Counselor Educators' Experiences of Gatekeeping in Online Master's - level Counseling Programs

Counselor educators protect public welfare and serve as gatekeepers for the counseling profession by ensuring that counselors-in-training who do not meet professional standards of counseling competence are remediated or prevented from entering the counseling field. Prior to this study, no researchers had examined the unique aspects of gatekeeping in an online counselor education program. This study utilized a qualitative approach to explore the experiences of gatekeeping for seven counselor educators in online CACREP-accredited Master's-level counseling programs. The findings of this study identified seven salient themes and 24 sub-themes that inform understanding of counselor educator gatekeeping in an online modality