IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS FOR COUNSELING PROFESSION: METAPHORICAL PERCEPTIONS OF CANDIDATE COUNSELORS

Abstract

This study was conducted for analyzing metaphors stated by preservice counselors about the importance of ethical rules for field of counseling. The qualitative method were used for analyzing metaphors and convenience sampling technique were used for determining participants. 79 preservice counselors (45 females and 34 males) who were studying last year at department of guidance and counseling were the participants. An open-ended question form were conducted for qualitative data and the responses were taken in written form. After analyzing the responses, metaphors were grouped as themes and frequency and percentage of these themes were determined and found out that 75 metaphors were produced regarding counseling career ethics. These metaphors were categorized as four themes according to meaningful similarities among them. These themes are “sense of morality”, “keeping the justice”, “showing the path” and “providing information”. Moreover, it was determined that most common metaphors which preservice school counselors produced were moral (n=5), compass (n=4), moral rules (n=3), scales (n=3), traffic light (n=3). Because preservice counselors have produced meaningfully positive metaphors for counseling profession, it is obvious that preservice counselors are aware of that taking action according to the principles of career ethics is necessary for practices related with counseling profession.