Counseling skills in intercultural education : the case of foreign seas immigrants in Greece

Abstract EN

This paper presents some points of view about the counseling psychology skills that are required in intercultural education context.

This issue arises from the rather massive migration that has been observed in the European Union countries, since 2007, involving three million persons until 2015.

Especially Greece has received directly the largest number of refugees, among the European countries, as the Southeastern “Gate” of European Union, amounting to 1.8 million individuals.

This phenomenon causes extra considerations on behalf of the Greek counseling agencies and experts.

The intercultural education infrastructures of Greece are very limited compared to the existing needs.

Less than 0.2% of schools are intercultural ones, while approximately 10% of the country’s pupils are foreigners.

In this context, many teachers often discriminate against pupils from other countries and very few schools, besides intercultural ones, dare to organize counseling and support meetings for immigrant parents.

There is though a significant number of teachers who are calling for better and more in-depth information on both general and intercultural counseling.

The effectiveness of a counselor on intercultural counseling is based on cultural awareness and sensitivity to accept and respect the cultural differences, trying to overcome any inhibitory obstacle, such as language.