Educational social counselling
Social problems of people arise, manifest and persist according to the principle of dialectical unity expressed as follows: the problem of an individual is also a problem of everyone, that is, of the community as a whole. And the problem of the community is also the problem of the individual, that is, of the specific member of various groups in which people perform their social roles and tasks.
Knowledge of the psychology of the human being—the individual—and the psychology of communities of people—social groups—has decisive significance for counselling practice. Where educational social counselling for adults is concerned, this knowledge is connected with means, methods and activities of adult education and upbringing, in which the social function of these activities should be emphasized. We consider the social function of upbringing and education to be a constitutive aspect of educational social counselling for adults.
Educational social counselling for adults, from the perspective of social clients—the participants in counselling activities and the counselling process—is considered a form of social assistance and a type of social service. Educational social counselling for adults is delivered through the system of tools of social and educational policy implemented in specific state laws (the law on social services, the law on employment, the law on further education and other laws). From the perspective of the epistemological and methodological basis of educational social counselling, knowledge from several disciplines is utilized in their interdisciplinary intersection in the applied plane. This supports effectiveness (a synergistic effect) already in the process of creating the concept and then also programs of events (or activities) of educational social counselling for adults.
Educational social counselling is considered, from the perspective of social work, as educational and developmental social counselling guidance of adults in the following spirit:
- for them to decide to learn and educate themselves, in the interest of achieving mental and life change as well as resolving or improving their social situation;
- for them to persist in the educational process and actively participate in it out of their own interest in increasing, deepening and expanding their professional competence, but above all their social and psychological competence for living in general;
- for them to learn to study effectively and systematically and thus to expand and deepen their capabilities required both in relation to their insertion in the labour market, and also in relation to adopting their own psychologically and socially constructive ways of coping with social life tasks and social roles in the human community.
Educational social counselling has, in our opinion, an important role in primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of social problems connected with social life situations and events affecting individuals, groups of people, and the whole community.
Goals of educational social counselling
It seems that it is necessary to proceed competently and as meaningfully as possible in scientific and professional activity aimed at identifying, delimiting and formulating goals, contents and methods of educational social counselling for adults. The open and difficult task is to define ways to transfer the goals, contents and methods of educational social counselling into applied form at the following levels:
- at the level of implementing knowledge in educational social counselling into societal-wide strategy and into the social work system of a given society;
- at the level of implementing theoretical knowledge of educational social counselling into the theory of social work as a system of scientific knowledge;
- at the level of applying knowledge of educational social counselling in practical counselling activity performed by professionals in the form of social assistance through counselling, i.e., by providing a social service in the social work system.
For orientation, defining tasks in our and the European social space (the SR and the EU), within the strategy of lifelong learning, lifelong education and lifelong counselling for all citizens can guide us. The strategy was prepared by EU experts and presented to the community by the European Commission, and later, in their countries, by the governments of individual EU member states, including the Government of the Slovak Republic in 2007 and 2010. In the document of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport, a requirement of availability and support for education to improve quality of life is emphasized through the following tasks:
- “Create a multimedia platform with free educational content accessible to everyone for the development of key and other important competencies...”
- “Support further education activities focused on personality development and improved quality of life with special emphasis on education of seniors.”
We agree with the statement in the government document that “The results of research and development will achieve their purpose of ensuring sustainable development of society only if they are transferred into practical life. To support this transfer, specialized types of organizations and workplaces are usually used. The task of the ministry in this area will be to support these tools.” We assume that the development of research and development centers will be supported, which opens a chance for supporting the transfer of the concept of educational social counselling, as an important interdisciplinary type of counselling for adults, into societal practice (including its important component—the social work).
At this point we will try to formulate goals of educational social counselling that relate to the above-mentioned tasks. The mentioned tasks were in fact formulated by us ourselves earlier in our earlier scientific papers at conferences and in several publications. (M. Machalová, 2008, 2009a, 2009b, 2009c, 2010.)
Educational social counselling is linked to continuing education policy and likewise to social policy. It is the image of theoretical penetration, scientific and professional articulation of social issues at the interface of adult education, i.e., education of adults, and social work focused on adults.
This counselling is a “new form” within social work as a science and practice, and we have not encountered targeted professional discussion on this topic. We would like to point out that this is a sketch at the conceptual level, where subsequent operationalization is assumed, that is, the formulation and delimitation of goals and the content of programs and methods toward practical implementation of educational social counselling for adults.
The primary goal of educational social counselling is social assistance as a type of social service, provided at the stage of solving social problems (i.e., within secondary and tertiary prevention). Social problems are recognizable on the basis of various forms of failure of individuals and groups in social situations.
The secondary goal of educational social counselling, however no less important, is social assistance provided in primary prevention of social problems (when the social problem is not yet present, but its emergence is possible) in the form of educational guidance of people to increase their social and psychological competence, in order to improve the quality of their lives in the social sphere in general—namely in the decisive areas of family, labour market involvement, and social non-work self-realization.
Educational social counselling as a social service
It can be provided in the form of:
- individual educational social counselling through an educational counselling relationship between counselor and client;
- group educational social counselling through educational counselling activities aimed at social groups and educational counselling leadership of the group;
- mass educational social counselling through educational counselling activities aimed at larger groups—communities—through intermediary persons, mass media, surveys and counselling leadership of the community.
Author: prof. PhDr. Mária Machalová, CSc.
List of bibliographic references
MACHALOVÁ,M.2008. Andragogical and socio-andragogical counselling in the context of lifelong learning and education. In: Acta andragogica. Vol.1, pp. 63-70. Bratislava: FFUK. ISBN 978-80-89142-14-9. MACHALOVÁ,M.2009a. Adult education and the development of psychological competence for living. In: Social and economic deprivation and insecurity of the individual in society. pp. 429-438. Bratislava: VŠZaSP sv.Alžbety. ISBN 978-80-8927-63-9. MACHALOVÁ,M.2009b. Socio-andragogical counselling and development of individual potential. In: Education Technology. Vol.17, No.9, pp. 2-8. MACHALOVÁ,M.2009c. Socio-andragogical counselling in the context of quality of life. In: Sociální pedagogika ve střední Evropě. Současný stav a perspektivy. pp. 378-384. Brno: IMS. ISBN 978 -80-87182-08-6.
1 Návrh stratégie celoživotného vzdelávania a celoživotného poradenstva. Bratislava 2007. (online). [ cit.2010-22-02] Dostupné na internete : http://www.rokovania.sk/appl/material.nsf/0/6A847EE226025333... 2 Rozpracovanie úloh vyplývajúcich pre Ministerstvo školstva, vedy, výskumu a športu SR z Programového vyhlásenia vlády SR na roky 2010-2014. Bratislava : MŠVVaŠ SR, november 2010.