Exploring the keys to successful guidance in adult education

Adult learners apply for education for many reasons, but often the background lies in a desire for change in their career or in their personal life. In their teaching and guidance contexts, the teachers of adult education encounter various life issues and situations. This requires comprehensive interaction skills and an ability to support the learner to identify their own hopes and aims and promote them. In this article, we explore insights about guidance and strive to find the success factors of guidance while implementing a needs analysis in the Game of Change-project.

The insights of successful guidance are based on a survey and interviews conducted at Haaga-Helia during spring 2024. The survey (N=30) and the interviews (N=5) were carried out with teachers in the master’s degree program and teacher education program.

The circumstances of the guiding

Initially, all the respondents and interviewees considered their own level of resilience as good and emphasized the importance of their own well-being. This indicates that they take good care of themselves and have sufficient personal resources for guiding others. The balance between work and leisure time as well as good self-management were mentioned in many responses. Managing one’s own work and well-being and keeping boundaries can be considered a success factor.

…everyday life and free time are different in a way that there are balancing factors where I can also be in completely different roles, so that I’m not guiding or teaching… all the time, even during my free time. I can be in different roles, but also taking care of myself and being aware of what my well-being consists of, what things I need for my own life…

Discussions and sharing insights with colleagues emerged as a key factor in well-being at work. Conversations with others and own reflection together with having time to dwell deeper into topics and cases also brought energy to the guidance work. Collaboration with colleagues could be considered a second success factor. The support and enthusiasm of colleagues was also appreciated. The third factor involved sufficient time for guidance and in-depth meetings. The adult educators brought up a need to focus more on planning and learning new tools and skills for guiding students. Digital methods and tools were mentioned as a clear learning need.

Discussion with colleagues or spouse. Exercise. Learning things, training related to mental management, resilience, pedagogy, and guidance. Reading and finding out things as needed.

The teacher and the student have sufficient time for meetings and have formed a trusting relationship, where both meet each other in a dialogical spirit, respecting each other equally.

The success factors mentioned above correspond well with the basic psychological needs in the self-determination theory: autonomy, competence and relatedness (Deci & Ryan 2012). Piirto & Nokelainen & Pylväs (2022) worked on how to create a deeper understanding of basic psychological needs in the context of expert work and highlighted their importance in working life. They mention the opportunity to develop work-related practices (autonomy), to develop expertise through challenging tasks (competence) and to get mental and professional support from colleagues (relatedness).

From our results, all these aspects appear, but the last one, cohesion and the support of colleagues, was especially emphasized. This may reflect the independent role of teachers. However, the in-depth guidance process is also something that emerges collectively ‘within, between, and beyond’ the participants. According to Scharmer & Pomeroy (2024), this way of knowing transcends the boundaries of individuals, groups, and observers and it reflects a broader and deeper understanding that arises from a shared process.

Commitment and relationships

The respondents and interviewees mentioned the value of guiding students on a deeper, more personalised level. They highlighted the need to support the students’ self-confidence and emotional skills, and how to coach them to find their own strengths and improve their self-awareness. The target group consisting of teachers bring up the fact of being committed to their counselling work. This commitment most certainly should be considered a success factor as well.

When guiding change and transformation, the U-theory emphasises deep sensing and presencing. This supports individuals and collectives to identify and connect with their own actions in a wider context of the situation and to recognize the early stages of change and development. (Scharmer & Pomeroy 2024.) All respondents in the needs analysis emphasized respectful, dialogic relationships between teachers and students and identified the importance of giving the person being guided enough time and space to facilitate change. This enables students to discover their role in the whole system and supports them in identifying their individual path and which further steps to take.

Collegial and organisational support

All respondents emphasised the importance of taking care of their own well-being and keeping work separated from free time to ensure recovery during leisure time. In the workplace, informal collegial support was highlighted as extremely important in maintaining their own enthusiasm.

The work-related needs of the respondents correspond well with the cornerstones of the self-determination theory: having enough autonomy, experiencing a sense of competence and being in relationships with colleagues. The organizational structure could even better support the personal and professional development of the teacher/coach and the pedagogical well-being of the entire organization. 

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