School counseling workplace as a tool for the professionalization of prevention in the school environment

School counseling center as a professional instrument for prevention in the school Annotation: The paper focuses on the issue of the school counseling workplace as a possible tool for the professionalization of prevention in the school environment. The paper presents the pilot results of mapping the environment of primary schools and the experience of pedagogues both in the issue of risk behavior prevention and in the practical implementation of school counseling workplaces in Czech schools. It also maps the necessity of this workplace, the competences and tasks of the school prevention methodologist, educational consultant, school psychologist and school special pedagogue. Annotation:The paper focuses on the issue of the school counseling center as a possible tool for professionalization of prevention in the school environment. The paper presents the pilot results of the mapping of the environment of primary schools and the experience of teachers both in the field of prevention of risk behavior and in the practical implementation of the school counseling center at Czech schools. It further maps the need for this workplace, the competencies and tasks of the school prevention methodology, the educational counselor, the school psychologist and the school special pedagogue.

1. Introduction

The specific research project of the Faculty of Education of the University of Hradec Králové, which is implemented at the Department of Social Pathology and Sociology, focuses on the issue of possible professionalization of the prevention of risky behavior in the school environment, focusing on the environment of elementary schools. It maps the current state of prevention in schools, the projects they deal with, the view of pedagogues on the school counseling workplace and possible ways to improve its staffing.

The contribution approaches the "school counseling workplace" as a tool for the implementation of prevention, which is given by legislation (eg Decree No. 72/2005 on the provision of counseling services in schools and school facilities), which defines the competences of individual actors of prevention within the school.

Their focus on defined risk phenomena is described both in legislation and in other conceptual documents (e.g. National strategy for the prevention of risky behavior in the school environment for the years 2013-2018).

2. Risk behavior prevention system in Czech schools

The prevention of risky behavior in Czech schools is ensured both by the actors within the school environment, who are defined by the school counseling workplace (including cooperation with other pedagogical staff and parents) and by the so-called institutions. school counseling facilities.

The school counseling office is an institute whose task is to help implement the prevention of risky behavior in the school environment. In addition to the traditional provision of professional assistance to support education, the choice of an educational path and the gradual building of a professional career, school counseling services must primarily aim at:

• strengthening of social prevention activities,
• supporting and creating conditions for the development of the personality of individual pupils,
• strengthening counseling activities for children and youth with specific educational and educational needs,
• supporting children with various types of problems during education in ordinary types of schools and school facilities,
• supporting the education of the entire population

The school counseling workplace is made up of pedagogical staff, which primarily includes an educational counselor, a school psychologist, a school prevention methodologist, and a special pedagogue. External entities are mainly pedagogical and psychological counseling centers, special pedagogical centers or educational care centers.

The school provides the following consulting services in the following areas:

• prevention of school failure of pupils,
• primary prevention of risky behavior,
• career counseling, i.e. in particular, integrating education, information and advisory support for the appropriate choice of educational path and later professional application,
• professional support in the integration of pupils with special educational needs, including pupils from other cultural backgrounds and pupils with social disadvantages,
• caring for the education of gifted and exceptionally gifted pupils,
• continuous and long-term care for disadvantaged pupils,
• methodological support for teachers. (Decree No. 72/2005 Coll.)

The basic functions of institutions that provide counseling in the school environment include:

• Diagnosis of manifestations of risky behavior and other problems that children have,
• consulting in the areas defined above,
• therapeutic activity, which is the responsibility of the psychological school psychologist and external entities for the school, and if we perceive the concept of therapy from a social point of view, then it is the responsibility of the entire school counseling office,
• information area – educational and educational,
• methodological area, which is important especially for teachers.

School counseling facilities are made up of Pedagogical-psychological counseling centers, Special pedagogical centers and educational care centers. According to Knotová (2014, p.18), pedagogical-psychological counseling services (PPP) are intended for children (approximately from the age of three, when they enter kindergarten), pupils and students until the completion of secondary or higher professional education. PPPs also provide services to parents, teachers and schools. PPP can be contacted by the children's parents themselves or by the school after agreement with the parents. The main activity of PPP is diagnostics, counseling (including career counseling), intervention, correctional care and prevention. They participate in activities in the areas of prevention of risky behavior of children and youth, some PPPs prepare re-educational and leisure activities or intervention programs for school classes in which there are problematic relationships, including bullying.

