An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Counselor Education Doctoral Students' Teaching Preparation Experiences

Teaching is a foundational professional role addressed within the curriculum of counselor education doctoral programs, yet little is known about the teaching preparation experiences of counselor education doctoral students. This interpretative phenomenological analysis explored the teaching preparation experiences of a purposeful sample of eight current or recently graduated counselor education doctoral students enrolled in Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) through semi-structured interviews. Four superordinate themes, Experiential Integration, Contextual Development, Interactive Reflection, and Emergent Teaching Values, were identified to illustrate how counselor education doctoral students make sense of their teaching preparation experiences. These themes provide in-depth, nuanced, and narrative accounts of the multifaceted, experiential, relational, and contextual developmental teaching preparation experiences of counselor education doctoral students. The findings of this study revealed several important implications for counselor education doctoral students, counselor educations, counselor education doctoral programs, and CACREP to enhance the teaching preparation experiences of counselor education doctoral students. This study overall extends our knowledge of counselor education doctoral students' teaching preparation experiences, adding to a growing body of literature on doctoral teaching preparation in counselor education.