Problems with Problem-Solving Consultation: A Re-Analysis of Assumptions, Methods, and Goals

Abstract

The present article provides a critical reexamination of problem-solving through client-centered case consultation. In so doing, characteristics of case-centered consultation as it is described in the literature are evaluated in relation to what is known about help giving, effective classroom management, and the demands of educational instruction. A basic tenet of this paper is that effective classroom management is based upon a sound instructional repertoire and developed through ongoing access to existing resources. As a result, traditional case-centered consultation may do little to encourage the independent functioning of teachers because assistance is rendered in a circumscribed and reactive fashion, the diversity of activities involved in effective classroom management are often over looked, and teaching skills upon which suggested interventions are necessarily based are not assessed. It is argued the focus of consultation be more appropriately directed toward helping teachers identify and mobilize existing resources and in so doing develop competencies which are self-sustaining.