title: Support Measures as a Tool for Implementing Inclusive Practices in Slovak Education category: Pedagogy
Support Measures as a Tool for Implementing Inclusive Practices in Slovak Education
Introduction
In recent years, significant changes have been taking place in Slovak education in the area of pupil support. Support measures represent an important tool in current school legislation, as they contribute to a less stigmatizing perception of pupils with special educational needs, also by the fact that they can be used for all pupils. Through the reinterpretation and redefinition of the support system, according to the new Act No. 182/2023 Coll. amending Act No. 245/2008 Coll. as per the provision of § 145a of the School Act, effective from September 1, 2023, the conditions for providing assistance to pupils were adjusted so that assistance is available within an inclusive model to all pupils who need it, whether from the school or a counseling facility. The aim of the article is to present the possibilities of applying legislative changes in the practice of inclusive education, as support measures enable targeted and flexible provision of help to a child or pupil, focused on their individual needs in the educational process. Support measures are also a practical tool for inclusion, which thus becomes accessible to anyone who needs it in the school environment, i.e., it is not aimed only at pupils with health disadvantages. In conclusion, we summarize the limits and threats that accompany their application.
Theoretical-Legislative Foundations of the Current Concept of Inclusive Education
Schools are naturally exposed to pressure from the external environment, which affects their functioning and the setting of internal processes. This primarily involves control and evaluation mechanisms, such as the activities of the school inspection, nationwide testing, or the direction of educational policy (Booth, 2019). These factors can significantly influence the degree of a school's readiness to respond to the diverse needs of children and pupils, while also creating conditions for equal opportunities.
One of the key priorities of Slovak education is inclusion, which has been enshrined in the valid legislation of the Slovak Republic since 2022 (Act No. 245/2008 Coll.). An inclusive school can be understood as an environment where it is possible to develop the joint upbringing and education of all children and pupils based on equal opportunities, respect for their educational needs and individual particularities, with an essential part being the support of active participation in school activities (Bezáková et al., 2022). Therefore, applying an inclusive approach requires a change in the teacher's perception of the pupil, adjustments to the organization of the educational process, as well as building a respectful school culture. In practice, it is associated with creating conditions so that all pupils feel accepted and respected, despite differences arising from linguistic, cultural, or socio-economic backgrounds.
The inclusive approach is part of the valid legislation of the Slovak Republic and is anchored in several legal regulations. Documents that create a framework for an inclusive environment include the Constitution of the Slovak Republic, Act No. 305/2005 Coll. on Social and Legal Protection of Children and on Social Curatorship, Act No. 245/2008 Coll. on Education and Training (School Act), and Act No. 138/2019 Coll. on Pedagogical Employees and Professional Employees. These documents create a framework for establishing an inclusive environment, but also point to their unclear linguistic connection, given the multiple areas they concern (Koštrnová et al., 2020).
From the perspective of specific pupil support, the amendment to the School Act, in which these support measures are defined, is of fundamental importance. According to § 145a: "A support measure is a measure provided by a school or school facility necessary for a child or pupil to be able to fully participate in education and training and develop their knowledge, skills and abilities." From September 1, 2023, the conditions for providing assistance to pupils were adjusted so that it is available within an inclusive model to all pupils who need it, from the school or a counseling facility (Act No. 182/2023 Coll.; No. 245/2008 Coll. on Education and Training).
Support Measures as an Implementation Tool for Inclusion in School Practice
In creating support measures, the Slovak Republic was most inspired by the Czech Republic, which introduced them on September 1, 2016, as part of an amendment to the School Act (561/2004 Coll.). The basic philosophy of both systems is based on the amendment to the Finnish Basic Education Act, which, as part of a reform in 2010, created a three-tier support system: general, intensified, and special support (Basic Education Act 628/1998). The Portuguese model was also an impetus, characterized by a high degree of inclusive approach and a non-categorizing system of pupil support. Pupil support in this model is differentiated into three levels (basic, selective, and targeted), with the system's goal being to respond to pupils' needs without formally categorizing them according to the type of health disadvantage. As part of the 2018 reform (Decree-Law No. 54/2018), support pedagogical teams were created in schools, composed of experts in psychology, therapy, and special education (European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2020). Part of the measures also includes the introduction of a special entry level "Level 0," intended for children with limited knowledge of the language of instruction, thereby extending support to pupils with language barriers, not only to pupils with special educational needs.
