ABSTRACT
The social studies classroom in a liberal democracy is charged to create a safe place for children and adolescents to engage in ideas about how they think and feel about things that matter. Given the importance of the interpersonal characteristics of the counselor to the therapeutic engagement, teachers of social studies have the more challenging problem of remaining accessible to students as philosophical counselors while making academic demands. Counseling research has identified the use of empathy and encouraging hope by the counselor as the most influential attributes of the therapeutic engagement. Social studies teacher education programs look like most other teacher education programs, despite the unique demands on the novice teacher to serve as a philosophical counselor. Philosophical counseling begins with the disposition of the teacher, but turns to questions of things that matter that are prompted by the social studies curriculum.
