In the master's thesis, I study the work of counselors in kindergartens and what kind of obstacles they face. Since the focus being solely on counselors who are social workers by education, I am investigating the actual contribution of the social work profession in counseling in kindergartens. I am also interested in their role in the inclusion of children with special needs and children of immigrants in kindergarten. In addition, the purpose of the master's thesis is to investigate the course of counseling during the Covid-19 epidemic. In the theoretical part of the master's thesis, I first present counseling service in a kindergarten and describe the various skills and knowledge that is necessary for counseling with children. Furthermore, I connect counseling service with various concepts and skills of the social work profession. I also pay attention to the inclusion of children with special needs and children of immigrants in kindergarten. I conclude the theoretical part with a presentation of kindergarten counseling services during the Covid-19 epidemic. In the empirical part, I present the results I obtained with the help of partially standardized interviews. I conducted interviews with six social workers who are employed in kindergarten counseling services. The results of the research showed that female counselors associate their work most often with integration, planning, coordination and work evaluation. They work together with children, parents, professionals, management and external institutions. Working with children most often takes place through observation and play in the department, and with other important participants through conversations and meetings. The findings show that counselors use certain concepts and skills of social work, especially the concept of working relationship and its elements, and the concept of co-creation. At work, you would also need some knowledge that is not covered by social work education (e.g. knowledge of preschool education and work with special needs children). Counselors are involved in the inclusion of children of immigrants and special needs children in kindergarten through various tasks (coordination and organization of work, preparation of an individual assistance plan, language learning, translation assistance, offering support and assistance, participation in the organization of courses, etc.). The results of the research showed that during the epidemic the consultant's work was carried out most of the time remotely from home, highlighting an obstacle – the lack of personal contact with children as with others. Their attention was mostly devoted to the children with special needs and their parents. The important tasks of the counselors during this period were to offer support and help, and to prepare various guidelines and materials for parents and professionals.
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