It is extremely important for a pupil who moves into a new environment where they start attending a new school and do not understand the language of instruction to feel safe and accepted and to be ensured assistance as soon as possible and as required for successful school performance by professional workers, and their school mates and peers. In my master’s thesis, I study how different Slovenian primary schools approach school counselling for immigrant children and how they facilitate intercultural integration, thus determining different practises adopted by primary schools. In the theoretical introduction, I presented literature related to this topic. I focused on different authors who highlighted the situation of immigrant children in Slovenia, fields of counselling for immigrant children and skills of school counsellors. I went on to study the field of the integration of immigrant children into primary schools, their adjustments and forms of assistance outlined in relevant legislation. Finally, I presented potential obstacles in the integration of immigrant children into primary schools and possible preventive programmes these children can participate in. In the empirical part of this master’s thesis, I conducted a study based on semi-standardised interviews, with the acquired data processed in a qualitative analysis. The research included nine social workers who acted as school counsellors during the data collection period, namely from August until September, and had at least one year of experience of working with immigrant children in Slovenian primary schools. In the research, I determined that immigrant children are a vulnerable group which, at the beginning, needs additional care and support provided by school counsellors in order to fit into the school environment better. I realised that school performance and integration of immigrant children are strongly affected by empathy, learning facilitation, mutual respect, established relationship, and two-way communication as well as care for the benefit of children provided by school counsellors and other professional workers at school. It is important that children feel welcome and desirable. In this way, their feeling of self-worth and belonging strengthens. By conducting this research, I determined how important it is for primary school counsellors to realise the importance of developing a positive and respectful relationship towards all children and being able to respect their social, cultural, linguistic, and religious origins. In addition, it is important that schools, mainly with the support of its counselling services, enable their teachers to confront and challenge prejudice without judgement, and to be offered support in overcoming it. One of the most important findings, however, is that school counsellors, when working with immigrant children in Slovenia, face different obstacles and challenges, but they mostly believe that being familiar with the language of the environment remains the key to successful integration of immigrants. Immigrant children in primary school represent a part of the school population which, due to its specificity, requires additional support in educational processes, which is why this topic should be addressed more commonly and dealt with both in practise and in research. The main recommendations arising from this thesis are that school counsellors should continue to adopt innovative work methods when working with immigrant children and disseminate examples of best practise, following the principle of treating different people differently. It would also be reasonable to require by law a six-month induction period prior to one’s start of school, to enable children to get accustomed to the new environment, acquire basic language skills, and prepare for the school environment and climate.
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