| Gatekeeping and remediation are essential responsibilities of counselor educators, ensuring that
students possess the minimum competencies necessary to protect client welfare (Gaubatz &
Vera, 2006; Homrich et al., 2014). Before counseling students advance to practicum, the basic
counseling skills course serves as a critical checkpoint, during which counselor educators
evaluate students’ clinical competencies for the first time (Henderson & Dufrene, 2013; Rabess
et al., 2020). However, basic skill instructors’ assessments of student performance are often
inconsistent, challenged by the inherently complex and context-dependent nature of counseling
performance (Hennington et al., 2013; Waalkes & DeCino, 2020). Using Q methodology (Watts
& Stenner, 2012), I investigated nine basic counseling skills course instructors' perspectives on
pre-practicum students' in-session words and actions that indicate unreadiness to enter practicum.
Participants rank-ordered a 47-item Q sample derived from relevant literature, participantgenerated responses, expert panel feedback, and an external audit. Data analysis yielded a threefactor solution: (1) Student Does Not Demonstrate the Bracketing of Internal Processes, (2)
Student Does Not Demonstrate Responsiveness to the Client's Experience, and (3) Student Does
Not Demonstrate Recognition of the Client as a Unique Individual. Findings contribute to the
standardization of student performance assessment and gatekeeping efforts, and implications for
counselor educators and supervisors are discussed.
Keywords: counseling skills assessment, practicum unreadiness, remediation, gatekeeping, Q
methodology |