Counselee Preferences for Counselors: Some Implications for Counselor Education

The study reported in this paper was concerned with determining whether counselees with different racial and ethnic backgrounds preferred to be counseled by counselors with similar backgrounds. Such research is generally regarded as taboo in counselor education, but the results of this study raise many questions with which counselor educators must concern themselves.     

Consultant Training in Counselor Education Programs

Although the role of consultant has received increasing professional attention recently, little has been reported regarding the emphasis in counselor education programs given to consultation in the preparation of counselors. This study involved a survey of 31% of the existing counselor training programs. Findings indicated that 44% of the programs offered formal courses in consultation; the counselor as consultant was ranked second only to counseling as a major counselor role. Consultant training was reported as mainly focusing toward work with individual consultees and small groups.     

Implications of Counselor Conceptualizations for Counselor Education

Conceptualizations of novice and experienced counselors are examined to determine how they view client problems and change in counseling.     

Sex-Role Orientation Research: Review and Implications for Counselor Education

A review of sex-role orientation research reveals two areas of particular importance for counselor educators: interpersonal behaviors and cognitive processing. Persons with androgynous, masculine, and feminine sex-role orientations have been found to differ in their interpersonal competence and their cognitive processing of perceptions of self and others. In both areas, research points to persons with androgynous sex-role orientations as being more flexible, self-assured, adaptive, accepting, and competent in interpersonal interactions than persons with more masculine or feminine orientations. Because counseling is a complex interpersonal process, these conclusions suggest a preference for an androgynous counselor. Implications for the impact of sex-role orientation on the dynamics of the counseling relationship and the counseling process are explored. Studies supporting the efficacy of “training” for androgyny, and those offering some evidence for the androgynous counselor as the more competent facilitator of positive change in clients are reviewed. Research questions are proposed to specifically assess the relationship of sex-role orientation and the acquisition and performance of counseling skills.     

An Epistemology of Counseling: Implications for Counselor Education and Research

Administrators of counselor education programs have identified specific skills and content areas for their students to master. Counselors in training need to make theory applicable to individuals through the use of counseling techniques and assessment. What counselors do is related to the qualitative, quantitative, and performative knowing that Maccia (1973) found present in student-teacher relationships. This epistemology can be applied to what a counselor needs to know to counsel. Such applications of the epistemology described by Maccia (1973) are significant for counseling in two ways. First, they may aid counselor educators and students in making clear distinctions between content and skill areas as well as making strong connections between content and skills. Second, an epistemology of counseling may point to fruitful areas of research.     

Personal Change As A Concommitant of Counselor Education

Three groups of students at various levels of counselor preparation were selected to determine if significant changes in personal characteristics took place as a result of a semester of counselor education. The California Psychological Inventory, Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale (Form D), Berger's Acceptance of Self and Others Scale, and Porter's Test of Counselor Attitudes were employed as instruments to ascertain change. Results indicated a significant difference between advanced groups and beginning groups and between pre- and posttest measures in a direction perceived as desirable by authorities in the field.     

Counselor Recall of Specific Details: Implications for Counseling and Counselor Training

This study examined two verbal process variables in counseling: (a) accuracy of counselor recall statements, and (b) relevance of counselor recall statements.     

The Systems Approach and Counselor Education: Basic Features and Implications1

Radical changes in contemporary society are altering the lives of individuals in pervasive ways. Counselors are typically oblivious to these revolutionary changes due, in part, to inadequate and outdated professional education. Counseling viewed as a complex of social-psychological processes — as an applied behavioral science — needs the powerful framework provided by a “systems approach.” A system is viewed as a structure which functions as a whole due to the interdependence of its parts. A systems approach in counselor education emphasizes how specific training components can be combined most effectively and efficiently to produce outcomes stated in terms of trainee behaviors (performance). Basic characteristics of a systems approach include: (a) behaviorally stated performance objectives; (b) careful attention to relation of components; (c) information flow and feedback mechanisms; and (d) man-machine combinations. Models such as flow charts and simulation techniques are also typically involved. A systems approach, it is argued, will encourage the asking of more relevant and answerable questions. Although it may be viewed by some as too scientific, mechanistic, or complicated, a systems perspective holds the promise of more effectively preparing counselors for contemporary clients.     

Some Speculations about Cognitive Dissonance in Counselor Education

For some years the challenge of bringing greater sophistication to the area of counselor education has touched upon many interesting conceptualizations, one of which deals with cognitive dissonance. This paper is an exploration of the concept of cognitive dissonance as it is reflected through the seemingly conflicting roles of counseling and testing. To anticipate the potential interplay between such roles creates some speculations not only about what dissonance exists but about what might be done to bring two apparently discrepant cognitions into harmony.     

Some Ways of Knowing Mathematics and Some Implications for Teacher Education

Editorial

Some Ways of Knowing Mathematics and Some Implications for Teacher Education     

Occupational Stress Within the Counseling Profession: Implications for Counselor Training

Counselors with higher levels of perceived occupational stress report significantly greater personal strain and less coping resources than do counselors perceiving lower levels of occupational stress.     

Developing Video Models for Counselor Education

Three factors, attention, retention, and action, are considered in developing good video models. A discussion of each factor and specific techniques counselors can use to develop good effects of each factor are provided.     

Counselor Education Abroad: Selected Programs

This article discusses the current status of counselor education programs being operated for the benefit of military personnel and military dependents abroad. A major issue examined is the apparent inaccuracy of the stereotype of the professional military man as an individual unable to learn or present facilitative dimensions.     

Changes and Continuity for Counselor Education

Presented are responses to several issues raised by Daniel Lee Randolph in his article on proposed changes in counselor education.