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Article Excerpt
An annual project involving students and faculty in a collaborative, 6-month planning process that culminates in a half-day program with both didactic and experiential components is presented as a model for creating powerful learning experiences external to the classroom.
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In the early 1900s, John Dewey revolutionized educational philosophy and practice in part through his recognition that the whole student comes to school; thus educators must acknowledge and identify alternative and complementary opportunities for learning beyond the classroom (Dewey, 1938). Following a plethora of studies, particularly ill the latter part of the last century, numerous authors have emphasized the importance of extracurricular activities in educational settings and the significant positive relationship that exists between participation in nonclassroom activities and factors such as academic achievement, clinical practice, and student retention (e.g., Cooper, Valentine, Lindsay, & Nye, 1999; Holloway, 1999; McNeal, 1999; Morgan, 1999). Strange (1992) further stressed the importance of the informal curriculum, the totality of learning experiences that occur outside of the structured academic curriculum, in developing the type of complex and sophisticated skills in reflective thinking that have become necessary for problem solving in an increasingly complex global society.
As recognition of the importance of the informal curriculum has increased, barriers to planning such curricula also have emerged. In particular, steadily increasing numbers of nontraditional students, who frequently value family and work obligations over or in addition to schooling, are demanding fewer extracurricular activities and simpler educational systems (Levine, 1993). Recognizing the importance of informal curricula in counselor training, counselor educators are challenged to find ways to integrate such curricula in a manner that is inclusive of all counselor trainees and that results in meaningful learning that extends beyond the classroom setting (Peterson & Myers, 1995). A major source of guidance in program development, The 2001 Standards of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), defines curricular experiences but not cocurricular experiences, suggesting the need for creative ways to provide effective and engaging informal learning opportunities. One such experience is the Women's History Month Event, a cocurricular program in one counseling department conducted annually for the past 9 years.
In this article, we examine the CACREP standards relating to issues of curricular and cocurricular experiences, as well as requirements for preparation in gender issues, specifically women's issues. Next, a description of the Women's History Month Event, including its evolution, planning, implementation, evaluation, outcomes, and benefits, is presented. Specific information on program topics and the relevance of these topics to gender issues in counseling are described. Suggestions for ways this program could be replicated in other counseling training programs, with similar benefits, and how the process could be applied to other populations and issues are discussed.
GENDER ISSUES IN STANDARDS FORTRAINING AND PRACTICE
The ethics code of the American Counseling Association (ACA; 1995) states that "counselor educators should make an effort to infuse material related to human diversity into all courses and/or workshops that are designed to promote the development of professional counselors" (F.l.a). A training program that excludes gender as a critical component of analysis and that fails to provide a means by which students can learn about the importance of gender in human growth and development may actually be considered unethical (Daniluk, Stein, & Bockus, 1995). In other words, "an inclusive and ethically responsible curriculum must attend to gender as a core component of counselor training" (Daniluk et al., 1995, p. 294).
Consistent with the ethical standards, CACREP's The 2001 Standards clearly mandates that "information concerning gender ... issues should be an integral part of any counselor's education" (Brooks & Kahn, 1990, p. 70). The inclusion of gender issues in the training of counselors is not limited to Section 2J, the common core curriculum, but includes attention to issues such as the composition of faculty, recruitment of students, research activities, and clinical training (Hoffman & Myers, 1996). However, CACREP's standards address gender issues most clearly in the curriculum requirements...
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