The support measures that schools in Slovakia have been able to use since 2023 represent a tool whose role is to equalize differences between pupils and create conditions for learning according to their abilities. They are also applied in cases where a pupil does not have diagnosed special educational needs, with the aim of providing temporary support in coping with new school requirements (Act No. 245/2008 Coll.; Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic 2023).
An advantage of the system is that the initiator of their application can be the school (teacher, school support team, principal) or parents, even without a recommendation from a counseling facility. In practice, this allows for a flexible response from the teacher by adjusting instruction, strengthening cooperation with parents, and using forms of support such as adaptation regimes (shortened lessons, gradual transition to a full school day), as well as targeted emotional support aimed at creating a safe classroom environment (State Pedagogical Institute 2021; National Institute of Education and Youth 2022).
The intention of the gradual introduction of support measures into schools and school facilities is to increase the quality of inclusive education and optimize the upbringing and education of all children and pupils, so that each of them can achieve the maximum fulfillment of their potential (Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic 2023). In the following section, we focus on the possibilities of their application in practice at individual levels of education, from pre-primary to secondary education.
The Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic has defined 21 support measures, which are implemented at five levels of support.
Support Level 1 represents universal preventive-educational activities provided to all children and pupils within the regular educational process through modifications of content, forms, and methods of work. It focuses mainly on supporting a positive classroom climate, relationships, communication, motivation, and prosocial behavior (Bezáková et al., 2022). At this level, the school support team provides consultative and preventive-educational activities for pedagogical staff, school management, and legal guardians, in the form of both one-time and long-term preventive activities (MŠVVaŠ, 2022a), for example through differentiated tasks (according to difficulty), visualization of the curriculum, etc.
If support at Level 1 is insufficient, the class teacher or teaching assistant, in cooperation with the school support team, proposes the provision of support at Level 2 (Balážová, 2022). This is intended for children and pupils with an increased need for support (including temporary support), including pupils with special educational needs and their surroundings, with the aim of optimizing educational conditions. In the school environment, it is provided multidisciplinary by the school support team, with the school special educator playing a key role through orientational diagnostics, counseling, preventive, and intervention procedures (MŠVVaŠ 2022b; Bezáková et al., 2022). In case of insufficient support, continuation with professional activities at a counseling and prevention center is recommended (Balážová, 2022). Examples of activities include adjusting the pace of work, tutoring, or short individual explanations of the curriculum.
Support Levels 3 and 4 are provided by the multidisciplinary team of the counseling and prevention center, where Level 3 includes diagnostics, counseling, prevention, and interventions, and Level 4 represents specialized care based on comprehensive and specialized diagnostics (MŠVVaŠ SR, 2022c; Balážová, 2022). From January 1, 2026, an amendment to the School Act changed this, and the original support Levels 3 and 4 were merged, as it was not sufficiently professionally justified to distinguish the work of counseling and prevention centers into basic and highly specialized levels. This change is part of the amendment to Act No. 245/2008 Coll. on Education and Training, amended by Act No. 323/2025 Coll., effective from January 1, 2026. In practice, this means the support system is now more efficiently organized and takes into account the practical needs of counseling and prevention centers (Krížo, 2026). Both levels focus on pupils with persistent difficulties or those already diagnosed with special educational needs. Activities or measures used at these levels include, for example, an individual educational plan, systematic cooperation with a special educator, use of compensatory aids, modification of curriculum content, or support from an assistant.
