Academic Role and Perceptions of Gatekeeping in Counselor Education

Abstract

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, ). Findings include commonalities and differences between academic role groups.

A Phenomenological Investigation of Doctoral Students’ Gatekeeping Experiences

“…In alignment with previous findings, participants described a gatekeeping policy-to-practice gap (Brear & Dorian, 2010;Kerl & Eichler, 2007;Schuermann et al, 2018). Specifically, participants described inconsistent follow-through on gatekeeping policy by faculty doctoral peers, fear of repercussions and litigation, and some uncertainty about when gatekeeping intervention is necessary.…”

“…Brear and Dorian (2010) found that collegial and institutional support influenced faculty members' followthrough. Schuermann et al (2018) highlighted covert mechanisms that can impact gatekeeping in practice, such as power differentials and competing institutional priorities. Further, these researchers found that faculty members at different academic ranks may hold different perceptions, strengths, and vulnerabilities related to gatekeeping.…”

“…Researchers indicate that while master's students believe faculty members are responsible for intervening, faculty and students are often aware of deficient students within their programs who graduate with no remediation (Foster, Leppma, & Hutchinson, 2014;Gaubatz & Vera, 2006). Negative consequences, such as litigation, student backlash, and disagreement with colleagues or university officials, may deter faculty from responding to gatekeeping concerns (Schuermann, Avent, & Lloyd-Hazlett, 2018). Reluctance to respond to gatekeeping concerns may be more pronounced for doctoral students due to limited professional experience, multiple relationships with faculty and master's students, and limited authority to enact gatekeeping protocols.…”

Assessment of clinical mental health counseling competencies for preparation programs

“…Similarly, formalized evaluation measures can support supervisors in their responsibility to assist CITs in remediation or recommend dismissal from a preparation program as necessary (ACA, 2014; Standard F.6.b). Formalized assessments can be a valuable gatekeeping tool to measure CITs’ skill development in clinical courses (Schuermann et al., 2018); yet counseling preparation programs may lack comprehensive and empirically based assessment methods to measure CMHC competencies (Flynn & Hays, 2015). Therefore, a comprehensive counseling competency evaluation assessment grounded in professional standards may support consistent remediation and gatekeeping processes; as well as offer supervisors with objective criteria for decisions related to CITs’ remediation (Lambie & Stickl Haugen, 2021; Swank et al., 2012).…”

Counselor Education and Supervision: 2018 Annual Review

“…Mentorship literature included a review of the literature regarding research mentorship (Anekstein & Vereen, 2018b), a Delphi study regarding mentorship components (Purgason, Lloyd-Hazlett, & Avent Harris, 2018), the research mentoring experiences of doctoral students (Anekstein & Vereen, 2018a), and a Q-sort study of counselor educators' teaching mentorship styles (Baltrinic, Moate, Hinkle, Jencius, & Taylor, 2018). Retention, remediation, and dismissal literature featured emerging evidence regarding effectiveness of a program to boost retention in a master's program (Jensen, Midgett, & Doumas, 2018), investigation of collaborative gatekeeping between site supervisors and faculty members (Dean, Stewart-Spencer, Cabanilla, Wayman, & Heher, 2018), and a qualitative investigation of counselor educators' perceptions of gatekeeping (Schuermann, Harris, & Lloyd-Hazlett, 2018). Articles not otherwise classified included a social media policy for counselor education programs (Willow et al, 2018), an ethical case study based on a response to an ACA essay contest (Grunhaus, Tuazon, Gonzalez, & Wagner, 2018), and evidence regarding lack of relationship between client improvement and student theoretical orientation within a counseling training clinic (Holm, Bevly, & Prosek, 2018).…”