Parents Education and Counselling
Guide
Project Socrates - Grundtvig 2, Learning Partnership
“Educational strategies and counselling interventions for the parents of children and teenagers with difficulties: good practices”
Parents Education and Counselling
Guide
2006
Organisations involved in the project
Institute of Educational SciencesRomania
Northumberland College
United Kingdom
„Paulo Freire” Institute
Malta
P&W Praxis und Wissenschaft Projekt GmbHGermany
Euro-Net
Italy
The project has been accomplished with the contribution of the following persons:
ROMANIA
Angela Muscă, researcher at the Institute for Educational Sciences, project coordinator
Luminiţa Tăsica, Ph.D., researcher at the Institute for Educational Sciences, expert in guidance and counselling
Petre Botnariuc, researcher at the Institute for Educational Sciences, web master
Marcela Claudia Călineci – psychopedagogue, Municipal Psychopedagogical Assistance Centre
Simona Luca – psychopedagogue, Technical College „Dimitrie Leonida”
Florentina Marcinschi – psychopedagogue, International School „Mark Twain”
Andreea Mateescu – psychologist, „Petrache Poenaru”, School No. 147
Ana Maria Oancea – psychologist, School No. 311
Mihaela Oancea – psychologist, Economic College „Viilor”
Melania Pădureanu – psychologist, International School „Mark Twain”
Simona Peterfi – psychologist, High School „Dimitrie Bolintineanu”
Ani Răducu – psychopedagogue, School No. 75 and School No. 86
Ioana Şandru – psychopedagogue, National College „Mihai Viteazul”
UNITED KINGDOM
Kate Morrison - College Counsellor - Trained in Person-centred and Psychodynamic counselling skills College Counsellor, Northumberland College
Alison Hook - B.A.P.G.C.E. Dip.rsa Trainee person-centred counsellor at, Newcastle University Newcastle-upon-Tyne. U.K.
Sue McLeod - Dip.CG FE/HE co-ordinator for Connexions Northumberland, based in Northumberland College
Julie Proudlock - Chief executive officer for Choysez, Mobile 9, Northumberland College,
ITALY
Anna Lagrotta,responsible for action
Antonino Imbesi, operator
Giandomenico Prete, operator
Stefania Marchese,european meeting responsible
MALTA
Fr. Edgar Busuttil s.j., local coordinator, Executive Director at Paulo Freire Institute
Pauline Pulis Baldacchino, psychoterapist, School counsellor
Pauline Borg, social worker at „Paulo Freire” Institute
Josephine Pell, Psychologist in Health department Malta
Ray Micallef, Student in Psychotherapy
Mariella Said, Student in Psychotherapy
Fleur Bianco, Student in Psychotherapy
Lija Aquilina, Student in Psychotherapy
Carmen Farrugia, Student in Psychotherapy
GERMANY
Randolph Preisinger-Kleine, Ph. D.,sociologist, local
Coordinator
Summary
1.INTRODUCTION 6
2. ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT 7
Romania 7
United Kingdom 7
Germany 10
Malta 11
Italy 11
3. NATIONAL REPORTS 13
1. Report on the counselling sessions in Romania 13
2. Report on the counselling sessions in United Kingdom 21
3. Report on the counselling sessions in Germany 25
4. Report on the counselling sessions in Malta 30
5. National Report about counselling sessions in Italy 35
4. COMPARATIVE STUDIES 41
5. CASE STUDIES 49
1. United Kingdom 49
Case study 1 49
Case study 2 50
Case Study 3 51
2. Romania 53
Case study 1 53
Case Study 2 56
Case study 3 59
Case Study 4 61
Case Study 5 62
Case study 6 65
Case Study 7 67
Case study 8 69
3. Italy 72
Case 1 72
Case 2 73
6. REFERENCES 74
7. WEB SITES 75
8. APPENDICES 77
1.INTRODUCTION
Angela Muscă
The project Socrates Grundtvig 2, “Educational strategies and counselling interventions for the parents of children and teenagers with difficulties: good practices” focuses on helping the parents with difficulties of building their own trajectory and sustaining their children. In recent years, a challenge to the counselling profession is to develop and apply collaborative approach to solve the complex problems of the society. Parents of children and teenagers having difficulties are an example of a major societal concern requiring cooperative, professional interventions.
