Renewal in Career Guidance and Counseling: Rationale and Programs

This article provides a strong rationale for renewal programs in career guidance and counseling. The rationale is based on the expressed needs of counselors, counselor educators, and supervisors, and the needs of clients, as well as on major position papers of APGA, ACES, and NVGA. The APGA Counselor Renewal and Development Professional Preparation and Standards Committee has clearly stated that counselor renewal is a professional imperative for those who seek to remain effective helpers. The ACES position paper, “Counselor Preparation for Career Development/Career Education”, also clearly points out the need for renewal in career guidance and counseling. In addition to the rationale, the article describes several career-counseling-oriented renewal programs that are currently available for counselors and counselor educators and supervisors who would like to upgrade their skills in this area.     

Professional Identity: A Classic Case of Avoidance

A relationship is suggested between the national image of the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA) and its membership requirements of graduate counseling programs. Citing the total absence of APGA membership requirements in training programs of one state, growing professional problems for APGA are predicted if the national perspective includes similar absences. I propose that counselor educators initiate the integration of APGA membership criteria with accreditation of graduate programs to enhance APGA's status as a national professional organization.     

Beyond Professionalism: or Professionalism Reconsidered

The historical concept of professionalism is questioned as a model for the future of ACES as an organization. Two major issues are raised. The first issue is the lack of clarity of purpose within ACES and counselor education. Counselor Education in ACES and APGA usually refers to school counseling. Questions are raised about the nature of ACES and the structure of APGA. The second issue speaks to the question of the social responsibility and role of a profession. It is suggested that counselor education has strong social responsibilities, including the possibility of opening new career patterns for the poor.     

Continuing Professional Development: Outlook for Counselor Educators and Supervisors

This discussion of continuing professional development for counselor educators and supervisors is based on a study of six professional organizations and their programs of continuing professional development. The study was conducted by ACES's Commission on Professional Development. The commission concluded that most organizations have established offices and committees of members at the national level that administer programs; provide activities directly or sponsor activities conducted by other groups, such as private institutes, universities, and professional organizations; and in some cases offer awards for meeting specific criteria. Recommendations for ACES are to continue conducting specific workshops on selected topics and offer Continuing Education Units for participants, determine the impact of these activities on participants, develop criteria for the ACES Recognition Award in consultation with other organizations that have a similar award, consider sponsoring activities conducted by other groups, and survey the difficulties that a continuing-professional-development program may cause for persons with multiple membership in professional organizations.     

ACES Position Paper on Non-White Concerns

The Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) believes that it is necessary to urge all counselor educators, supervisors, and counselors to establish specific, substantive policies, procedures, and activities designed to improve counseling services for non-white persons. Since the preparation of all counselors is of central concern to ACES, the development of counselor training programs which significantly encompass the unique needs and aspirations of non-whites is crucial to the activities generated by this thrust. Furthermore the membership of this association directs its officers and affiliates to support and conduct activities which further the implementation of this position.     

An Investigation of Training for Sex-Fair Counseling

This article presents the results of a survey of counselor education departments in the United States concerning the availability of coursework on sex-fair counseling, the percentage of females and males on counselor education faculties, the amount of training counselor educators had received on sex-fair counseling techniques, and the use of a handbook on sex equity that was developed by the ACES Commission on Sex Equality Concerns. The article makes recommendations for proactive efforts in the future.     

Teaching Competencies in Counselor Education: A Delphi Study

The authors used the Delphi method to identify counselor education teaching competencies. There were 3 phases of data collection, resulting in 152 teaching competencies within 4 domains: knowledge, skills, professional behaviors, and dispositions. Counselor educators and counselor education doctoral students might use these competencies to promote counselor educator training and teaching effectiveness.     

Philosophical and Situational Issues Relating to the Objectives of Counselor Education

Counselor education, through its formal organization (ACES), is in the process of examining its standards for program accreditation used for the past decade. This discussion examines current educational forces, such as social change, political conditions, and learning process developments as a basis for a new look at the standards for counselor preparation. Based on these influences, four categories of situational and philosophical issues are postulated: educational and psychological assumptions, outcome behaviors of the counselor education graduate, outcomes of counselor education programming, and outcome behaviors of professional guidance personnel. It is recommended that outcomes of counselor education should be considered in performance terms before instructional strategies are developed.     

Counselor Educators: Comparing NDEA and Non-NDEA Participants

This study examines the impact of National Defense Education Act (NDEA)-sponsored programs on current counselor educators. Questionnaires were sent to half of all counselor educators listed as teaching three-fourths time or more in a counselor education program. NDEA- and non-NDEA-sponsored respondents are compared in terms of demographic variables, professional productivity leadership measures, and perception of NDEA impact.     

Relationship Orientation,Is It Unique to Counselors?

One hundred and twenty educators, characterized by three different professional affiliations (counselors, teachers, and administrators) and two levels of experience (experienced and inexperienced), were examined on their degree of relationship orientation, using the Wisconsin Counselor Education Selection Interview (WCESI) as the criterion instrument. Results indicated that (a) counselors were more relationship-oriented than teachers or administrators, (b) teachers were more relationship-oriented than administrators, and (c) inexperienced educators were more relationship-oriented than experienced educators. Implications for counselor education training and selection procedures are discussed.     

