Chapter 13
Issues in Counselor Education
Focus Questions
1. From an ethical perspective, what should the faculty members in graduate counseling
programs tell prospective students about the program?
Points instructors may want to make:
• What the requirements are to complete the program, including course requirements,
2. Should graduate students in counseling be required to self-disclose personal
information in a group course facilitated by a faculty member? Why or why not?
Points instructors may want to make:
• Benefits to these activities include students learning how to be comfortable self-
3. What kinds of relationships outside the classroom between counselor education
professors and students are appropriate?
Points instructors may want to make:
• Common situations include socializing with professors at department parties or
In-Class Activity
Title: View from the Other Side
Learning
Goal: To provide experiential learning about (1) the challenging nature of non-academic dismissal issues,
and (2) the potential struggles associated with how programs handle students faced with such issues.
Procedures: In small groups, ask students to role play a group of faculty members in a
specific counseling graduate program. First, generate a brief description of your
program, describing its accreditation (or lack of), level and number of students,
Discussion
Questions: What struggles occurred in your group and how did you resolve them? What
contextual factors did your group consider important? How would you go about
Point/Counterpoint (Debate) Topics
Title: A Personal Counseling Experience for Students
Learning
Goal: To consider the arguments both for and against requiring students in counseling
programs to have an experience as a client in counseling.
Procedures: Assign (or allow students to volunteer) 2 groups of students (preferably 3-5
Point: Counseling students should be required to have a minimum number of
sessions of (ungraded) experience as a client in counseling.
vs.
Counterpoint: Counseling students should be encouraged but not required to have an
experience as a client in counseling.
Title: Relationships between Faculty and Students
Learning
Outside Class Activity
Title: Understanding Ethical or Legal Experiences from the Perspective of a Counselor Educator
Learning
Goal: To facilitate a personal connection with an experienced counselor educator (one
who has likely experienced a major ethical or legal challenge at some point in his or
her career) such that students experience the reality of ethical or legal issues in
counselor education.
Procedures: Based on the central issues in this chapter, ask students to contact a current
counselor educator. He or she does not have to be in your own program. Ask
students to take the steps listed below:
Topic for Self-Reflection/Journaling
Topic: As you progress through your counselor training program, you will receive feedback
about your skill development and interpersonal characteristics that may affect your
and how will you deal with your discomfort or resistance?
Case Study
You are a counselor educator working in a CACREP-accredited counseling graduate
program which prepares both masters and doctoral students. As a part of their required
internship, doctoral students serve as university individual supervisors for master’s students who
an attractive male student, is nearing the end of his internship and is getting ready to graduate.
Lately, you have noticed a significant shift in this doctoral student’s defensiveness regarding her
male supervisee’s behavior, activities on his internship site, and generally, any time a question
Case Study Discussion
As a counselor educator, what would you do? What should you do? What should you not
do? What are your responsibilities? What do you suppose is going on? What are significant
pieces of information that stand out to you? To what extent and how might you involve your
fellow faculty — or would you? Which ACA ethical standards might apply in this situation?
Counselor educators assume the responsibility of monitoring the effectiveness of their
doctoral students who supervise master’s students. Given the information possessed by the
counselor educator in this case study, the issue should be raised and discussed individually with
the doctoral student. The counselor educator should accuse the doctoral student of any wrong–
Short Paper or Oral Class Presentation Topics
1. Dual Relationships in Counselor Education — Potentials and Management
2. Develop three self-growth exercises you believe would be appropriate in a counseling