Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology: Where are the Jobs?

Abstract

Employment opportunities for persons with doctoral degrees in counselor education and counseling psychology were studied. Over 15 months, 708 positions were identified and analyzed to determine frequency of advertised positions calling for either degree, types of positions, and references to the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) or the American Psychological Association. Additional analyses were conducted for counselor education. Results found the counselor education degree to have a clear identity in the marketplace, especially for faculty positions, whereas the degree in counseling psychology was more often 1 of multiple degrees listed for an advertised position. Implications are discussed, including implications for CACREP-accredited doctoral programs and needs for future research.An important role for counselor educators is one of advising talented master's degree students regarding doctoral education. These students often have a baccalaureate degree in psychology and are wrestling with the decision to apply for a degree in counselor education (CE) or counseling psychology (CP). As noted by Rogers, Gill-Wigal, Harrigan, and Abbey-Hines (1998), the amount of overlap between CE and CP makes it difficult for prospective students to ascertain which degree might provide greater access to the greater number of desirable positions. Because students typically divide professional opportunities into those in academe and those in clinical settings, they tend to be interested in accruing information about the demand for either degree in one or both of these areas.In addition to the commonalities and shared history of CE and CP noted by others (e.g.

Volume 6 Issue 1 Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

“…The position locations are consistent with the study conducted in 2006 of positions advertised in 2003-2004(Bernard, 2006. Both studies reported the numbers of postings are proportionate to the size of ACES regions.…”

“…This study included 520 announcements for tenure-track faculty, with 358 of those requiring or preferring a CES degree, with preference usually given to degrees from a CACREP accredited program. The author concluded that the Counselor Education doctoral degree has been established as an identity for counseling faculty positions (Bernard, 2006).…”

“…Barrio Minton, et al (2012) also found that most of the anticipated openings were not expected to be tenure track. Thus, variations in the number of CES faculty openings may be a balance between shrinking numbers of available full-time tenured position, the increase in recognition of counselor education degrees as found by Bernard (2006), and the CACREP requirement for core faculty to either be experienced in teaching in a CACREP program or having an earned doctorate in CES by 2013 (CACREP, 2011). All of the announcements evaluated from the CESNET listserv in this study were for full-time positions, although some were announced as temporary for 1 -3 years.…”

Chi Sigma Iota Chapter Leadership and Professional Identity Development in Early Career Counselors

“…sus exists within the literature as to what constitutes professional identity (Gale & Austin, 2003;Hanna & Bemak, 1997), how it is operationally defined, or with what instruments and in what ways it can be reliably measured (Bernard, 2006;Hanna & Bemak, 1997;Van Hesteren & Ivey, 1990;Zimpfer, 1993Zimpfer, , 1996.…”

The Doctorate in Counselor Education

“…Although changes in participant reports were seen in a follow-up survey 5 years later (see in Zimpfer 1996), they were found to be non-significant. Bernard (2006) explored position announcements for an 18-month period to find if there were any differences in graduate degree requirements in U.S. job postings for faculty and clinical positions. She found that the field of counselor education had gained good ground in obtaining faculty positions, with counselor education being the "preferred degree" in the great majority of faculty job calls.…”