Ethical Practices of Licensed Professional Counselors: A Survey of State Licensing Boards

The authors report results of a survey, conducted in 1986 by the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) Ethics/Professional Practices Interest Network, of licensing boards in the 10 states that had enacted professional counselor licensure laws by the end of 1984. Data are reported regarding the number of counselors licensed in each state, the nature and extent of ethical violations claimed, dispositions of the complaints by the boards, the applicants' performance on ethics sections of licensure examinations, and the levels of concern expressed by board representatives regarding the ethics preparation and ethical practices of licensees. Implications of findings for counselor educators and supervisors are discussed.     

Academic Role and Perceptions of Gatekeeping in Counselor Education

Gatekeeping in counselor education is an ethical responsibility and professional best practice. The authors examined gatekeeping perceptions of 9 counselor educators, with equal representation of assistant professors, associate/full professors, and adjuncts/instructors/lecturers. The authors analyzed data using consensual qualitative research methodology (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997 ). Findings include commonalities and differences between academic role groups.     

School counselor educators: A grounded theory of career interest and satisfaction

Annually, there are school counseling specific counselor educator positions that remain unfilled. There is a need for more counselor educators with school counseling backgrounds. This grounded theory provides a model of the process by which school counselor educators decide to enter academia and what keeps them in their positions, based on focus groups with 32 participants. Results showed the reasons for leaving school counseling, what factors promote entry into school counselor education, and what keeps school counselor educators in that role. Implications for counselor education are provided.     

Following the ACES Standards on Preparation of Secondary School Counselors in Career Guidance

Standards for counselor training have been a topic of concern since the 1930s. More recent accomplishments toward quality in counselor education were the adoption of ACES standards at the 1967 Dallas convention and the special issue of Counselor Education and Supervision, “Up-Grading Guidance Practices” (Hill & Munger 1968). This article concentrates on the career guidance and occupational information aspects of the 1967 ACES Standards. In this context, the degree to which some counselor education programs seem to emulate practices contained in the standards and some suggestions for facilitating such emulation are discussed.     

The 2000 Cohort of New Assistant Professors of Counselor Education: Year 3

This article is the 3rd in a series that has been focused on the experiences of assistant professors of counselor education who were at the conclusion of their 3rd year in the profession. Thirty‐six participants provided information about their experiences, sources of pleasure and displeasure, professional contributions, areas of change, and expectations for tenure and promotion. Prominent themes that emerged from the data included mentoring, balance and family focus, and scholarship. Recommendations are presented for counselor educators‐in‐training, candidates, new counselor educators (CEs), and veteran CEs.     

A Spectrum of Supervision

The ever-broadening range of counselor work settings, issues related to accountability and quality control, and the implications of recent progress in program accreditation, professional certification, and counselor licensure are among the forces contributing to awareness of the need for new attention to counseling supervision by the professional community. (ACES Task Force on Supervision, May, 1982)     

Educating Future Counselor Educators

The literature in Counselor Education and Supervision has had a variety of focuses, ranging from humanistic counselor education (Chenault 1968) to systems technique in training (Canada & Lynch 1975) and from Arbuckle (1974) to Ellis (1974) and back (Arbuckle 1975). However, there has been a scarcity of articles directed toward the education of future counselor educators who will lead the way in innovation, training, and research. I gather that this group has not been intentionally disregarded but that, through various counselor education programs, graduate students are given the opportunity to emerge as counselor educators. This process must vary with each institution. I would like to share one avenue that is being taken to help future counselor educators develop competencies in professional writing and convention program presentations.     

CACREP's Relevance to Professionalism for School Counselor Educators

Archival data from 1994 to 2003 were used to examine the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Program's (CACREP) association with professionalism for school counselor educators. Indicators of professionalism included school counselor educators' contributions to the profession (i.e., journal publications and conference presentations), leadership in professional organizations, and pursuit of counseling credentials. Data analysis revealed weak (small effect sizes), yet statistically significant, relationships between CACREP accreditation and indicators of professionalism for school counselor educators.     

Helping Students Help Themselves: Strategies for Successful Mentoring Relationships

Mentoring has long been heralded as a method of training and socializing the next generation of professional counselors and counselor educators. Yet, there appears to be a disparity between the promotion and the practice of mentoring in counselor education. The authors attempted to reconcile this disparity by suggesting a set of strategies that mentors and apprentices may use as they establish and maintain successful mentoring relationships. Implications for counselors and counselor educators are discussed.     

Trends in Community Counselor Training

This article reports the major results of a survey of counselor education programs regarding the development of training for community/agency counselors. The data are reported under the headings of Program Demographics, Faculty, Curriculum, and Employability of Graduates. It is concluded that community/agency training programs need considerable attention and development. Also, it is recommended that ACES establish liaisons with other groups that train community/agency counselors.