic categorization and stereotyping that can reduce identity safety. Multiculturally centered teaching practices have also been found to promote students’ multicultural knowledge, skills (Manese, Wu, & Nepomuceno, 2001), and awareness (Brown, Parham, & Yonker, 1996). This approach addresses cultural issues more broadly, including those deriving from racial differences.

A multiculturally centered teaching approach explicitly attends to students’ diverse backgrounds by including course content from myriad perspectives and adopting a teaching style that does not make White Eurocentric culture normative (Fouad & Arredondo, 2003). By design, a course in race-related multicultural competency includes content about many racial groups, which may increase identity safety because students’ racial and cultural backgrounds are acknowledged and respected—one condition necessary for identity safety. A multiculturally centered teaching approach goes one step further by includ-ing in the teaching material multiple perspectives related to race and culture as well as differing worldviews (Crocker et al., 1998). For example, a professor might assign both reading that outlines the importance of culturally tailored interventions for Native American populations and reading that describes how a supportive, nonjudgmental approach, irrespective of approach, can lead to positive therapeutic outcomes. In this way, students are also challenged to think more broadly about the complexity of both race and culture, which


should increase their racial and cultural knowledge. Including multiple approaches also underscores the notion of individual differences both among students and within the clients they serve.

A multiculturally centered teaching approach also encourages an instructor to adopt a broad range of teaching strategies that may appeal to the cultural orientations of students. For example, students may have preferences for visual, verbal, or auditory approaches—differences that may be functions of their cultures of origin (Fouad & Arredondo, 2003). Similarly, students’ cultural backgrounds may influence their comfort with individualistic or cooperative assignments. Attending to the complexity of students’ racial and cultural backgrounds, in terms of both course content and teaching strategy, should increase students’ identity safety; this approach may also provide stu-dents with a roadmap about factors to consider when counseling persons from varying racial and ethnic backgrounds (Fouad & Arredondo, 2003).

In sum, we suggest that a multiculturally centered teaching approach will enhance identity safety for all students. However, we also suggest that identity safety is not enough to create psychological safety. A further ingredient is an environment that fosters learning goals, aimed at developing one’s ability rather than performance goals that focus on judgments of ability as favorable or unfavorable (Dweck, 1996).

Students’ Learning GoalsSubstantial research has demonstrated that students’ implicit theories about learning can dramatically affect their capacity to learn and to engage in ste-reotyping. Dweck and her colleagues’ work has focused on how beliefs about the malleability of human attributes, such as intelligence, personality, and moral character, are associated with different goals and behaviors (Dweck, 1991; Dweck & Leggett, 1988). For example, the authors assert that an indi-vidual tends to hold either an entitative or an incremental view of intelligence that has implications for how a person understands himself or herself and others (Dweck, 1996). A person holding an entity theory is likely to judge his or her own and others’ intelligence as a fixed attribute or trait, view negative outcomes as the result of a lack of intelligence, and pursue performance goals that emphasize the achievement of fixed outcomes rather than the learning process itself (Chiu, Hong, & Dweck, 1997). In contrast, a person with an incremental view believes that intelligence, both his or her own and others’, is malleable and dynamic and is more likely to pursue learning goals that highlight the importance of growth and development (Dweck, 1996). In a race-related counseling course, a student holding an entity view may judge himself or herself as incompetent and incapable of developing race-related


competence. A student who holds an incremental view may also view himself of herself as incompetent but may believe that through self-exploration and knowledge building, she can gain competence.

Dweck and colleagues’ research is relevant because it dovetails with con-ceptual work in the multicultural counseling literature, in which researchers have argued for a greater emphasis on the process of developing multicultural competence rather than on the fixed goal of being multiculturally competent (Collins & Pieterse, 2008; Sue et al., 1992). The Multicultural Counseling Competencies and Standards state that becoming culturally skilled is an active, ongoing process with no end point (Sue et al., 1992). Collins and Pieterse (2008) argued that developing multicultural competence is an ongoing process that continues throughout life rather than a “fixed, achievable goal” (p. 14). Much like an incremental theory of learning, a process perspective emphasizes commitment to increasing levels of learning and awareness through ongoing effort at personal growth and change. A counselor’s belief that a person can grow and change is also critical for promoting his or her clients’ development. Therefore, it would seem crucial that students in race-related multicultural counseling courses hold an incremental understanding of cultural competence.

