Theoretical Paper Walls of Knowledge: An evaluation of the role of scholarship in counselling psychology

Abstract

Context & Focus:This paper evaluates the role of scholarship in counselling psychology in the UK. Scholarship is defined as the skill of building walls of knowledge, analogous to stonemasonry as the skill of building walls of stone. A review of the literature indicates that scholarship is an essential activity of counselling psychology in the UK, where it builds the profession’s identity and the walls of evidence upon which it relies. However, disunity and conflict are found within both of these roles. Scholarship has constructed a contested identity for the profession, and the empirical literature reveals further disagreement on how the walls of evidence should be built. Methodological concerns about quantitative research draw our attention to gaps in the increasingly unsteady walls of evidence, and while qualitative research provides much-needed stability, this methodology, too, is found wanting. In addition, it is shown how this internal dispute over the ‘right’ construction materials and methods is being increasingly influenced by external forces. The result is a deeply conflicted profession whose scholarly efforts are hindered rather than enhanced by its rich diversity.Conclusion:The paper proposes a pluralistic approach to scholarship that embraces counselling psychology’s divisions and diverse influences, and examples of this approach are provided.