TPC-Journal-V5-Issue4

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 4 484 For many respondents, the amount of experience obtained during the master’s and doctoral programs is enough, especially in cases where students work in clinical positions while completing their doctoral degrees. Some respondents pointed out that doctoral programs in CES are designed differently, with some emphasizing clinical work as part of the doctoral training and others operating on the assumption that the doctoral student is already an experienced clinician. For example, faculty members might support a master’s student going straight to a doctoral program if the student is applying to a doctoral program with robust opportunities to gain clinical experience. Implications These findings will help counselor educators better advise master’s students who have aspirations for doctoral work. Specifically, this study informs the CES field about the value placed on PME. It may be beneficial for advisors to share the findings of this study with advisees who are considering doctoral programs. In addition, advisors may consider the academic and skill level strength of the master’s student and may emphasize more years of clinical experience before applying to doctoral programs to those students who could benefit from the additional experience. Further, students who exhibit more maturity through age and life experience may be perceived as ready to handle doctoral work sooner than those who have entered the master’s program immediately from their undergraduate program. Responses in this study are in line with Goodrich et al.’s (2011) findings that CACREP-accredited doctoral programs train students in somewhat different ways. Advisors may have familiarity with a variety of doctoral programs and can help their advisees consider the cultures of each to find the best fit in terms of experience, as well as other characteristics. Finally, it appears clear that experience is valuable; thus, advisors would be wise to encourage students to get PME. The findings of this study show that counselor educators believe experience enriches individuals’ teaching, supervision and research. As such, master’s students will make more effective future doctoral students and faculty members if they gain PME first. There are limitations to this study that are important to note. While a 33% response rate is considered acceptable, we would prefer to have more than 166 responses. There is likely a portion of professional counselor educators who are not members of ACES and therefore were not included in our sample, and there is no way to determine the numbers or the characteristics of those who choose membership and those who do not. A significant number of the participants had not served on search committees or taught a doctoral class, so those responses might be considered more theoretical than historical. Finally, our hypothetical question related to how participants would advise master’s students with the goal of becoming an advanced practitioner was not clear or well received given the confusion evident in the responses. Regardless of these limitations, the results of this study are compelling. Because of the length of the survey, the demographic questions did not include personal demographics such as gender, age, or ethnicity. Similarly, we did not ask for the type of university at which the participant works (e.g., Carnegie research or teaching designation). There may be intricacies of type of university and relevance of experience or advice that were not identified in this study. Future research is needed on the role PME plays in the development of the counselor educator as a scholar, teacher and academic leader. Additional research exploring the impact of PME on a CES faculty member’s success in a faculty role, particularly teaching and supervision, would be helpful to