Support Level 5 is intended for children and pupils with health disadvantages who require significant modification of educational conditions, the school environment, or the provision of support personnel. It is implemented in a specialized counseling and prevention center in an outpatient or field form, with the special educator participating in diagnostics, counseling, and the creation of a support plan with the aim of achieving the highest possible degree of inclusion (Balážová, 2022; MŠVVaŠ SR, 2022c). It may include teaching in a small group or individually according to an individual educational program, the use of alternative forms of communication (picture systems), etc. In the following diagram, we present a summary of the five levels of support.
Diagram No. 1 Diagram of support levels [
](https://prohuman.sk/files/images/schema1-uroven-podpory.popup_800.png) (Source: Inklucentrum. Support Levels 1 to 5.)
Support measures in school practice
An important prerequisite for creating an inclusive environment is the cooperation of school actors – pedagogical and professional staff, legal guardians, and other members of the school community. A challenge often proves to be the coordination and continuity of support steps so that they are not isolated interventions but a systematic and stable approach leading to a common goal. In this context, Šilonová and Klein (2019) point to the possibilities of using the Index for Inclusion, through which the school reflects on its processes, conditions, and culture in the context of inclusive education. It can be used to ascertain the perspective on the school environment from pupils, teachers, and parents.
Based on legislation in Slovakia, support measures in inclusive education include personnel, organizational, content, and material measures. Personnel measures concern professional staff, such as special educators or psychologists. The State School Inspectorate (2025) states that in two-thirds of schools, the school support team participates in ensuring support measures. This team coordinates inclusive processes, records and manages the provision of measures, provides methodological support to teachers, and consultations to parents. This fact emphasizes the importance of teams in supporting inclusion in the school environment. Organizational measures include individual educational plans and cooperation in schools. Content measures modify the curriculum for the needs of pupils with special needs. Material measures relate to the use of special aids by the child/pupil, e.g., special display technology, environmental modifications, use of special programs, etc. All these measures aim to support an inclusive environment for all pupils (MŠVVaM SR, NIVaM 2024).
Providing a support measure requires a professional recommendation and justification, with the law defining the scope and responsibility. The measure is proposed based on the individual needs of the pupil, and its implementation takes place in accordance with current legislation (MŠVVaŠ SR, 2023). The analysis by the State School Inspectorate (2025) states that support measures should be provided mainly based on the teacher's assessment of the pupil or based on comprehensive diagnostics in counseling and prevention facilities.
From the 21 support measures issued by the Ministry of Education, it follows that the statement for providing a support measure also includes the area specifying who specifically provides the given support measure, at which support level it is assigned, and which responsible persons ensure it (Table 1). It also includes specific support measures and activities that can be provided to the child or pupil at individual support levels. Table No. 1 presents individual guidelines and statements for the purpose of providing a support measure. The listed activities are provided to pupils at support Levels 1 and 2 based on pedagogical diagnostics carried out during the school year. Based on identified deficiencies or the pupil's lack of progress, the teacher submits a request for the provision of a support measure according to the items listed in the table (a – s).
Table 1: Activities provided to a child or pupil at Levels 1 and 2 [
](https://prohuman.sk/files/images/tab1-1-2-uroven.popup_800.png) (own processing based on the Catalog of Support Measures, 2024)
Table No. 2 presents individual guidelines and statements for the purpose of providing a support measure. The listed activities are provided to pupils at the 3rd to 5th level of support. Activities (b – p) are implemented by counselling and prevention facilities through professional staff based on diagnostics.
Table 2: Activities provided to a child or pupil at the 3rd to 5th level [
](https://prohuman.sk/files/images/tab2-5-uroven.popup_800.png) (own processing based on the Catalogue of Support Measures, 2024)
Table No. 3 presents individual guidelines without a statement for the purpose of providing a support measure. The listed activities are provided to pupils at the 1st and 2nd level of support in school facilities. The activities are focused mainly on prevention and crisis intervention.
Table 3: Activities provided to a child or pupil without a statement [
](https://prohuman.sk/files/images/tab3-bez-vyjadrenia.png) (own processing based on the Catalogue of Support Measures, 2024) Note: In the table, support measures are marked with letters according to the catalogue, not alphabetically, because each letter corresponds to a specific category of measure, which is designated according to a specific meaning and not a random order.
