There is an increasing number of children and adolescents who have the right to additional professional support under a decision on guidance. As a result, there is an increasing demand for additional support providers, who are often in short supply. The work is thus being carried out by different professional profiles that are not adequately qualified to provide the help and support that is provided during the additional professional support hours for pupils with special needs. Providers face many challenges and questions that are often unanswered. Most of these questions arise in the context of the implementation of the counselling service foreseen in the context of the provision of additional professional support.
The master's thesis first presents the additional professional support and counselling services that form the focus of the study. In the following, we describe the two services and the link between them. The counselling service is provided as part of the additional professional support and its performance is not fully defined. In particular, the content and role of the counselling service is highlighted, but it is more difficult to find concrete activities that should be carried out within these hours. As part of the national evaluation study Identification of Problems and Good Practises in the Education of Children with Special Needs with Amendments (2020–2022), we obtained data from 437 providers of counselling services regarding their professional competence to provide counselling services, the inclusion of counselling services in the provider's job duty and the systemic regulation of counselling services. The responses showed that most providers of counselling services are of the opinion that they are sufficiently qualified to provide counselling services. However, they see major problems in the lack of systemic regulation and in definition of the provider's duty to work. This suggests that some changes should be made in relation to additional professional support as a counselling service. Providers should be allowed to provide the service as part of their work obligation and there should be better systemic regulation.
|
