Teach, but don't preach: practical guidelines for addressing spiritual concerns of students

Professional School Counseling, June, 2004 by James T. Wolf

Guidelines based on the American School Counselor Association's ethical codes and various social studies teaching techniques are presented for school counselors to use as they address the spiritual concerns of students. The role of the First Amendment in "spiritual" counseling in public schools and various multicultural considerations are explored as well.

This article explores the practical challenges of counseling students with spiritual issues. To do so, I draw upon the American School Counselor Association's (ASCA, 1998) Ethical Standards for School Counselors and certain teaching suggestions from the social science and history disciplines. Even though I use the terms spirituality and religion throughout the article, they are not interchangeable concepts. In my view, spirituality in a general sense refers to "making sense of" and "giving meaning to the world," and how meaning is made; this process is different for each person. While spirituality might incorporate formal religious beliefs, it does not necessarily have to. When dealing with the spirituality of students, school counselors have to know the difference between teaching and preaching. As defined by Merriam-Webster's Dictionary (2003), teaching includes imparting knowledge and providing instruction. Preaching can be defined as follows: to urge the acceptance or advocate for an idea or a course of action.

SPIRITUAL, ETHICAL, AND LEGAL GUIDELINES

If spirituality is an integral part of human life, why then, do school counselors have to adhere to a standard where they cannot affirm their own spirituality? For public school educators, the answer starts with the First Amendment (Commager, 1958) of the United States Constitution, which in part states, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" (p. 146). In my view, what the First Amendment really means is that the government cannot officially sponsor any faith tradition as the state religion. Public schools, as a government agency, have taken this to mean that they cannot formally endorse any particular religion.

This point is relevant for school counselors to consider, because as we counsel students, invariably spirituality will come up, either directly or indirectly. When spiritual issues do present themselves in a counseling session, it is unethical for school counselors to advocate for their personal spiritual beliefs. This is not only a constitutional issue, but also a professional and ethical issue. For school counselors, ASCA's (1998) Ethical Standards for School Counselors (Standard A.1.c. Responsibilities to Students) states that the professional school counselor "Refrains from consciously encouraging the counselee's acceptance of values ... and beliefs that represent the counselor's personal orientation." This, however, does not mean that a school counselor and student are prohibited from discussing issues related to spirituality. Even with the separation of church and state, schools do not exist in a spiritual vacuum; most children and adults have some kind of loosely defined personal spiritual belief system. How do school counselors address spirituality within the confines of the First Amendment and professional ethical standards?

Some ideas for addressing spirituality are found down the hallway from the counseling office in the classrooms of the history and social science teachers. History teachers have long faced this problem because human history includes religion and spirituality. The National Council for the Social Studies (1998) wrote guidelines for objectively teaching about religions in the context of the history curriculum. There are two recommendations applicable to school counseling. First, teaching about religions should emphasize the necessity and importance of tolerance, respect, and mutual understanding in a world of diversity. Second, teaching about religions should be descriptive, non-confessional, and conducted in an environment free of advocacy.

The key then for teachers and for school counselors is to instruct and inform objectively and "neutrally." To use a metaphor from sports, to remain impartial, a basketball referee cannot also be a fan during the game. Referees have to know the rules of basketball to officiate effectively. Likewise, school counselors need to have a basic knowledge of the law, spirituality, and religion to counsel students competently and ethically.

MULTICULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS

Since many school counselors work with diverse cultural and ethnic populations, they should learn more about their religions and expressions of spirituality. In fact, the first part of ASCA's (1998) Ethical Standard E.2 reads, "The professional school counselor understands the diverse cultural backgrounds of the counselees with whom he/she works." This standard is important because students' ethics, thinking, and perspectives are influenced by their own sense of spirituality. Typically, school counselors are not bothered when they are working with students with similar cultural and spiritual backgrounds. However, it can present a challenge when school counselors assist students from different cultures, ethnicities, and/or spiritualities.