Volume_6_Issue_2_Digest

4 TPC Digest T he American Counseling Association Code of Ethics and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) standards emphasize the importance of students demonstrating appropriate academic performance, professional development and personal development. Gatekeeping refers to the process of evaluating students in terms of professional competence and preventing those with inadequate skills and dispositions from entering the profession. The overall purpose of this study was to investigate types of master’s students’ problems of professional competency (PPC), counselor educators’ in CACREP-accredited programs knowledge of master’s students’ PPC and counselor educators’ perceptions of roadblocks that interfere with their ability to engage in the gatekeeping process. Thus, 370 counselor educators teaching in CACREP-accredited programs completed the Problems of Professional Competency Survey – Counselor Educator Version (PPCS-CE). The majority (91%, n = 338) reported that they had observed students with PPC in their programs. The most frequently identified problematic behaviors included inadequate clinical skills, inadequate interpersonal skills, inadequate academic skills, inability to regulate emotions and unprofessional behavior . Those behaviors ranked less impactful were unprofessional behavior, unethical behavioral, psychological concern, personality disorder, and substance use disorder . Fifty-three percent ( n = 197) reporting struggling emotionally to balance being empathetic with a student demonstrating PPC and their gatekeeping duties. When looking at addressing PPC with a student who is culturally different from the participant, 38% ( n = 141) stated they were reluctant to do so due to the fear they would appear culturally insensitive, and 36% ( n = 137) were reluctant to do so due to the fear of allegations of discrimination. Regarding being supported by others, 13% ( n = 47) provided they did not feel supported by their chair to address a student who demonstrated PPC, and 13% ( n = 47) stated they did not feel supported by their colleagues to address a student who demonstrated PPC. The results demonstrate that counselor educators are aware of students with PPC in their programs and know what they are supposed to do if a PPC has been clearly delineated; however, they struggle with identifying problematic behavior that reaches a threshold of needing to be formally addressed and taking action related to these problematic behaviors. The gap between the recognition that a student is not meeting expectations and the point where formal action is initiated may be filled with the counselor educators own beliefs about how they can fix the problem as well as their own anxieties related to the barriers discovered in this study. The recognition and intervention of students with PPC can be further complicated by counselor educators having to negotiate faculty politics. It would seem that more attention is needed on assisting counselor educators in negotiating these barriers to ensure that students do not gateslip. Kathleen Brown-Rice, NCC, is an Assistant Professor at the University of South Dakota. Susan Furr is a Professor at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. Correspondence can be addressed to Kathleen Brown-Rice, 114E Clark Street, Vermillion, SD 57069, kathleen.rice@usd.edu . 4