Further research reinforces this conclusion. Levy and Dweck (1996) found that persons who hold an entity theory engaged in more stereotyping than those holding an incremental theory, possibly because they are more likely to assign negative fixed traits to novel groups (Dweck, Hong, & Chu).

Although individuals have a propensity to hold either an entity or an incremental view of intelligence, research documents that students’ implicit theories of intelligence are subject to influence (Bergen, 1991; Dweck & Legget, 1988). In several studies, researchers manipulated students’ theories of intelligence and found that they could shift from holding entitative to incre-mental beliefs about learning that had an impact on their classroom goals and behaviors (Bergen, 1991; Dweck & Legget, 1988). Holding an incremental learning approach has also been found to have a positive effect in interracial interactions. In a set of experimental studies, Goff, Steele, and Davies (2008) found that White participants tended to distance themselves from Black par-ticipants when talking with them about racial profiling. However, distancing behavior was influenced by the learning approach. When the task was intro-duced using an incremental rather than an entitative learning approach, social distance declined. This suggests that other contexts in which race and culture are salient may also be affected by an emphasis on incremental learning.

Therefore, in our model, we propose that an environment that fosters an incremental approach that emphasizes learning goals is essential for encour-aging students to engage in the difficult process of self-exploration and skill


building necessary for developing race-related competence. Emphasizing the process of learning rather than a fixed performance goal further signals that competence is possible for all students, even those with limited exposure and experiences with racial and cultural issues.

SummaryWith an increasing number of multicultural counseling course offerings and training approaches, questions have emerged about how to best facilitate race-related counseling competence. These questions have been further complicated by a growing emphasis on self-awareness, which has increased affective demands and student resistance to the material. Our model contrib-utes to the existing literature on MCT in several important ways. First, we focus on the specific dynamics related to race, racism, and racial identity, given their particularly charged nature in American society. Second, we put psychological safety—the belief that the context is safe for risk taking—at the heart of our model. We then argue that psychological safety can be fos-tered only by attention to both the content of the material that is taught and the pedagogical processes that affect classroom dynamics. Much of the existing work emphasizes either content or process, with few exceptions (see Utsey et al., 2003). Fourth, our model is explicit in its focus on learning, both group and individual, and describes the importance of incremental learning goals for facilitating race-related multicultural counseling compe-tence. Finally, we discuss societal-level influences and classroom dynamics that may affect psychological safety and thereby race-related counseling competence.

Implications for the Nuts and Bolts of Classroom TeachingThus far, this article has described a conceptual model of the requirements for establishing psychological safety in race-related-competency-building classrooms. In this section, we explore the implications of this model for the concrete, day-to-day choices that every faculty member faces when creating a course.

Above we asserted that students’ psychological safety in race-related coun-seling classes could be affected by the program’s philosophy, its approach to multicultural education, and the alignment between espoused beliefs and actual practice. Therefore, even before agreeing to teach the course, a professor might clarify both whether the program’s philosophy is consistent with his or her own and if he or she will receive support from the program for his or her


approach (Utsey et al., 2003). For example, a professor who focuses on building race-related competency may be uncomfortable in a program that emphasizes all dimensions of social identity to the extent of evading attention to race. If a professor and the program have different pedagogical approaches, or if the professor does not feel supported, it is unlikely that he or she can create safety for students engaging in the work of developing race-related counseling competence.

Given the anxiety with which some students may approach the course, it is critical that an instructor be clear and transparent when sharing his or her vision and approach with the students. A detailed explanation about what students might expect, in terms of both content and process, may allay their concerns and resistance (Kiselica, 1998; Rooney et al., 1998), much like informed consent in psychotherapy. Transparency has also been established as important for establishing psychological safety (Edmondson, 2003; Schein & Bennis, 1965).

Therefore, when introducing the course, a professor should emphasize that the class will focus on an incremental approach (i.e., learning) rather than an entity approach (i.e., performance). He or she might underscore this point by recognizing that students begin the course with different levels of race-related experience that may affect their comfort with the topic but emphasize that all students have the capacity to work toward race-related counseling compe-tence. He or she might reinforce these comments by assigning both reading that describes the malleability of learning and intelligence and reading that focuses more specifically on multicultural competence as a developmental and lifelong endeavor. Researchers (e.g., Levy & Dweck, 1996) have found that students’ theories of learning, intelligence, and performance can be manipulated through reading material that reinforces either an incremental or an entity approach.

