an ethics challenge for school counselors.pdfVIP

An Ethics Challenge for School Counselors Janet G. Froeschle and Charles Crews Texas Tech University 2 Abstract Ethical issues arise more often for school counselors than for those who work in other settings (Remley, 2002). The challenge of working not only with minors but also with other stakeholders including parents, teachers, school administrators, and community members sets the stage for potential legal and ethical dilemmas. Awareness and adherence to ethical codes, therefore, is critical if school counselors are to make appropriate, ethical decisions (Bodenhorn, 2006; Capuzzi, 2002; Glosoff Pate, 2002). This article enhances school counselors’ knowledge of ethical codes by using actual cases as submitted by school counselors. The issues are presented in a quiz format to further discussion and relate each scenario to particular ethical codes. 3 An Ethics Challenge for School Counselors A review of the literature indicates several common ethical challenges faced by school counselors. Bodenhorn (2006) conducted a survey of school counselors and indicated major ethical concerns as those related to handling student confidentiality, parental rights, and acting on information regarding student danger to self or others. Other researchers list not only the aforementioned issues as the most challenging but also include issues related to dealing with a colleague’s ethical breach, appropriately collaborating with educational associates, and sharing information with family members and school personnel (Capuzzi, 2002; Froeschle, 2006; Glosoff Pate, 2002; Huss Mulet, 2008; Lazovsky, 2008; Moyer Sullivan, 2008; White Kress, Costin, Drouhard, 2006; Wilczenski Coomey, 2006)