Construction of professional identity in the initial training of educational guidance practitioners

Abstract

The educational guidance model has undergone an important transformation in response to the educational demands of society in favor of a more person-centered paradigm focused on the search for greater inclusion and social justice. However, few studies delve into the initial training of future guidance practitioners. This paper aims to explore how the conception of the role of educational guidance changes among future guidance counsellors in training, analyzing how initial training influences the construction of their professional identity and the promotion of inclusive education. The research, of a qualitative nature, is based on a sample of 102 students of the Educational Guidance specialty of the Master's Degree in Teacher Training at the University of Zaragoza, enrolled in 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22. Data collection techniques included participant observation, life stories, discussion groups, interviews, and cartographies. The analysis has made it possible to identify the shift perceived by future counselors in their professional identity towards a counseling model focused on inclusion and social justice rather than on deficit. Likewise, future practitioners point to collaboration and research as elements that articulate the processes of change and construction of professional identity. Contradictions and dilemmas also emerge in the students’ discourses, due to the limitations and resistance that exist among teaching professionals and guidance practitioners or educational counsellors. Finally, possible implications are discussed.