The fifth edition of the international conference on spiritual, anthropological, philosophical, psychological and social issues of therapy, upbringing, education and counselling today took place on November 7, 2016 in the premises of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Prešov in Prešov. The conference offered a space for sharing opinions and experiences for workers of scientific research and academic institutions as well as practitioners. The conference was held in cooperation with PROHUMAN journal.
The aim of the conference was to share knowledge about the importance, meaning and actual state of lifelong upbringing, education and counselling with an emphasis on the social aspects of education of various and especially disadvantaged target groups of children, youth, adults and seniors.
44 participants registered for the conference, but 33 scientific, research and pedagogical workers, mostly from universities but also experts from other areas of social practice from Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic, presented their contributions.
The conference participants competently addressed a variety of educational and social issues, which we will present to readers in the following lines through a loose translation of the title of each contribution so as not to diminish the significance of any presentation.
In the opening part of the conference, the following topics were presented: human responsibility for one's own life; health barriers in children's and youth's learning; a biblical-exegetical commentary on the meaning of creation; children's attitudes toward moral principles; ethical principles in the work of a supervisor.
In the second and third parts of the conference, the authors addressed: social revitalization through theatrical art; education towards values; education of workers in the contemporary organization; human values in light of the teachings of John Paul II; the message of the bible on the change of human values; educational elements of Orthodox liturgical texts; education towards love as prevention of addictions; education in the context of phenomena of contemporary society; the andragogical potential of solving the integration of adult migrants; state care for the family as a client of social work; penitentiary care from an andragogical and psychological perspective; the necessity and function of seniors' activity.
In the fourth part of the conference, the authors took an expert stance on the following topics: feminization of social work; functioning of students with disabilities in the academic environment; educational and informational measures in schools in case of floods; the personality of a firefighter sports coach; development and saturation of educational needs of Slovaks living abroad; the placebo effect and its use in work with clients; the necessity of lifelong learning; alcoholism, unemployment, suicide; autism – causes, diagnosis and therapeutic methods; new forms for increasing the expertise of teachers.
In the contributions included in the fifth part of the conference, the authors addressed the following issues: the role of critical thinking in the context of mass media; relevance of social education in social worker intervention; students' knowledge of criminal responsibility; the family of a child with disabilities; the role of social work in pediatrics; the importance and use of occupational therapy in social work; imagination in therapy.
As the scientific guarantor of the conference New Social Education of Man V., which has already become a tradition of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Prešov in Prešov and which took place in cooperation with PROHUMAN journal, I wish to express great gratitude for the highly creative and warm atmosphere to all conference participants. And I also sincerely thank my esteemed and responsible colleagues of the conference organizing committee and the administrative and technical staff of the FOT UP.
My thanks go especially to PhDr. Bohuslav Kuzyšin, PhD., head of the conference organizing committee, and doc. ThDr. Ján Husár, PhD., for the preparation of the conference proceedings, and to the media partner of the conference Mgr. Peter Senko, editor-in-chief of PROHUMAN journal.
Prof. PhDr. Mária Machalová, CSc. Scientific guarantor of the conference