Adult Education and Counseling Psychology: Investigating the training needs of the Adult Educators of the Second Chance School of Volos in Counseling issues

The purpose of this research was to investigate, record and highlight the training needs of the Adult Educators of the Second Chance School of Volos in Counseling issues, and in particular the basic principles of Counseling Psychology as defined by the person-centered model, empathy, unconditional acceptance and authenticity. Also, the aim of the study was to highlight the necessity of counseling in the educational process and the role of the adult educator as a counselor in it, and thus the importance of these three characteristics for the work of adult educators in Greece today. In this research, a qualitative methodology was adopted, and in particular the case study approach. Ten (10) adult educator/teachers (population under study) and sixteen (16) learners (informants) of the Volos Second Chance School participated in the survey. At first, it was assessed whether the trainers have empathy, unconditional acceptance and authenticity in their educational work, through observation, self-referral (trainers) and focus groups (trainees). Subsequently, the training needs of the educators in Counseling were investigated with semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was adopted as a method of data analysis. The analysis of the collected data revealed that most instructors overestimate the extent to which they have empathy, unconditional acceptance and authenticity in their educational work, compared both to the results of the observation and focus groups, the results of which significantly converge. Also, the results of the research indicated that both their expressed needs and unexpressed needs concern the development of interpersonal understanding and communication skills in the educational work. In addition, it has emerged that the majority of trainers consider training in counseling issues important and useful both at professional development and personal level, while the experiential method and the use of art emerged as the most appropriate educational methods in this context.