Chapter 19: Pandemic Challenges During Field Experiences: Responding with Creativity and Flexibility

Many fields—such as audiology, counseling, and education—rely on clinical training or field experiences to prepare students appropriately. These fields are governed by accreditation bodies, licensure and certification standards that have requirements for number of hours, as well as the type of field experiences needed. In counseling, for example, the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), as well as state licensing boards, dictate the type of training and the number of hours required for clinical experiences. Similarly, the Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) sets standards for graduate-level speech-language pathology and audiology programs, which also include supervised clinical experiences, with the goal of graduates meeting state licensure and the credentialing requirements set by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Specifics of field experience hours for teacher licensure requirements are primarily determined by individual states, with teacher education programs using guidance from national accreditation bodies such as the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP).