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.