TPC Journal V7, Issue 2 - FULL ISSUE

156 The Professional Counselor | Volume 7, Issue 2 Unfortunately, little empirical research is available to counselor educators to inform their pedagogical choices in clinical courses (Barrio Minton, Wachter Morris, & Yaites, 2014). We believe that better understanding students’ viewpoints of their teachers in clinical courses and what they perceive as beneficial for their clinical practice could provide counselor educators with valuable information to inform their pedagogy in these courses. The current study was designed to contribute in this regard by exploring what aspects of teachers of clinical courses were perceived as helpful by recent graduates of CMHC programs who were working as beginning counselors. Teaching in Higher Education Higher education researchers have focused on personal characteristics of teachers as a way to explore what students perceive as effective teaching; results of such research suggest that students attribute several different characteristics to their teachers’ effectiveness. Examples include perceptions of teacher warmth (Best & Addison, 2000), compassion and interest in students (Sprinkle, 2008), rapport with students, effective delivery of information, focus on interpersonal relationships with students in the classroom (Goldstein & Benassi, 2006), and effective course organization and usefulness (Young & Shaw, 1999). Students additionally believed that effective teachers sparked interest in the course material and were accessible for support as needed (Feldman, 1988). From this research, it appears students value and perceive teacher effectiveness through both teachers’ relational abilities and their effective delivery of course material. In addition to studying personal characteristics of teachers, some higher education researchers have conceptualized different models of teaching styles. One notable model of teaching styles was created by Grasha (1994) through analysis of interviews with higher education faculty members. Grasha identified five teaching styles among faculty members: expert, formal authority, personal model, facilitator and delegator. An expert style refers to the direct transfer of knowledge to students through teaching modalities such as lecture. The formal authority style refers to defining clear expectations and learning objectives for students, which are based on an instructor’s perceived authority on a subject, and providing direct feedback. A personal style refers to instructors teaching by personal example and encouraging students to learn appropriate behaviors through observation. The facilitator style refers to teachers serving as a guide and consultant, encouraging students to move toward independent learning. Finally, the delegator style refers to a hands-off approach in which students are given freedom to function independently. Rather than the teaching styles being exclusive, Grasha noted that teachers display varying degrees of each of the styles within their classrooms. Consequently, different combinations of teaching styles create a unique learning experience for students. Another stylistic aspect of teaching that has been categorized in higher education literature is teacher-centered and learner-centered pedagogy. Instructors who use teacher-centered approaches are characterized by working in an expert role to disseminate knowledge to students. Conversely, teachers who utilize learner-centered approaches take the role of facilitator and aim to create an active learning environment (Smart, Witt, & Scott, 2012). Research on the effectiveness of these two approaches remains inconclusive, and some researchers have suggested that a teaching approach that utilizes both teacher- and learner-centered styles is probably ideal (Baeten, Dochy, & Struyven, 2012). Teaching in Counselor Education Little research exists that examines pedagogy within counselor education programs. Barrio Minton et al. (2014) completed a content analysis of published articles related to teaching and learning within