Task Groups as an Anti-Oppression Opportunity for School Counselors

ABSTRACT

Task groups led by school counselors provide both opportunities and challenges for centering anti-oppression in such groups. We used the Principles of Anti-Oppression: A Critical Analytic Synthesis (Peters & Luke, 2022) to guide our thinking and a bioecological lens to situate school counselors as task group facilitators within the larger context. These two perspectives were useful when considering how school counselors, in their role as task group leaders/facilitators, can infuse anti-oppression and social justice into this aspect of their work.

KEYWORDS:

• Task groups
• school counselors
• anti-racist
• anti-oppression
• social justice

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Alejandro Menchaca, of Phoenix, AZ, who served as a consultant and editor of this manuscript. His assistance was invaluable.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sheri Bauman

Sheri Bauman, Ph.D. is the corresponding author for this manuscript. She is Professor Emerita in the College of Education at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. [email protected].

Teri Taylor

Teri Taylor, DrPH is a Lecturer in the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University.

Ahmarin Noor

Ahmarin Noor is a Support Services Graduate Assistant at the Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques (SALT) Center at the University of Arizona. Both are master’s students in the Counseling program at the University of Arizona.