Ethics Education in CACREP‐Accredited Counselor Education Programs

Abstract

The authors present the results of a survey investigating ethics education practices in counselor education programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs and counselor educators' beliefs regarding ethics education, Survey responses describe current curricular approaches to ethics education, content, and instructional methodologies used in counselor education. The survey also ascertained information regarding counselor educators' beliefs about ethics education and their abilities to teach ethics. Implications for counselor education, professional development and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Ethical Fairy Tales: Using Fairy Tales as Illustrative Ethical Dilemmas With Counseling Students

“…The results of two studies (A. L. Hill, 2004;Urofsky & Sowa, 2004) indicated using case examples in ethics instruction appears to be a common approach. In a survey of CACREP-accredited programs, A. L. Hill (2004) found the two most preferred methods of instruction were lecture and case discussion.…”

“…Jordan & Stevens, 2001;Stadler & Paul, 1986;Urofsky & Sowa, 2004). A. L. Hill (2004) found the 2001 standards for CACREP accreditation did not review how programs should teach ethics to students.…”

“…In a survey of CACREP-accredited programs, A. L. Hill (2004) found the two most preferred methods of instruction were lecture and case discussion. Another study found the primary teaching method for ethics was fictional and actual case studies (Urofsky & Sowa, 2004). Lambie, Hagedorn, and Ieva (2010) examined the effectiveness of ethics instruction and found a significant increase in levels of students' ethical and legal knowledge after the completion of a standalone ethics course.…”

“…A common approach to facilitate bridging this gap is the use of case examples (Betan & Binder, 2010;Granello, 2000;A. L. Hill, 2004;Sears & Hersh, 1998;Urofsky & Sowa, 2004). Using fairy tales as case examples is one creative intervention that counselor educators may employ to illustrate ethical dilemmas to students.…”

Kitchener's Principle Ethics: Implications for Counseling Practice and Research

“…In surveys of programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2001), Urofsky and Sowa (2004) and A. L. Hill (2004b) uncovered an important role being played by principle ethics in counselor education. Forty percent of respondents in the Urofsky and Sowa survey reported teaching Kitchener's ethical decision-making model, surpassed in the study only by the Corey, Corey, and Callanan (1998) ethical decision-making model (67%).…”