TPC-Journal-V5-Issue4

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 4 481 following respondent spoke to the need for experience primarily to aid in his or her future doctoral student role of supervising and teaching master’s students: In 2 years, a student would have completed or (be) near completion of licensure requirements and thus have some applied knowledge from which to draw upon. In so doing, the prospective doctoral student would bring experience and be better positioned, hierarchically speaking, to work with master’s degree-seeking students. With no experience, the doctoral student may find themselves in a position where they would be supervising or teaching a master’s degree-seeking student with greater clinical/life experience creating . . . an interesting power differential. Similarly, another respondent expressed, “How can one teach or supervise what he or she has not yet experienced?” Many respondents indicated that gaining licensure before entering a doctoral program was critical: “Licensure in most states requires a minimum of 2 years post-master’s supervised work. I think licensure should be required before proceeding.” Speaking to the need to develop professional identity and to confirm career goals, a respondent said, “(Two years)—this provides enough time to establish a professional identity, create a track record of excellence in the field and clarify their desire to enter the academy.” Not all respondents believed PME was vital for future faculty members however, as is evident with the following quote: “I entered right away and it worked out fine for me. I don’t think it makes a big difference either way.” Another respondent expressed concern that students who take time away from school often do not return: “I believe that people who go into post-master’s work almost never go back to get their doctorate, no matter how strong the intentions of the person are at graduation.” In a final hypothetical situation, we asked participants the following: Hypothetically, a master’s student who has the GOAL of becoming an ADVANCED PRACTITIONER asks you for advice. The question asked is how many years of post-master’s clinical experience the student should obtain prior to applying to a doctoral program. What would your advice be? There were 134 respondents to this question. Thirty-eight percent would advise at least 2 years of experience, 16% responded there is no need for a doctoral degree in this situation, 10% would advise that no experience is needed and to enter right away, another 13% would advise at least 5 years of experience before applying to a doctoral program, 13% would advise at least 3 years, 9% at least 1 year, and 1% would advise more than 5 years. Four themes emerged related to this question: (1) uncertainty about the purpose of the question, (2) no need for a doctorate to practice, (3) depends on the student and their attributes and (4) desire to specialize. The first theme, uncertainty about the purpose of the question , encompasses many responses that communicated confusion about the meaning of “advanced practitioner.” This is evident in the following quote: “Not sure what you mean by advanced practitioner.” The intention of the question was to capture potential guidance given to advisees who may seek to obtain a doctoral degree with a goal to enter or return to the clinical field, or to advance into supervision or administrative positions. However, this theme clearly shows there was confusion among respondents over the question and its intent.