The counselling services have the mission of helping and also have to support approaches both of them parents and children, finally aiming children’s benefice. The counsellor cooperates with the family in order to understand the child problems, to use the family potential in child’s interest and to assure a harmonious family environment. He provides important information to the parents meant to contribute to a better understanding of their own children. The intervention is considered successful if the contact and initial dialogue with the parents has been established and the parties have agreed upon the counselling strategies. The entire action is made according to the principles of counselling: confidentiality, professional responsibility, trust, respect, valorisation, and efficient communication.
This learning partnership was a challenge for enriching professionals’ experience from interacting with European colleagues, developing the possibilities of establishing contacts and building up professional friendships and experiencing innovative strategies and interventions in the case of parents having children and teenagers with difficulties.
The project is co-financed by the European Commission within the Framework of the Socrates - Grundtvig 2 / Learning partnerships. It lasts for 2 years from 1 August 2004 to 31 July 2006.The main aim was to provide guidelines for counselling parents with children between 10-16 years.
This guide comprises the national reports about counselling session in each country, a set of case studies about the parents having children with emotional, educational, behavioural, physical or associated difficulties, some instruments and references. This materials are meant as a support for professionals in their daily work, starting from the idea that an European experience and exchange of good practices can help them in this field to realize a better job, giving, at the same time, better results on families.
The practitioners participating at the project had the opportunity to convince the parents in becoming real partners by participating at the meetings proposed within this programme and to receive the necessary support for their social, personal and emotional needs.
The transfer of parents’ education and counselling practices and creatively integrating them into practitioners’ activity promote the European dimension in this field.
The beneficiaries of this approach in education and counselling are finally, the community and society that need creative and responsible people, able to face new situations, in the contemporary world.
2. ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT
Romania
The Institute for Educational Sciences (IES) Bucharest is a national institute for research and development in education and aims to put forth the education policies and decisions.
The Department of Counselling and Lifelong Learning develop researches at national level organize conferences, seminaries, surveys and needs analysis, elaborate publications - guidebooks, leaflets, articles in the field of guidance and counselling. The researchers propose standards of good practices for the practitioners, facilitate the access of the interested public to data about education and training opportunities, both at national and European level, support the European dimension of educational and vocational training, manage the national portal of psycho pedagogical assistance centres. Also, our department ensure the methodological coordination of the national network of Psychopedagogical Assistance Centres.
The Psychopedagogical Assistance Centres are institutions belonging to the Ministry of Education and Research, which have divisions in all counties, including Bucharest and where working the school counsellors. Its activities consist of coordinating The Psycho-Pedagogical School Offices from schools in their territories and mediating between them and other educational and vocational guidance institutions.
The Psycho-Pedagogical School Offices are structures responsible for informing activities, vocational guidance and counselling within schools and aiming to assist pupils, teachers and parents for reaching the educational objectives of the school, in the benefit of the individual and his smooth vocational integration. These counselling offices are organised in schools with more than 800 students.
The professionals working in these centres provide counselling services for students, parents and teachers in relation with different problems:
§ personality knowing / self assessment by students,
§ improving inter –human relations and with the local community,
§ preventing / reducing absenteeism, drop outs, school failure,
§ counselling the students with difficult behaviour,
§ career information and guidance.
For parents, the counsellors assist them in understanding their own children and for improving their behaviour towards children.
The Municipal Psychopedagogical Assistance Centre from Bucharest comprises a network of Psycho-Pedagogical School Offices, where 10 school counsellors participating at Socrates Grundtvig 2 Project were selected. The parents counselling needs were identified during IES activities organised with the representative of psychopedagogical assistance centres, with teachers and developing, as a promoter or partner the international projects Leonardo da Vinci and Socrates.
United Kingdom
Northumberland College at Ashington in the north east of England in the United Kingdom, is a general college of further education in the state sector. It caters for people from the age of 16 upwards who have completed their compulsory education, although it is increasingly receiving young people of 14-16 years in response to current UK government policy. The education provided is primarily vocational in nature, which also includes some higher education courses, and the College is a regional Centre of Vocational Excellence for its training in construction work, and its training in inward tourism, as well as a national Beacon Award winner for the quality of its 'outreach' work in its predominantly rural catchment area.
