A group of students from the Department of Pedagogy, from two specializations – General Pedagogy and Special Pedagogy, visited the Academy of Psychotherapy on April 9, 2025.
The visit was organized as part of the Adult Education course, with several outlined objectives: experiential learning about the possibilities offered by field-based instruction, experiencing the quality of adult education practices for professional life provided by the Academy of Psychotherapy, gaining deeper insight into the curriculum development process in adult education, and connecting theoretical concepts from andragogy and andragogical praxiology, with a special focus on psychotherapy education, which is the core activity of the Academy.
In dialogue with the director and founder of the Academy, Dr. Mirela Badurina, who on this occasion shared her decades-long experience in lifelong learning and self-education, the students had the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the distinction between the concepts of a learning society and a knowledge society, the idea of horizontal and vertical educational permeability in preparation for professional life, the importance of continuous work on the quality of psychotherapy education programs (a shift from occupation to profession) through the development of a credit transfer evaluation system, and the necessity of equivalence processes in education, which are directly linked to the concepts of employability and flexicurity in the modern labor market.
The students had the opportunity to strengthen their personal capacities for a phenomenological approach to understanding the educational climate and its significance in working with adults (comparing the working atmosphere within the Academy’s spaces to that of a traditional classroom), as well as to shift from the pedagogical expectation that the teacher defines the learning environment, to the andragogical understanding that this climate is co-created through the interaction between teacher and participants.
The visit brought together 35 participants and was organized in full accordance with the principles of adult education (voluntariness, efficiency, gradual progression, individualization, effectiveness, etc.). In the words of Professor Mavrak, who led the study group – there is a well-founded assumption that this visit represents a turning point in strengthening the bonds among group members, in the interaction between professors and students, as well as in fostering multi-sectoral cooperation, which is particularly emphasized in adult education legislation. According to the participants, this dual affirmation—of both psychotherapeutic and andragogical practice—enabled the students to broaden their personal educational horizons and recognize the essential connection between theory and practice in working with people.
The Academy of Psychotherapy once again joyfully reaffirms its openness to further promoting the conceptual vision of a learning society, looking forward to new inspiring encounters within its premises.
