ТHEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS AND IDENTIFICATION OF GENERAL COMPETENCES OF COUNSELORS IN PENAL INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

General competences are a dynamic combination of knowledge, understanding,skills, abilities, attitudes and values that are necessary for personal achievement anddevelopment. They are typical of every person regardless of their scope of work. Theydevelop during the period of formal education and represent the basis for further learningand development as an integral part of lifelong learning. Counselors in penal institutionshave already formed attitudes and opinions on general competences. Counselors considersystemic competences (ability to adapt to new situations, learning ability, ability forpractical application of knowledge, ability for persistence when achieving highest qualityof work and creativity) to have a slight advantage over interpersonal, instrumental andgeneral specifi c competences and to represent a fi ne basis for further learning and development.Owing to the complexity of competences and the complex process of identifi cation,testing and comparison of competences as to the fact that counselors value systemicones more, which are known to be more complex, it is advisable to check these results ona larger sample and to open a qualitative discussion on counselors’ competences in penalinstitutions within the context of lifelong learning.