In my master's thesis, I research the characteristics of the work of school counsellors at the Leskovec pri Krškem primary school. I am mainly interested in the differences and similarities between the three professional profiles of school counsellors who are employed at the previously mentioned school and their cooperation with teachers.
In the theoretical part I present the development of school counseling services from its beginnings, I write about its role and purpose and describe some of the basic activities of school counseling services. I also describe the basic areas of work of the school counseling service in the primary school and its preventive and curative orientation. Furthermore, I present professional profiles that can work in the school counseling service and their characteristics. At the end I introduce the cooperation of the school counseling service with other institutions and individuals and possible obstacles that lessen the size of cooperation, with a particular focus on teachers.
In the empirical part, which consists of qualitative and quantitative research, I write about how the differences between three different professional profiles of school counsellors, consisting of a social pedagogue, a psychologist and a social worker, are expressed. I also focuse on their collaboration with teachers, whom I also included in the research, as I am also interested in their perspective.
I have come to the conclusion that school counsellors differ mainly in the areas they devote most of their time to, although in some areas all three of them work together. The qualities that school counsellors mention as necessary for doing what they do are self-initiative, empathy, openness, accessibility and flexibility, but they also add that as a school counsellor you also need to be skilled in communication and know how to approach a child. In collaboration with teachers, I have found out that they are the ones who more often take initiatives to work with school counsellors, while social counsellors address teachers in cases where they need additional information about a child or when they perceive some distress with the child. The most common reason for the participation of teachers and school counsellors are the educational-disciplinary and learning difficulties of pupils. I found that they both rate their mutual cooperation as good or very good and are satisfied with it.
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