© Copyright: MÁRIA MACHALOVÁ

Introduction

For the theory and practice of educational social counselling for adults, knowledge of adult upbringing and education (that is, adult education) and knowledge of social work, psychology, sociology, spiritual sciences, anthropology, philosophy, and law are important. In educational social counselling, in order to provide focused and effective social support to people, collaboration among different specialists and their interdisciplinary cooperation is always involved.

Educational social counselling is a borderline area of theory and practice that belongs to less developed theoretical and applied systems of knowledge. From practical experience in addressing social inequalities in society, it is clear that the failures of individuals or groups and the social problems of people do not arise from one cause but from several causes. Specialists working in social counselling must account for the complex of determinants (causes) in the emergence of social situations and problems. At the same time, they must respect the uniqueness in how individual persons and groups handle social risks. It is important to emphasise the appreciation of consensus among specialists both in theoretical approaches and in practical activities in social work with clients. This refers primarily to integrating relevant knowledge from multiple disciplines in favour of an integrated approach in social work, and especially to counselling activities with social clients.

Educational Social Counselling

The social problems of people arise, appear, and persist according to a dialectical unity expressed as follows: the problem of an individual is also the problem of everyone, that is, of the community as a whole. And the problem of a community is also the problem of an individual, a specific member of diverse groups in which people perform their social roles and functions.

Knowledge of human psychology—the psychology of the individual and the psychology of communities of people, social groups—has a decisive significance for social counselling practice. In educational social counselling for adults, this knowledge mainly concerns the means of adult education (i.e. education and upbringing of adults). In educational social counselling, the social function of adult education plays the central role. We consider the social function of adult education (that is, upbringing and education of adults) to be a constitutive aspect of educational social counselling for adults.

From the perspective of social clients, participants in counselling activities and in the counselling process, educational social counselling for adults is a specific form of social assistance and an important type of social service. Educational social counselling for adults is provided through systems of tools in social and educational policy, implemented in concrete state laws (the social services act, the employment act, the lifelong learning act, and other laws). In terms of the epistemological and methodological basis of educational social counselling, this counselling applies an interdisciplinary integration of knowledge from several disciplines. This creates the conditions for the effectiveness (synergistic effect) of educational social counselling programmes and events (or activities) within educational social counselling for adults.

We regard educational social counselling, from the perspective of social work, as educational social counselling and guidance of adults in the following sense:

  • So that they decide to learn and educate themselves, in order to achieve their own psychological change and life change, and also to solve and improve their social life situation.
  • So that they remain in education, that is, in the educational process, and actively participate in it in their own interest in increasing, deepening, and expanding not only their professional competence, but equally their social competence and psychological competence for living.
  • So that they learn to learn effectively and systematically, and also expand and deepen their life skills. These are required for their placement on the labour market as well as for life competence in constructively handling social life tasks and social roles in the community of people.

Educational social counselling is expected to play an important role in primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of psychologically burdensome social problems, social life situations, and social events affecting people and groups.

Aims of Educational Social Counselling

It is apparent that the current scientific and practical task is to identify and formulate the aims, content, and methods of educational social counselling for adults. Open is also the task of identifying and applying transfers of the aims, content, and methods of educational social counselling to the following levels:

  • The level of implementation of educational social counselling into the overall social-work strategy and the social-work system in society.
  • The level of implementation of theoretical knowledge of educational social counselling into social work theory as a system of scientific knowledge.
  • The level of applying knowledge of educational social counselling in practical counselling activity, performed by specialists within the provision of social assistance through social service in the social-work system.

For orientation, we present the definition of tasks in the Slovak and European social space within the strategy of lifelong learning, lifelong education for people, and lifelong counselling for all citizens. The strategy was prepared by EU experts and submitted by the European Commission to the community. It was then adopted by the governments of the individual EU member states, including the Government of the Slovak Republic (2007), (2010). In the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport document (2010), the requirement is emphasised that education should be available and supported for people, in the interest of the quality of life of the population of the Slovak Republic, through these tasks:

  1. “Create a multimedia platform with freely accessible educational content for the development of key and other important competences…”
  2. “Support further education activities aimed at personal development and increased quality of life, with particular emphasis on education of older adults.”

We agree with the statement in the government document that “The outcomes of research and development will fulfil their purpose in terms of ensuring the sustainable development of society only if their transfer into practical life is implemented. To support this transfer, specialised types of organisations and workplaces are used as a standard approach. The task of the ministry in this area will be to support these tools.” We assume that the development of research-and-development centres will be supported, opening opportunities to support the transfer of the concept of educational social counselling, as an important interdisciplinary type of counselling for adults, into social practice (including its important component—social work).

At this point, we formulate the aims of educational social counselling that relate to the tasks outlined above. We also formulated these tasks previously in earlier scientific contributions presented at conferences and in publications. Educational social counselling is closely linked to further education policy and likewise to social policy. Educational social counselling is the result of a theoretical intersection of scientific and professional articulation of social work with adult education, in the context of social assistance and social service for adults.

Educational social counselling is a neologism within social work as a social science and social practice. We would like to note that for now this is an authorial development of the concept, with the assumption that it will later be operationalised, that is, that the goals and contents of counselling programmes and concrete methods of practical implementation of educational social counselling in practical social work will be formulated and specified.

  1. Primary goal

The primary goal of educational social counselling is social assistance as a type of social service, provided at the stage of resolving social problems (within secondary and tertiary prevention). Social problems are recognisable by various forms of social failure of persons and social groups.

  1. Secondary goal

The secondary goal of educational social counselling is social assistance provided in primary prevention of social problems in the form of educational guidance for people to increase their social and psychological competence for living, with the aim of improving quality of life in the areas of family life, employment, and social self-realization outside work.