The College serves the most northerly and thinly populated county in England, and has to cope with particular issues in relation to its market. Most of the county is rural, with poor transport links, and learners in these areas are served by smaller 'satellite' campuses, a mobile classroom with internet access, and online learning facilities through the College's intranet and extranet. In addition, the south east corner of the county is urban and characterised by high unemployment, caused by the decline and disappearance of the coal mining industry which was previously the major employer in the area.
The College is divided into three Faculties: the Faculty of Technology, which includes Construction, Engineering and Land Based Industries; the Faculty of Business and Information Technology, which includes Business, Management, Information Technology, Sport and Leisure, Hairdressing and Beauty, Catering and Hospitality, and Art, Design and Multimedia; and the Faculty of Access, Care and Education, which includes Early Years Education, Health and Social Care, and Special Needs Education.
Northumberland College was first used as a mining technical college and with the decline of the local mining industry the college changed its use to its current status as the only Further Education College within the county of Northumberland.
Choysez
Choysez was established in 1998 as the ‘South East Northumberland Hard To Reach Project’ by a consortium comprising Endeavour Training, Mobex NE and Trident Trust. The project, a pilot to study the need for services to help the disaffected, was funded by the Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland.
Such was the success of the project that in September 2001, Choysez was established as a separate, independent charity.
We exist in order to improve the life chances of disaffected and marginalised children, young people and young adults. We run structured programmes to improve their self-esteem, confidence and life skills.
We work throughout Northumberland but our primary area of operation is South East Northumberland.
Management and Staffing
A committee of voluntary trustees who represent a good cross section of the community manages Choysez.
All of our Board members have several years experience of working with young people in a variety of settings.
The project currently employs 10 staff and is pleased to welcome volunteers.
The Need For Our Work
The young people we work with come from some of the most disadvantaged communities in the region, perhaps even the Country. The daily realities of many include poverty, drug use and violence. These family and environmental pressures often lead to disruptive and anti-social behaviour, vandalism, crime, rebelliousness and lack of respect for authority and their peers. At school they see themselves as ‘outsiders’ excluded from the means of achieving ‘traditional’ success - i.e. qualifications leading to a good job. By the time they come to Choysez, the downward spiral has already begun. Many have been excluded from school. Others have become young offenders. Falling behind in class and getting into trouble, they perceive themselves to be ‘failures’, a judgment which, unless addressed, will almost certainly become a self-fulfilling prophecy. At this point, these young people need to make a choice.
Our Service
How we work with young people
Our purpose is to work with these children and young people and help them to demonstrate for themselves the potential, gifts and qualities that they have. Our work gives them the power to believe in themselves - because without that belief, they may fail. With it, they often astonish themselves - and sometimes us!
Working with around 10 young people per group, based on current staffing levels, we run an average of 10 groups per year, taking referrals from many agencies including County Council, Social Services, Probation Service, Education Welfare Officers and Schools. We offer a variety of structured and supported programmes, varying in length, during which the children and young people are challenged, stretched and given the opportunity to make choices about their lives.
Choysez runs 52 weeks of the year offering courses not only during term time but in school holidays too.
Using trained staff and volunteers, our programme encourages participants to achieve awards, which can be included on a Curriculum Vitae. The majority of the awards can be divided into levels, thereby allowing the candidate to achieve at the top of their potential. A selection of the awards is:
· ASDAN (Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network)
· Youth Challenge & Youth Challenge +
· Youth Achievement
· Youth Activities
· Peer Tutoring
· Outdoor activities e.g. Stable Management, canoeing, rock climbing, kayaking
· Safety awards e.g. Food Hygiene
· First Aid and Health & Safety at Work
Our courses are designed to tackle a particular concern of the young people or society as a whole. We blend indoor and outdoor work into challenging timetables, which can focus on topics such as:
· Environment
· Community
· Health and safety
· Crime avoidance
· Independent living skills
· Health and fitness
Outcomes
Our intervention sounds simple and indeed it is. But the positive results for the young people can be dramatic and transformational. Some realise that ‘achievement’ and ‘success’ can be measured in many ways. Others understand that personal qualities of perseverance, trustworthiness and character are to be valued, and if striven for, are well within their grasp. All increase in confidence, self-esteem and a sense of self worth. Problem solving and communication skills are improved. As they come through the programme together, they grow to rely on one another and a team spirit develops. For those at risk of slipping to the margins of our Society, this sense of interconnectedness and community is an invaluable step towards their ability to contribute as citizens and future role models for the next generation.