The following section focuses on reflecting on the implementation of support measures based on available research findings and practical experience.
Experiences and limits of implementing support measures
As this is still a new support system, introduced for the first time in the school year 2023/2024, experience with it is still partial and based on interim evaluation reports and initial research focused on pedagogical practice. However, already in the following school year 2024/2025, at the initiative of the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic, the State School Inspectorate monitored the state of provision of support measures to primary school pupils. It issued a partial report from the analysis of findings from comprehensive inspections carried out in 2024 – 2025 in primary schools and pointed out that support measures were provided to approximately 10% of pupils. On average, based on comprehensive diagnostics, two to three support measures were provided to one pupil, set for the entire school year in compulsory subjects. The most frequently applied were adjustments to goals, methods, forms and approaches in education and training, adjustments to the content of education and training, and assessment of educational outcomes. Other measures included ensuring activities for the development of perceptual and self-care skills, providing compensatory aids, and ensuring the presence of a teaching assistant in the classroom (Ružeková et al., 2025).
Žovinec et al. (2024), in interviews with respondents in focus groups with secondary vocational school teachers, investigated initial experiences with the implementation of support measures already during the school year 2023/2024. They were most used for pupils with diagnosed special educational needs, but support measures at the 1st and 2nd level were used less in the first year. However, the study noted their positive reception by teachers, especially their wide range (21 measures), but the negatives included an increase in administrative burden, unclear methodology, and inconsistency of procedures. A significant problem cited was the lack of professional staff in schools (Table 4).
Table 4: Benefits and limits of providing support measures
(own processing according to Žovinec et al. (2024), Ružeková et al. (2025))
The findings of the State School Inspectorate (2025) point to several limits that affect the availability and effectiveness of providing support measures in schools. The risks relate to the social background of pupils, school personnel capacities, work organisation, and the quality of documentation. On the side of the family and the pupil, significant risk factors include unfavourable social conditions, a low level of support from legal guardians, and high pupil absenteeism, which complicates systematic cooperation with the school and reduces the effectiveness of the support provided. At the school level, a fundamental limit appears to be the lack of teaching and professional staff, as well as non-functional or non-established school support teams. These shortcomings limit the coordination of inclusive processes and the systematic management of support measures. Another risk is the formal nature of pedagogical and orientation diagnostics and insufficient evaluation of the effectiveness of the provided measures. At the same time, deficiencies in administrative documentation occur in schools, complicating the transparency and continuity of support. The absence of functional strategies for reducing school failure and the high number of pupils with special educational needs in classrooms are also considered problematic, significantly increasing the burden on teachers and school support teams.
These findings confirm the need for systematic strengthening of school personnel capacities, support for the functioning of school support teams, and simplification of administrative processes so that support measures can fulfil their function in favour of inclusive education.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be stated that support measures at the 1st and 2nd level of support fulfil the intention of providing help to pupils without the stigmatising label of "pupil with special educational needs", however, in practice they are not yet used to their full extent. Teaching staff often rely on the support of the school support team or shift responsibility for solving difficulties to counselling and prevention centres.
Support measures are applied to a greater extent especially for pupils with health disadvantages and for pupils from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. However, the need for a more systematic use of support measures also persists for gifted pupils and for pupils with other, especially short-term, needs. The intention to facilitate inclusive practices in the school environment still encounters several barriers, including administrative burden, a lack of teaching assistants, and limited availability of compensatory aids.
From the perspective of pedagogical practice, it is therefore important to support teachers in identifying pupils' needs and in actively using support measures already at lower levels of support. At the same time, the need for methodological guidance and strengthening of school personnel capacities is evident, so that support measures do not represent an administrative burden but a functional tool of everyday pedagogical work. Only systematic support for schools can ensure that inclusive education becomes realistically accessible for all pupils.
Authors: Petronela, Kovaľová, Mgr. doc. Mgr. Tatiana Dubayová, PhD. Department of Special Education at the Faculty of Education of the University of Prešov
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