Adult Education and Customs Officers of the Independent Public Revenue Authority: An Empirical Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the training needs of Customs Officers, who serve in the Independent Public Revenue Authority. The research questions of the present study are the following: a) in which training programs do the Customs Officers of A.A.D.E. participate, b) which thematic items do they consider necessary, c) what are their motivations for participation, and d) what are the barriers to participation. The research is sampling and the questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. The findings of the research show that the participation in educational programs organized by the Tax and Customs Academy is relatively small, both for living and for distance education. The participation in training programs of the Training Institute of the National Center of Public Administration and Local Government, is obviously greater than that of the Tax and Customs Academy. The participation of the Customs Officers in programs implemented at European level is extremely small. The participants recognize to a high degree the need to monitor the subjects under investigation (eg Customs Control, Customs Legislation, Customs Research, Risk Analysis, etc.). The need to attend training programs that focus on specific skills, such as stress management and task scheduling seems to be recognized to a very significant degree. The Customs Officers participate in training programs motivated mainly by professional and personal motives. Participation is inevitably "torpedoed" by a number of deterrents, such as workload and lack of information.