TPC Journal V7, Issue 2 - FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor | Volume 7, Issue 2 165 knowledge and skills (Grasha, 1994). These Factor 1 students also may find it helpful when counselor educators use a personal model of teaching to demonstrate how something should be done, which has the dual benefit of helping students learn through observation and creating a clear objective for which to strive (Grasha, 1994). Additionally, the Factor 1 archetype prefers teachers who introduce new information and skills using a contextual approach (Granello & Hazler, 1998) in which they take time to explain how and why what is being taught is relevant to the goal of becoming a competent professional counselor. These approaches to teaching may quell developmental anxieties experienced by Factor 1 students, and counselor educators can encourage further growth through providing strength-based feedback as students perform clinical learning tasks. The preferences of the Factor 2 student-learner archetype are closely aligned with counselor educators who use constructivist (Nelson & Neufeldt, 1998) and learner-centered pedagogies (Baeten et al., 2012) while teaching clinical courses. The Factor 2 archetype prefers for minimal class time to be used for teacher-led instruction and the majority of class time to be used for reflective learning activities, discussion and exchanging feedback. These Factor 2 students prefer for counselor educators to operate on the periphery of the classroom in the style of a facilitator and delegator, acting as a catalyst who orchestrates a rich learning environment (Grasha, 1994). A rich learning environment from the Factor 2 perspective is a classroom with many active voices openly sharing different points of view, providing one another with candid feedback about their clinical work. An important task then is for counselor educators to create relevant learning activities in class that provoke discussion and reflection. One example of this could be requiring the Factor 2 archetype to present videos or case vignettes of their clinical work with clients in which they are required to conceptualize the client with their classmates. During such an activity, counselor educators may be helpful to Factor 2 students by offering candid feedback, sharing (potentially) alternative viewpoints and prompting them to justify clinical interventions based on their theoretical orientation(s). The preferences of the Factor 3 student-learner archetype are focused on the personality and relational qualities of counselor educators. This orientation toward the personality qualities of the teacher is congruent with research from undergraduate populations that found instructors with warmth-inducing behaviors (Best & Addison, 2000) and who demonstrated enthusiasm about course content (Feldman, 1988) were associated with effective teaching. Similarly, it is important to the Factor 3 archetype that they perceive their instructors as kind, genuine and passionate about what they are teaching because these personal qualities kindle their interest for learning. Factor 3 students are further motivated to learn when they develop respect and admiration for counselor educators, which can be achieved through expert and formal authority styles of teaching (Grasha, 1994). Factor 3 prefers for counselor educators to lead class in a teacher-centered fashion so that their teachers’ personal qualities are at the forefront of the learning environment. However, dissimilar to teacher-centered approaches that emphasize the importance of mastering course content, the Factor 3 archetype learns primarily through the relationship developed with counselor educators. Their ideal teacher is affable, demonstrates charisma in the classroom and is an exemplar of personality qualities they perceive as important for a counselor to possess. Observing and experiencing these desirable characteristics in counselor educators inspires Factor 3 students to emulate them in their clinical work. Several examples of how counselor educators can engage Factor 3 students are as follows: (a) ethically sharing candid anecdotes that may directly or tangentially relate to course material; (b) asking students how they are feeling about their experiences in the class or in clinical situations; and (c) using humor as a pedagogical tool. It is interesting to consider results from this study in light of a similar Q study that explored what beginning professional counselors perceived as helpful about teachers from didactic courses