Ethical Practices of Licensed Professional Counselors: An Updated Survey of State Licensing Boards

This article presents a survey of ethical complaints reported to state boards, discusses ameliorating problem areas, and makes suggestions regarding collecting data about ethical complaints.     

After Friendship

The loss of friendship can be a frequent occurrence for children as they explore their social worlds and navigate their way through the demands of particular relationships. Given that friendship is a relationship of special regard, and associated with a particular partiality to our friends, the ending of friendship and the subsequent interactions between former friends, can be difficult areas for schools to deal with. Whilst there has been considerable research on the formation and maintenance of friendship, a consideration of what happens after friendship has had surprisingly limited attention. Much of our current understanding of issues on moral behaviour fails to fully address the positioning of former friends in our moral thinking particularly as regards matters arising from the priority of attachment. Recent empirical research seems to indicate that the memory of prior encounters has a far greater influence on future reciprocal exchanges (such as those found in friendship) than previously accepted. This paper considers suggests that this view of memory can be played out in two contrasting ways. First, a prudential view suggests that as our former friends were previously given access to our intimate secrets and confidences, self‐interest would seem to indicate that we treat them well. Secondly, a residual duties view suggests that some obligations remain after the friendship has ended based on the history of the relationship. Finally, I then draw out some of the implications this may have for schools and the education of children.     

School Choice, Brand Loyalty and Civic Loyalty

Applying a philosophical perspective to the concept of loyalty, I consider how the commodification of education may affect the ties between people. Using both theories of brand loyalty and Albert Hirschman's distinction between exit and voice, I examine how human loyalties may be formed in general and also in the field of education. I conclude that the overemphasis on 'vertical' loyalty (e.g. loyalty of the ruler and ruled, brand loyalty) demanded by marketisation can undermine and may, under certain conditions, erase the very structures of 'horizontal' loyalty (between equal citizens in a democratic society) essential for the civic arena. These structures are also necessary for schools to function in their civic task of educating the future citizenry.     

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.