Competences Analysis in Initial Training of Secondary Education Counsellors and European Standards

Abstract

The main objective of this chapter is to analyse the competences designed for the initial training of educational counsellors in secondary education at two Galician Universities (Santiago de Compostela and Vigo—Ourense Campus) and establish the correspondence with the European Standards elaborated  within the framework of  projects NICE I and II (Network for Innovation in Career Guidance and Counselling in Europe) between 2009 and 2014 (NICE, 2015). Guidance professionals’ training in the educational, labour and social contexts occupies an important place in the international field in European Union countries (NICE, 2012), especially Spain at university level through the Master’s Programme for Counsellors in the framework of the Master’s Degree in Secondary Education Teachers’ Training, specialty in Educational Guidance (SETTG-EG). Linked to this, there is the need to identify the quality of the Master’s programmes in Counsellors’ Training through the contrast criteria and correspondence between the designed competences in it and the European Competence Standards (Schiersmann et al., 2016). Regarding the research methodology, a qualitative approach was used, based on document analysis, discussion groups and in-depth interviews. The topic studied is considered as an emerging research tendency; therefore it must be studied in-depth as it can have great impact and can be very useful, especially at university level and in the professional Spanish context. It is also transferable, with the necessary adaptations, to other European and international contexts, above all in Latin America, due to cultural, social and educational similarities with the analysed setting.

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