The Use of Social Justice Concepts in Rehabilitation Counselor Education: Results of an Exploratory Study

Divisive social rhetoric and prevalent racism make the need for infusing social justice throughout counselor education even more urgent than the decades-long calls for it. There is a dearth of empirical inquiry into the ways social justice concepts are enacted across rehabilitation counseling curricula. The current study used an exploratory survey to collect information about the techniques used by U.S. rehabilitation counselor educators (N = 71) to infuse social justice across all of their courses, including their pedagogical choices, rates of frequency for updating coursework, and professional development choices. Findings reveal that educators have favorable attitudes about social justice, are more likely to use academic journals and related disciplines in course development, and are more likely to use self-reflection and intuition-based opportunities for social justice professional development. Implications of the findings also include relevancy for supervisors and practitioners, who have the responsibility to and lead social justice education once trainees have entered the field as professionals.