A research on the working conditions and job definitions of psychological counseling and guidance graduate pedagogs working in the Ministry of Justice

In this research, it is aimed to determine the opinions of pedagogs working at the Ministry of Justice about their field of study. The working group of the research consists of twelve psychological counseling and guidance pedagogs working at the Ministry of Justice. In the research, snowball sampling, one of the purposeful sampling methods, was used to identify the participants. The data required for the research were collected by using interview technique which is one of the qualitative research methods and the data obtained were analyzed by descriptive analysis method. The semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher with the expert opinion was used as a data collection tool. It was observed that the pedagogues, who graduated from the major of psychological counseling and guidance, preferred the Ministry of Justice for reasons such as; self-development, ease of appointment, expectation of social status, coincidence, friend advice, compulsion, problems in working environment and making a difference in life. They find their work compatible with the education they receive, but courses related to the field of justice should be added to the undergraduate program; their job descriptions were clear; they deemed their personal rights, salary and promotion conditions insufficient; they do not approve of the physical conditions in the working environment. It is stated that eight pedagogues recommended working with the Ministry of Justice to other graduates, while eight pedagogues wanted to move to another institution; they have good communication with other staff and their opinions are taken into consideration. Findings were obtained that they wanted to work as a psychological counselor in the Ministry of Justice. The findings of the research were discussed and various recommendations were made based on the results. Key Words: Ministry of Justice, working condition, job definition, pedagog, graduated from psychological counseling and guidance