Browsing by Subject "ohjaava koulutus"

Aims. This study aims to find out how career counsellors view their work in the field of career counselling training. Career counselling has been constantly changing and evolving during the past 40 years. It has changed from an education which aimed to help people with difficulties to find work to a profession aiming for new direction. Because of changes in working life, the main goals of career counselling have been redefined time after time. Career counsellors have also been forced to redefine the reasoning and the practice of their work as well as their counselling expertise and attitudes towards their students. There have been only a few studies about career counselling training from career counsellors' points of view. This study aims at filling this gap. Research questions: 1) How do career counsellors view their work? 2) What kind of aims and practices do the counsellors have in their work? 3) How are the counsellors positioned towards their students? Methods. The data for this study was collected by semi-structured interviews during spring 2010. Six career counsellors working in vocational adult education centres in greater Helsinki were interviewed. The research material was analyzed by theory based qualitative analysis. Results and conclusions. When the counsellors spoke about their work, four main themes were found: the position and respect for the work, commitment to work, individual work practices and emotional work. The most essential aims for the counselling were to achieve a change in and a new direction for a student's life and to encourage their self-directedness. The counselling practices were based on work experience and hands-on counselling practices, which were created together with colleagues. Different counselling theories were seen as completing elements to a hands-on counselling practice. The career counsellors had different roles towards their students, which included work as a counsellor, a pedagogue, an advisor, a representative and a guardian. An increased need for career counselling can be seen in the future. Therefore it is important that career counsellors commitment to work will be supported and opportunities to develop their skills will be ensured. Theoretical basis, aims and practices of career counselling should be analysed and further developed in the future and career counsellors should take part in this development and discussion.