Counseling in Adult Civic Education

In contemporary society, many problems emerge that are also related to citizenship, such as the increase in extremism, radicalism, migration, xenophobia, and others. These prompts evoke the need to think more intensively about the significance and tasks of adult civic education. From the perspective of andragogical theory, one of the primary issues appears to be the question of the unclear terminological delimitation of this form of education. In the professional literature, we encounter the use of different terms, such as civic education, political education, education for democratic citizenship, education for citizenship, and others (Beneš, 2014; Kopecký, 2011; Drobná, 2010; Švec, 2008). A similar lack of consensus is also found in foreign professional literature and research, where terms such as citizenship education and civic education (Levine, 2018), or even global citizenship education (Torres – Dorio, 2015) are used. After a careful analysis of these terms (see Sládkayová, 2016, 2019; Krystoň – Sládkayová, 2018), we consider the term civic education to best reflect the content of activities implemented within it, and it also has corresponding support in the established Slovak educational science vocabulary. Differences also appear in defining or characterizing the term civic education itself. Based on current scientific discourse and analysis of international documents, by the term civic education we understand education, activities, and actions that support the development of civic competencies, active participation within the community and society, and political literacy, and at the same time activities that help young people and adults adopt attitudes toward current political and societal questions (Sládkayová, 2019).

Adult civic education

Adult civic education, as part of lifelong learning, has its specific presence both in formal education (primary and secondary schools) and in the non-formal education segment, which is typical precisely for the adult education issue we analyze. Its impact is also found in informal learning, which is primarily related to the formation of attitudes throughout the entire ontogenetic development of a person. From the perspective of systematic andragogy, we classify adult civic education within cultural-educational andragogy, where its position can be viewed in two ways: as a large subfield of cultural-educational education, together with adult interest education, or as an independent type of cultural-educational education and interest education (Sládkayová, 2019). In this context, we argue that adult civic education can be considered an independent type of adult education, also because of the possibility of identifying its specific characteristics and basic curricular aspects. We proceed from the assumption that adult interest education and adult civic education share several common features (free-time character, voluntariness, openness, and others), based on which they can be placed in the same andragogical subsystems, while still identifying several specificities (for example, in motivation, objectives, content, and others) that distinguish them from one another.

Citizen education has a clearly defined general goal: shaping the active citizen. In a modified form, we also find this formulation in a European Union document (O´Shea, 2012), where the goal of education for democratic citizenship is “the promotion of democracy and human rights.” In addition to this general goal, this document defines partial goals, such as participation, partnership, social cohesion, responsibility, and others. Based on content analysis of relevant sources, we can state that civic education in the European Union context currently focuses primarily on implementing the following goals:

1. develop political literacy;
2. acquire critical thinking and analytical skills;
3. foster values, attitudes, and behavior;
4. support active participation and commitments in the community (EACEA, 2017).

We consider this categorization of goals to be foundational also for adult civic education. From the perspective of andragogical teleology, we positively view in particular the functional complementarity of exogenous (social) and endogenous (individual) attributes, which create the potential for civic education to contribute to the transformation of a person into an active citizen able to act responsibly and willing to participate in social life.

Content topics mainly derive from current societal conditions, at the national or international level. Among such themes, we may include the areas of human rights, democracy, tolerance, national and European belonging, globalization, and ecology, which have appeared for several years as core topics of civic education. As so-called new and current themes, we may especially include migration, population dynamics, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On the basis of an analysis of various educational offerings in Slovakia, we can identify themes such as civic participation/engagement, human rights, support for democracy, European citizenship, the European Union, and others.

In Slovak or Czech professional literature, we still do not find a systematically developed classification of forms in adult civic education, while foreign literature presents clearly defined forms of education that are typical specifically of this field. A respected source, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, identifies five modern forms of civic education: service learning, action civics, civic education through discussion, John Dewey: school as community, Paulo Freire: critical pedagogy (Levine, 2018). The first three forms are used both in work with youth and in adult education. The last two forms (school as community and critical pedagogy) are more closely tied to civic education in higher and secondary education, but they can still inspire adult education (support for volunteer activity, participant activity, dialogue with others, and so on). Other usable forms include adult civic education in local and regional culture through experiential learning, learning through collaboration, multicultural learning, action learning, and contextual learning.

