The Influence of Specialization-Specific Supervision on School Counselors’ Perceptions of Preparedness, Professional Identity, and Perceived Supervisor Effectiveness

<p>Despite the vast array of research evidence supporting supervision as a necessary component of the professional identity development of counselors, many counselors in training do not receive adequate supervision (Cashwell & Dooley, 2001). The school counseling profession has continued to struggle with the development of a widely recognized and consistent professional identity (Herlihy, Gray, & McCollum, 2002). Although there are many supervision models provided in the counseling literature (Bernard & Goodyear, 2008), there are not any consistently agreed-upon supervision models specific to the training of school counselors.</p> <p>The purpose of this research was to evaluate school counselors’ perceptions of their preparedness, professional identity, and perceived supervisor effectiveness related to specialization-specific supervision (SSS). School counselors from ASCA’s southern region were asked to respond to the <em>Specialization-Specific Supervision Questionnaire (SSSQ)</em>. The findings of this study demonstrated that school counselors who received specialization-specific supervision felt better prepared to begin an entry-level school counseling position, had a stronger sense of their professional identity, and expressed feeling more positive regarding their perceptions of supervisor effectiveness than school counselors who did not receive specialization-specific supervision. These results support the conclusions of previous research, which indicated that supervision serves the following purposes: varies from discipline to discipline (Campbell, 2000); is a vital component of school counselor training (Bernard & Goodyear, 2008); is a conduit for professional identity development (Dollarhide & Miller, 2006); and is a contributing factor to the overall supervisory experience (Lazovsky & Shimon, 2005).</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundations

Year

2011

Author dc:creator

• Marino, Reshelle C

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Louis Paradise
• Dr. Barbara Herlihy
• Dr. Zarus Watson

• supervision
• school counseling
• specialization-specific supervision
• perceived preparation
• perceived professional identity
• perceived supervisor effectiveness
• Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1413

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-2343