The Extern Program: An Approach to Counselor Renewal

Abstract

Counselor education programs must respond to the need for inservice education for practicing, school counselors. The Extern Program described here is designed to provide inservice education through didactic, experiential learning activities implemented on a one weekend per month schedule for nine months. The weekend training involves new developments in the field of counseling, problem solving with a focus on concerns brought to the sessions by the counselors, and new developments in the behavioral sciences outside education. Each weekend is divided into eight phases as follows: (1) didactic input with the topic related to the field of counseling; (2) synthesis and discussion of didactic input with small‐group interaction; (3) participant problem solving with small‐group interaction; (4) group problem solving with large‐group discussion and synthesis; (5) didactic input with the topic relevant to counselor education; (6) synthesis and discussion of didactic input with small group interaction; (7) didactic input with the topic being behavioral science developments outside education; and (8) synthesis and discussion of didactic input with small‐group interaction. An evaluation plan is also discussed.