An inseparable part of this issue is the institutional support of civic education. In essence, we can speak of three main providers of this type of education:

• the state;
• the third sector;
• political parties, movements, unions, and churches (adapted from Beneš, 2014).

The most prominent providers of civic education in Slovakia are organizations and institutions from the third sector. We refer especially to civic associations, non-governmental organizations, non-profit organizations, and various associations of citizens who identify a specific problem in their community and try to address it. These also include various initiatives and movements that often do not have institutionalized or formalized forms. This type of organization is characterized by high dynamics, especially when we focus on the emergence and dissolution of such organizations. The causes for the rise of these movements and initiatives are often current social circumstances, and they cease to exist after the problem they address has been resolved. For this reason, it is indeed unrealistic to create a standardized structure for these organizations. For clarity, we present Drobná’s (2008) classification of such institutions, which classifies non-governmental organizations promoting active citizenship and therefore civic education:

• think tanks,
• organizations focused on civic advocacy (activating citizens in exercising civil and political rights, expressing views on public questions of social development in various spheres),
• organizations for human rights protection, combating xenophobia, racism, and intolerance, and education in this area,
• educational organizations with training and educational programs (preparing professionals for the third sector, preparation of mediators),
• organizations providing aid to citizens in distress, social assistance, and social work,
• organizations promoting and supporting volunteerism, assistance to countries with threatened or absent democracy, and aid to third countries (Drobná, 2008, p.117).

These organizations may offer not only traditional education but also various discussion forums, public lectures, activities for the general public, organizing protest or charitable events, and providing counseling, among other things.

Andragogical counseling

The term counseling itself is relatively difficult to define, as it is used by several scientific disciplines, each viewing it from its own perspective. In general, however, it can be described as a set of services aimed at helping a person and caring for them (Palán – Langer, 2008). In the context of the issue we present here, we agree with Sejčová (2012, p.65), who understands counseling as “an interdisciplinary, theoretical and applied system of knowledge, a set of methods and techniques, and cooperation among institutions and experts aimed at assisting individuals and groups in their study, working, and personal lives, improving the quality of their lives in social, mental, relational, and performance domains.” Essentially, then, we are talking about a relationship between counselor and client, within which the counselor seeks to support clients in their development, maturity, and better adaptation to change.

We encounter the term counseling in many contexts and, as Pavlov notes (2020, p.28), can understand it as:

• a service—practical activity provided by a professionally prepared counselor to a client based on his or her interest in meeting needs; it can be provided as a private practice for different activities (commercial character), or as a service provided by trained counselors employed within networks of public institutions (public-interest services such as employment services, career guidance, pedagogical and psychological counseling, and others);
• a profession—a person (counselor) who meets the required qualifications for providing counseling services to a target group by completing a prescribed type and level of higher education;
• a method/methods applied in the counseling process;
• a field of study, an academic subject in higher or further education;
• a scientific theoretical discipline and scientific research field in counseling across various areas of social practice and different target groups of children and adults.

As this classification implies, counseling can have different substantive focus depending mainly on the specific needs of the target group to which it is offered (children, youth, adults, parents, employed, unemployed, and others). Today, several types of counseling are known, but in the context of the focus of our paper, those of interest to us are those centered on the adult person, such as corporate, managerial, personnel, economic, tax, financial, legal, pastoral, social/social-educational, educational counseling, and others (Pavlov, 2020). These types share a common foundation, yet differ in content focus through the extent to which they satisfy specific client needs. Such needs include educational needs, which correspond to andragogical counseling/counseling in adult education in terms of target group.

The purpose of counseling in adult education is to support adults’ motivation for lifelong learning. Veteška (2016) describes andragogical counseling as a separate applied discipline about the theory, research, and practice of counseling provided to different adult target groups in various life stages and with different substantive focuses. According to Pavlov (2020), we can approach andragogical counseling from two angles: in a narrower sense (counseling in adult learning—how to learn better, how to study effectively, learning strategies, etc.) and in a broader sense (counseling regarding the problems people can address by acquiring the competencies, strategies, and knowledge through learning that enable them to manage a work-related or personal problem).

