Practicum Settings Research Articles

Peer Evaluation and Practicum Supervision

An investigation was made to determine the interrater reliability and validity of peer evaluations in a practicum setting. The interrater reliability on the Rating Scale of Counselor Effectiveness was high. Validity was determined by comparing student evaluations with supervisor evaluations. Agreement shown by rank order correlations was high, but differences in absolute scores between student and supervisor were significant with students consistently rating their peers higher.

Games Counselor Trainees Play: Dealing with Trainee Resistance

Fear of personal change makes many beginning counselors resist the help and guidance offered them in the practicum setting, often leaving their supervisors perplexed and frustrated. Types of resistance used by counselors and examined in this article are submission, turning the tables, the “I'm no good” attitude, helplessness, and projection. Methods and techniques available to supervisors in dealing with such resistance and discussed here are interpretation, feedback, clarification, generalization, ignoring, role‐playing, the alter‐ego technique, and audiotaping.

The Expression and Perception of Feelings Between Students and Supervisors in a Practicum Setting

It was hypothesized that over a period of time the interaction between social work students and their field work supervisors would become similar and positive, based upon shared feelings and perceptions. The data presented tend to support this hypothesis. Stability in the student‐supervisor relationship was reached after a period of intensive interaction, and positive dyadic feelings increased as interaction increased. At initial contact there were negative correlations between students and supervisors scores on the perception and expression scales, but after two quarters of continued interaction, these correlations became positive and significant. Finally, it was demonstrated that the students' expressions and perceptions of the relationship became similar to those of their supervisors as time passed.