Educational social counselling, as a social service and social assistance, can be provided in these forms:

  • individual educational social counselling through an educational counselling relationship between counsellor and client;
  • group educational social counselling through educational counselling activities focused on the group and through educational counselling guidance of the group;
  • mass educational social counselling through educational counselling activities focused on larger groups—communities—through intermediaries, mass media, outreach, and counselling guidance of the community.

Tasks of Educational Social Counselling for Adults

In the process of the continuous development of the epistemological and methodological base that is the theoretical starting point for educational social counselling, attention is focused on defining the goal, specifying content, formulating the approach, constructing methods for implementing counselling programmes and activities. We start from the following social reality:

  1. A social problem is caused by various factors in its emergence and persistence. The nature of a social problem determines the ways of solving it. Identifying the determinants of a social problem is a primary task of practical importance for educational social counselling support.
  2. Through educational social counselling, clients receive educational social assistance and, where they are in socially burdensome situations, guidance toward self-help. Clients are professionally guided to recognise and develop their own individual potential.
  3. Educational social assistance is carried out through educational social counselling programmes, activities, and events within the social service, which has the goal of supporting the lifelong development of adult clients of social work (in the context of their own developmental life tasks).
  4. The concept of educational social counselling assumes unconventional use of adult education contents, forms, and methods (that is, education and upbringing of adults). Emphasis is placed on increasing the spiritual, psychological, and social competence and maturity of social-work clients (socially disadvantaged and marginalised citizens). The impact of educational social counselling can be achieved through innovative educational social counselling events for adults.
  5. The developmental social potential of adult social education within educational social counselling is revealed as a means of social prevention. Social events and problems of individuals can become a stimulus for psychological change and for active participation in managing a socially burdensome situation. The novelty in educational activities lies in the intention of adult education to achieve social and psychological maturity of people.

In practical social work, it is required to act deliberately on public opinion and to lead people toward accepting educational social counselling and social education. This is because this can bring about changes in a person’s taken-for-granted and often negative experiencing of reality, for example learned helplessness in socially and personally burdensome situations. The meaning of educational social counselling is to support social clients in developing the effort to change attitudes and behaviour, and the effort toward personal change in their life situation.

The social preventive and developmental role of educational social counselling is emphasised. Social vulnerability has consequences such as disorders of social adaptation and weakened health of people—their spiritual, psychological, and somatic health. In the prevention of individual and group social problems, well-designed and competently prepared and implemented educational social counselling programmes for adults can be used. Programmes should arise not only from knowledge about social clients but also from knowledge of the influences of the environment in which people live. We mean influences from:

  • Social environment of the person, that is, the influence of the social arrangement in which people live. The social environment can be understood as the system and mode of relationships and communication between people—individuals with one another, individuals and groups, groups with one another.
  • Psychological and spiritual environment of the person, that is, the influence of how people subjectively perceive, understand, experience, and live the environment in which they live in terms of their thinking, emotions and feelings, motivations, values, observance of social norms and rules, customs, and habits. Effects of this environment’s influence are visible in the psychological and social adaptation and integration of people in that environment—that is, in their spiritual, psychological, social, and somatic health, in their behaviour and actions.
  • Educational environment , that is, the influence of the environment formed by the history, culture, traditions, and values of a given society. Educational environment is reflected in public opinion and in the population’s attitudes toward upbringing and education as social and individual values. Educational environment is characterised by the social climate in relation to people’s educational attainment. Educational environment is assessed by the material provision of infrastructure for educative activities in a specific country.

In the concept sketch we present, the strategy of lifelong learning and lifelong education of people is reflected. The core idea of the strategy is that an adult person has the potential for psychological and social development throughout their entire life. It is emphasised that people in every life period, through overcoming life events and life transitions, have the endowment necessary for continuous personal and social development.

Our work on the concept of educational social counselling for adults was motivated by the conviction that many people today are in a socially and personally stagnant situation and are not able to orient themselves in complex and difficult-to-predict, socially unendurable life situations. The necessity of a new type of social assistance and service—educational social counselling—arises from the demanding social conditions of population groups. This concerns primarily family and working life.

It is plausible to assume that people are being deprived of their energy by the stress of expectations (which we called anticipatory stress) associated with various forms of social vulnerability. This anticipatory stress is often written into the health status of the population. In contemporary postmodern society, many adults find themselves in burdensome social situations and positions in both employment and family life. The possibility and reality of social exclusion among many people lead us to the conviction that it is absolutely necessary to provide educational social counselling assistance to adults within the social services system for the population.

Conclusion

The linkage of adult education with counselling for adults within social work appears to us to be a unique way to combine social assistance with people’s social development. Educational social counselling is a type, form, and means of social prevention in society. People have potential for psychological and social development. They are capable of expanding and enriching their psychological and social capacities at every age. Under normal circumstances, a person is capable of ongoing development in the area of professional self-realisation and material security; in the social sphere of relationships, communication, association, family, partnership; and in the non-professional, non-working sphere, interests, and hobbies.

Through educational social counselling, social assistance is provided to adults when they are forced by circumstances to resolve a social problem and usually also a psychological problem. Educational social counselling is a form of social assistance that supports initiative, independence, activity, responsibility, and participation of adult persons—social clients—in the prevention and resolution of social disadvantage, social risk, social emergency.

It strengthens people’s awareness and their ability to socially adapt and integrate so that their psychological integrity and their functioning in social groups are not disrupted. The purpose is that they retain psychological balance and thereby health despite social events, situations, and problems.

Final words of wisdom: “Nothing can push someone up a ladder if they do not climb at least a little themselves.” A. Carnegie “A crisis is an opportunity.” Chinese proverb

Author: Prof. doc. PhDr. Mária Machalová, CSc. Inštitút výchovy a športu – IVŠ Bibliography:

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