Determining the levels of Professional competence of counsellor candidates in Turkey

Abstract

This study examined the level of professional competence of counsellor candidates through their solution strategies against the cases they are likely to encounter in their professional life after undergraduate education using Many Facet Rasch Model. Participants in the current study were 129 counsellor-in-trainings who enrolled in two different Guidance and Psychological Counselling programs in Turkey. Three case studies prepared by taking the opinions of twenty experts were presented to the candidates. Solution strategies developed by counsellor candidates were rated by three raters who are experts in the counselling profession. The results indicated that raters' tendency and the competence levels of counsellor candidates in terms of solution strategies differ. Also, the most challenging case study is about mourning/death, and the criterion with the lowest level of fulfilment is The solution strategy allows a person to overcome the situation they are experiencing on their own when they encounter a similar situation.