Special educational centers are facilities that were established to support children and youth from 3 to 19 years of age who have various types of disabilities and disadvantages (speech, sight, hearing, physical disabilities, mental disabilities, autism spectrum disorders or children with combined disabilities). The activity is provided either on an outpatient basis or in facilities with daily, weekly or year-round care for students with disabilities. According to Knotova (2014, p.21), educational care centers are facilities that are attended by children, pupils and students at risk of developing and developing behavioral disorders, educational problems and socially negative phenomena, for whom institutional education is not ordered or protective education is not imposed. ŠVP also provides its services to parents and schools. ŠVP carry out diagnostics, counseling and preventive educational activities.

Scheme. No. 1 Scheme of the so-called School Guidance System (Bělík, Hoferková, 2016)

3. School counseling workplace from the point of view of pedagogues

In addition to the traditional provision of professional assistance to support education, the choice of an educational path and the gradual building of a professional career, school counseling services must primarily aim at:

• Strengthening of social prevention activities,
• supporting and creating conditions for the development of the personality of individual pupils,
• strengthening counseling activities for children and youth with specific educational and educational needs,
• supporting children with various types of problems during education in ordinary types of schools and school facilities,
• supporting the education of the entire population.

It is made up of pedagogical staff (e.g. educational advisor, school psychologist or school prevention methodologist, special pedagogue). External entities are mainly pedagogical and psychological counseling centers, special pedagogical centers or educational care centers.

Two models of implementing a school counseling workplace Kucharská (2013, p. 42) presents two models of how school counseling workplaces are designed in Czech schools. This is a different point of view in the involvement of experts in the consulting process. In both variants, cooperation is assumed within the school system (cooperation with teachers - class teachers, education teachers, RVP coordinators at schools, teacher's assistants) and outside it.

Basic model in which counseling services are provided by an educational counselor and a school prevention methodology. These experts are teachers with subsequent specialized training for the performance of the given functions. As needed, the system is supplemented by education teachers, RVP coordinators.

Interesting in this context is the NUOV table (of the National Institute for Vocational Education, which dealt with mapping the activities of prevention methodologies in pedagogical-psychological counseling as part of the primary prevention of risky behavior and, as part of this mapping, also investigated the state of school counseling workplaces (NUOV, 2015)

Table no. 1 Number of schools on average per prevention methodology

Extended model is characterized by the involvement of other experts – a school psychologist or a school special pedagogue, depending on the possibilities of the school or both.

The school counseling system is aimed at helping pupils with certain disadvantages. Using special methods, pedagogues help to define and eliminate the problems that have arisen (Michalík, 2008, p. 6). We can perceive this handicap both at the level of psycho-somatic handicap and above all at the level of social disadvantage, which has an impact on the quality of the child's life, his social relationships and the emergence of possible pathological phenomena. Here comes the so-called social therapy, in etopedia the term social intervention is more often used.

In elementary, secondary or even higher vocational schools, he provides consultancy activities, mainly school prevention methods, and also an educational consultant. Nowadays also a school psychologist or special pedagogue. The provision of counseling services is guaranteed in the school by the school principal or his representative. The school provides the following consulting services in the following areas:

• prevention of school failure of pupils,
• primary prevention of risky behavior,
• career counseling, i.e. in particular, integrating education, information and advisory support for the appropriate choice of educational path and later professional application,
• professional support in the integration of pupils with special educational needs, including pupils from other cultural backgrounds and pupils with social disadvantages,
• caring for the education of gifted and exceptionally gifted pupils,
• continuous and long-term care for disadvantaged pupils,
• methodological support for teachers. (Decree No. 72/2005 Coll.)

As part of the pilot survey, we asked 395 elementary school teachers about the following questions related to the school counseling facility:

1. Does your school have a school counseling office?

The result shows that more than half of the schools either do not have a separate school counseling office, even if the legislation requires it. Or there is a variant, which seems more likely to us, that the pedagogues themselves often do not know whether their school has a separate school counseling office, who its members should be, what activities it implements, whether it is implemented by a basic or extended model.