Pavlov continues and characterizes andragogical counseling as:

• interdisciplinary with elements of transdisciplinarity;
• based on a humanistic paradigm oriented toward developing the potential of the human person as a learning being;
• contextual (approaching client problems in the context of his or her life and work);
• holistic in its understanding of learning processes that develop the whole person;
• professional (provided by professionally prepared counselors);
• scientifically grounded, based on validated theoretical approaches, methods, and techniques;
• multidimensional in terms of client problems and needs;
• non-discriminatory, intended for all adults regardless of age, educational attainment, socioeconomic background, cultural-ethnic and other factors (Pavlov, 2020, p.65).

In justifying and characterizing andragogical counseling, we can draw on various international documents and strategies, such as the Memorandum on Lifelong Learning (2000), where, within message no. 5, a clearly formulated goal is stated: “To ensure that everyone can access high-quality information and advice on learning opportunities across Europe and across the life course” (Memorandum, 2000, p.18). Among others are documents from the Council of Europe, OECD, the European Commission, and many others. One of the most recent significant documents is the Manifesto for Adult Learning in the 21st Century: The Power and Joy of Learning (EAEA, 2018), which is addressed to European, national, and regional policy makers to demonstrate the benefits of adult education. The Manifest presents nine European challenges through which adult education is supported, stimulated, and developed—active citizenship and democracy, health and well-being, life skills for individuals, social cohesion and equality, employment and work, digitalization, migration and demographic change, sustainability, adult education, and European and international policies. In general, we can say that all these challenges form a kind of framework for orienting and better understanding andragogical counseling. The Manifest also brings adult civic education to the fore, together with the associated development of active citizenship, democracy, and social cohesion and equality. These themes can be supported not only through adult civic education itself, but also through counseling.

Andragogical counseling in adult civic education

Counseling in civic education is not a currently stabilized term, and its implementation is not strongly supported or much discussed in professional circles. As noted in the previous text, similar to civic education itself, counseling in this area also contains significant gaps, and it is necessary to draw on information from foreign sources. Based on this knowledge, we can state that counseling in civic education can be implemented in three basic directions.

The first is counseling in the sense of fulfilling the goals of adult civic education. If we start from the premise that the goal of adult civic education is to form an active citizen who wants to participate in the course of society, it is important to support these efforts through counseling activities of different institutions. Given the institutional classification we provided above, we can in this context refer to all three types of providers of adult civic education (the state, the third sector, and movements/churches/political parties). In this context, however, we regard it as more effective to create supportive materials (such as various platforms, online webinars, etc.) that help adults find information and motivate them toward more active participation. At the same time, these offer adults a clear overview of options for further improvement and development, not only in relation to themselves but also in relation to the society in which they live.

The second direction is counseling for communities and population groups existing in a given society. A good practice example is the participatory budget of a city or municipality, within which different resident groups can submit projects aimed at community development, public spaces, or educational events in that city/town. Such activities help to identify concrete shortages, i.e., residents’ needs, and thereby help address them. At the same time, they create space for citizens’ own activity and thus contribute to the formation of active citizenship. Counseling in this context plays a facilitating role in these processes and in better identifying concrete needs and possibilities for meeting them.

The third direction of counseling in adult civic education is counseling for institutions that engage in this type of education. As we state in the previous text, the largest group of providers is organizations from the third sector. These organizations often carry out their educational activity only on the basis of prior experience, without a more systematic and methodological perspective on the educational process itself. Here we see the greatest potential precisely in andragogical counseling in the sense of educating the adult population. If we want our educational efforts to bring the desired effect and allow us to achieve the intended goals, it is necessary to know several didactic factors influencing this process—goal setting, content, methods and forms, organizational arrangements, and not least the specific characteristics of the target group. It is precisely an andragogue who should participate in this process, someone who knows the specificities of adult populations in terms of educational processes and can advise on how to set up the educational process as effectively as possible.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can assert that adult civic education is still in its early stages of development in Central and Eastern Europe. On the other hand, based on international research, documents, and strategies, we consider it essential to keep strengthening and professionally developing this issue increasingly. In the context of the preceding ideas, it is also necessary to perceive the interrelation of individual types of education and to seek their intersections in order to provide the greatest possible support for meeting educational needs not only of individuals but also of the whole society.

Author: Mgr. Michaela Beran Sládkayová, PhD.
The author is affiliated with the Department of Andragogy at the Faculty of Education of Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica. Within her scientific and pedagogical work, she focuses on the field of non-formal adult education with a specific emphasis on civic education.

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