Increasing partnerships in educational leadership and school counseling: a framework for collaborative school principal and school counselor preparation and support

This paper presents a practical training framework for collaboration for pre-service and in-service school counselors and principal training programs, which can serve as a model for other programs to best meet the social, emotional, academic, and career and college readiness needs of P-12 students. The framework includes six elements: 1) effective pre-service preparation; 2) sustainable partnerships; 3) stakeholder collaboration; 4) current practitioner support; 5) model site development; and, 6) ongoing research and professional learning. Each element of the framework is presented with examples of collaboration among principal and school counselor preparation programs. While principals and school counselors have unique and diverse roles in schools, their collaboration supports the holistic (e.g. academic, social, and emotional) development of P-12 students. Similarly, collaboration between pre-service training programs, community partners, and practitioners can be beneficial for both students and educators. Little information is known about how these collaborative skillsets are developed in pre-service and in-service training programs, however. This framework provides faculty in higher education and pre- and in-service practitioners insights to foster school counselor and principal collaboration and positive relationships.