2. If so, who are its members (position in the school) and who is its leader (position in the school)?

In the context of NUOV research, at first glance, the situation appears better than the table indicates. However, we do not know how the situation is implemented in specific schools in reality. From the first table, which maps the members of the school counseling workplace, it is clear that the school prevention methodologist and educational counselor have the largest representation in prevention and counseling services. For this reason, we can state that the so-called basic model of the school counseling system. The extended model is for approximately 1/3 of the schools and also includes a school psychologist, a school special pedagogue and a school director. Other teaching staff are involved less, mainly as needed.

From the point of view of the aspect of who is in charge of the School Counseling Department as a leader, it is obvious that here too we see the prevailing basic model - ie. the activity is mainly transferred to the school's prevention methodologist and educational advisor.

4. In conclusion

The given views on the issue are only a small probe into the topic. However, the results of this and other investigations (Bělík, 2015, Kraus, 2014, Hladík2014 and others) show that it is necessary to deal with the issue and look for ways to comprehensively grasp the topic.

The role of the school counseling office is absolutely crucial in today's school for counseling, prevention, diagnosis of phenomena and other topics. It is a space in which it is possible to carry out activities aimed at social and educational work. In the aforementioned contribution, we indicated the current perspectives on the issue, both in terms of personnel composition of the workplace, and in terms of possible problems that accompany the work of individual actors of prevention within the school.

One of the ways to professionalize the issue of the school counseling workplace is the introduction of a school social pedagogue, i.e. an educational worker who, as a professional, would deal with screening, diagnostics and counseling (more according to Hladík et al., 2014) according to the model implemented in Slovak schools. However, in the Czech environment, despite the obvious positives of this perspective, steps are not being taken to professionalize prevention in the school environment in this way.

Author: PhDr. Václav Bělík, Ph.D. The author works as the head of the Department of Social Pathology and Sociology of the Faculty of Education of the University of Hradec Králové. It is devoted to the prevention of risky behavior in relation to the school environment. List of used sources:

BĚLÍK, V. and S. HOFERKOVÁ. Prevention of risky behavior in the school environment. Brno: Tribun EU, 2016, 142 p. ISBN 978-80-263-1015-0. HLADÍK, J., KRAUS, B., LORENZOVÁ, J., ÖBRINK HOBZOVÁ, M. & POSPÍŠILL, J., 2014. Reasoning report: Proposal to include the profession of social pedagogue in Act no. 563/2004 Coll. about teaching staff. Association of educators in social pedagogy. HOFERKOVÁ, S. Risky behavior of youth and the school counseling system. In.: Acta sociopathologica III. Hradec Králové: Gaudeamus, 2016. p. 118 – 134. ISBN 978-80-7435-637-7. KNOTOVÁ, D. School guidance. Prague: Grada, 2014, p. 51-54. ISBN 978-80-247-4502-2. KUCHARSKÁ, A. School counseling workplace. In: VALENTOVÁ, L. School counseling I.. Prague: PdF UK, 2013, p. 40-47. ISBN 978-80-7290-710-6. MICHALÍK, J. School counseling system in the Czech Republic. Olomouc: Department of Special Education, 2008. Available from: http://www.uss.upol.cz/cz/clenove/ profil/michalik/SPZ-expert-stanovisko.pdf National strategy for the primary prevention of risky behavior of children and youth for the period 2013-2018. Min. of education, youth and sports in the Czech Republic [online]. 2013 [cited 2015-11-17]. Available from: http://www.kr-kralovehradecky.cz/cz/krajsky-urad/skolstvi/prevence-soc-patologickych-jevu/narodni-strategie-primarni-prevence-rizikoveho-chovani-deti-a-mladeze-na-obdobi-2013---2018-62422/ OPEKAROVÁ, O. Chapters from educational counseling: school counseling services. Ed. 2., edit. and add. Prague: Jan Amos Comenius University, 2010. 72 p. ISBN 978-80-86723-96-9. Decree no. 72/2005 Coll. on the provision of counseling services in schools and school facilities. Decree No. 147/2011 Coll., which amends Decree No. 73/2005 Coll., on the education of children, pupils and students with special educational needs. Decree no. 317/2005 Coll. on the further education of teaching staff, the accreditation commission and the career system of teaching staff. ZAPLETALOVA, Jana. School counseling workplaces. National Institute for Education [online]. 2011 [cit. 2014-04-01]. Available from: http://www.nuv.cz/poradenstvi/skolni-poradenska-pracoviste