Conducting counseling sessions competently

Abstract

Counseling in the sense of a helpful and reflective conversation is a challenging form of action and at the same time an expression of pedagogical professionalism. Taking on counseling tasks in everyday school life and teaching is part of the professional role and the educational mission. In order to fulfil the counseling-related requirements, teachers need counseling knowledge and methods as well as a strong self-awareness and foreign perception such as a highly developed ability to reflect. However, there is still a lack in vocational teacher training, concerning the systematic and comprehensive teaching of these counseling-related skills. The article provides insight into the development and evaluation of a holistic seminar concept to strengthen just these competences. It is part of a design-based research study in vocational and business education to strengthen job-related self-awareness and self-reflection within the first phase of teacher training. The course “Conducting counseling sessions competently” can be understood as a prototype that is used to examine how counseling can be promoted on a microdidactic level. First evaluation results demonstrate how the students perceived and experienced the seminar.