In this article we discuss findings from an exploratory Irish online survey that examined professional practice issues for adult guidance professionals working in the Irish Further Education and Training (FET) sector. We explore current guidance counselling provision to adult learners in the context of major structural and systemic reforms that have been taking place in the FET sector since 2013.

This article draws on the findings from a qualitatively-led sequential mixed methods doctorate study which was located within the Irish Adult Educational Guidance Services (AEGS) and focused on the guidance counselling needs of adults with dyslexia. Honneth's (2003) conceptions of recognition, equality and social justice, and the interactionist and non-reductionist biopsychosocial (BPS) model of disability (WHO 2011) provided an opportunity to examine and interpret the findings as matters of social justice. The wider application of Honneth's theory and the BPS model to career counselling practice are also considered.