From School Counselor to Counselor Educator: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

Through a phenomenological study, the experiences of 8 early-career school counselor educators who entered academia directly from positions as P-12 school counselors were examined. Results revealed that the participants experienced numerous challenges and supports related to their transition. Recommendations for counselor educators, doctoral students, and new faculty are provided.

Factors Contributing to Scholarly Productivity of Assistant Professors in Counseling

“…That the instructional component did not directly affect research self‐efficacy or scholarly productivity seems to contradict reports that faculty need and request more training in research, more mentorship, and more assistance in research (e.g., Briggs & Pehrsson, 2008; Milsom & Moran, 2015; Okech et al, 2006). An expert panel in a Delphi study on developing research competencies suggested that competency includes continued development and education around research (Wester & Borders, 2014).…”

“…The push for research, and ultimately scholarly productivity, at the larger institutional levels comes at a time when counselor educators are stating the need for more research training (Milsom & Moran, 2015; Okech, Astramovich, Johnson, Hoskins, & Rubel, 2006). Department chairs in counselor education have questioned the quality of research training of faculty applicants (Barrio‐Minton, Myers, & Morganfield, 2012; Lambie, Rubel, Smith, Spurgeon, & Wester, 2015), whereas counselor education faculty have stated that their research needs are not being met by colleagues within their department (Briggs & Pehrsson, 2008).…”

“…Department chairs in counselor education have questioned the quality of research training of faculty applicants (Barrio‐Minton, Myers, & Morganfield, 2012; Lambie, Rubel, Smith, Spurgeon, & Wester, 2015), whereas counselor education faculty have stated that their research needs are not being met by colleagues within their department (Briggs & Pehrsson, 2008). Also, new counselor educators have identified conducting and publishing research as one of the most difficult challenges when entering a faculty role (Milsom & Moran, 2015).…”

“…Given these individual findings, it seems reasonable to expect that the model proposed by Kahn and colleagues would apply to new faculty in counselor education. Exploring this model among counselor educators is important given the stated needs related to research training among faculty during their graduate training (Okech et al, 2006) and their new faculty positions (Barrio‐Minton et al, 2012; Bodenhorn et al, 2014; Briggs & Pehrsson, 2008; Milsom & Moran, 2015).…”

New Counselor Educators’ Scholarly Productivity: Supportive and Discouraging Environments

“…In two studies of untenured minoritized counselor educators (Casado Pérez & Carney, 2018;Haskins et al, 2016), participants described marginalization and oppression as well as devaluation of their research. Other authors (e.g., Briggs & Pehrsson, 2008;Milsom & Moran, 2015) found that new counselor educators were particularly stressed about their research and writing, often citing high teaching and service responsibilities (Bradley, 2005; N. R. Hill, 2004;Shillingford, Trice-Black, & Butler, 2013). In a unique sequence of studies across 6 years, Magnuson and colleagues (Magnuson, 2002;Magnuson et al, 2006;Magnuson, Norem, & Lonneman-Doroff, 2009;Magnuson, Shaw, Tubin, & Norem, 2004) broadly investigated new counselor educators' sources of satisfaction, dissatisfaction, pleasure, and disappointment.…”