A professor can also create “practice fields” (Senge, 1990) or forums set up for practice and reflection, both of which have been found to reinforce learning goals (Schein & Bennis, 1965). For example, students might conduct simulated counseling sessions about race with their classmates from which they can learn and develop their counseling skills without fear of receiving a poor grade or “harming” an actual client. This assignment signals to students that learning is valued. Finally, a professor can model a learning stance by sharing his or her own process of racial identity development and encouraging students to engage in similar self-assessments.

Even with clear and transparent classroom goals about learning, a student may believe that his or her racial group will put him or her at risk in the class-room. A professor can foster a sense of identity safety by making an explicit statement about the importance of racial group membership and identity for


classroom learning. For our purposes, this means that the instructor acknowl-edges differences attached to group membership, particularly those social identity groups that continue to be oppressed, and creates an environment in the classroom “that is a basis for respecting a person—rather than a basis for ‘downwardly constituting’ a person as less smart, less deserving, less cultur-ally appropriate, and less valuable to the school community” (Markus et al., 2000, p. 254). As we have noted, using a multiculturally centered teaching approach will reinforce this assertion.

In practice, this could mean calling on all students, White and of color, in classroom discussion about race relations in North America. In addition, if a professor includes a representative sampling of material about various racial and cultural groups, he or she can dispel easy stereotypes that can reduce identity safety. As an example, students might read one article suggesting that Asian clients prefer a directive rather than an insight-oriented counseling style, whereas a second article might argue that utilizing one approach with Asian clients risks stereotyping because of within-race and –culture group differences. This approach may challenge dichotomous (either/or) thinking that is common due to ignorance, ethnocentrism, or prejudice based on race and culture. This approach will also include teaching strategies that attend to students’ different worldviews and learning styles that may be a function of cultural background (Fouad & Arredondo, 2003). For students who hold a collectivistic worldview, for example, cooperative learning assignments may be culturally consistent. Cooperative learning also encourages intercul-tural contact, which has been found to reduce prejudice and stereotyping (Allport, 1954).

Limitations, Further Questions, and Implications for Future ResearchWe have attempted to address the complexity of race-related multicultural counseling competency by including a discussion of both societal-level influences and classroom-level dynamics that may affect psychological safety and therefore race-related counseling competence. However, space constraints limit our ability to address all the possible parameters that could be in play, such as the racial makeup of the classroom (i.e., racially diverse or homogeneous) and the professor’s demographic characteristics. These are important issues that deserve further consideration. This question of com-plexity also relates to a second limitation. In this initial conceptualization of our model, we focus on race-related competency and limit our discussion of other cultural dimensions of identity such as gender, sexuality, and religion. We look forward to elaborating on how our approach would apply to these


other identity groups. Third, we do not explicitly address the resiliency of the model by clarifying necessary or minimal components of the model. However, we believe that safety, both psychological and identity, is founda-tional for creating classrooms in which students can develop race-related multicultural counseling competence. Our ultimate goal is to test the model. Research can provide support for determining the relative necessity of the model’s components. Fourth, researchers argue that a unifying framework (Enns, Sinacore, Ancis, & Phillips, 2004), based on theory and operational constructs that can be tested, is needed to further increase multicultural counseling competence (Ridley, Mendoza, & Kanitz, 1994). Several ele-ments such as psychological safety, learning goals, and racial identity have existing validated measures, making them more straightforward to test than some other pedagogical approaches that have been suggested. Determining the association between these dimensions and a measure of race-related coun-seling competence can be a starting point for examining the efficacy of the model. This work would help to determine which parameters are essential, which is a limitation that we note above. Indeed, such an evaluation holds the potential to advance the field of MCT.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by the Russell Sage Foundation, Visiting Scholars Program.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article: This paper was funded in part by the Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholars Program.

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Bios

Tamara R. Buckley is a New York State licensed psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations and Counseling Program at Hunter College, City University of New York. She is also on the doctoral faculty in the Social and Personality Psychology Program at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. A recent visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation (2007–2008), Dr. Buckley’s current research focuses on racial identity, health disparities, and multicultural competency.

Erica Gabrielle Foldy is an Associate Professor of Public and Nonprofit Management at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University and affiliated faculty with the Research Center for Leadership in Action, based at Wagner, and with the Center for Gender in Organizations at the Simmons School of Management in Boston. Her research explores what enables and inhibits joint work and collective learning across potential divisions such as race, gender and differences of opinion.

A Pedagogical Model for Increasing Race- Related Multicultural Counseling Competency

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