AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
effectiveness of teachers’ and other professionals’ work with
pupils. Cooperation should be based on teamwork and effective
communication, including mutual acceptance, respect and
tolerance.
Effective cooperation of school and family can also by supported
by vocational training employees at school, especially the social
pedagogues. This is recommended also by P. Ďurana and D.
Chlebíková (2017). Social pedagogues are according to the valid
legislative vocational training employees of schools. Their
activities at schools in the Slovak Republic are defined in the
legislative. According to the Act on education and training, one
of the components of the system of educational counselling and
prevention is also a social pedagogue and the Act on pedagogical
and vocational training employees included him into the
category of vocational training employee with clearly defined
roles. A social pedagogue: implements preventive activities;
provides counselling and intervention focused on children and
pupils with risk behaviour, endangered by socio-pathological
phenomena and from socially disadvantaged environment;
provides counselling to the legal representatives, pedagogical
and vocational training employees; undertakes socio-pedagogical
diagnostics of the environment and relationships; raises
awareness and performs other activities in the area of socio-
educational area.
Since the school year 2014/2015, the number of vocational
training employees at elementary and secondary schools has
increased within the PRINED project. The national PRINED
project was aimed to support inclusive environment in
kindergartens and elementary and secondary schools in order to
ensure the prevention of unjust placement of Roma children into
the special school system and through creating special inclusive
teams to support inclusion of pupils from marginalized Roma
communities. The strengths of the cooperation of social
pedagogues with parents within the PRINED project are
according to the Final evaluation report the following:
providing counselling to parents,
establishing trustful relationships and the fact that someone
listens to them,
field work with families,
help with upbringing,
improvement in communication and school-parent-pupil
cooperation,
stronger regard to school attendance.
The importance of establishing the position of a school social
pedagogues at elementary, secondary and high schools in the
Czech Republic is proved by the results of the study called
Introducing the position of social pedagogue at schools
(feasibility study), according to which the biggest challenge
social pedagogues face nowadays is the passive attitude of the
majority of parents towards school (Moravec et al, 2015). At
schools with high number of socially disadvantaged pupils and
pupils with problem behaviour, social pedagogues are
irreplaceable. However, each school is different and thus the
social pedagogue’s job description must be defined in a broad
and open way. Social pedagogues do not work solely with the
families from socially disadvantaged environment, but with all
families. Especially urgent is their cooperation with families of
pupils with problem behaviour. Slovak school practice shows
that social pedagogues are also useful at schools attended by
higher number of pupils from marginalized Roma communities.
3 Conclusion
Cooperation of school and family is extremely important in
general, but especially so in prevention of socio-pathological
phenomena. When dealing with problem behaviour of pupils, it
is absolutely necessary. Schools should try to intensify
cooperation with the families of their pupils, inform them on the
school environment and on pedagogical and vocational training
employees of the school. Communication of the pedagogical and
vocational training employees with parents should be emphatic
but professional.
In communication with parents, it is important to use
comprehensible language, avoid difficult questions and foreign
words, speak calmly and soberly, not embarrassing the parents.
Parents have the right to be informed on the education of their
child, and to cooperate on it. It creates space for cooperation and
communication of the school employees and parents. Teachers
and vocational training employees maintain the autonomy of
their work, but they can’t do what parents say, they also can’t
criticise them. It is important to be aware of the potential barriers
and obstacles in communication of teachers and parents
(different intellectual potential, different values, not listening to
each other, overestimating one’s own authority – by both
teachers and parents, etc.).
Special attention should be paid to the cooperation with families
of children from socially disadvantaged environment. In
cooperation with families, very important role is played by the
class teacher. It would also be helpful to increase the number of
vocational training employees at schools.
Nowadays in the school practice, class teachers are the ones who
most often communicate with parents. They, after consultations
with other professionals at school, present possible problem
solutions to parents. However, all pedagogical and vocational
training employees of the school can communicate with parents.
Schools should establish clear rules of communication, e.g.
determine the time for communication with parents, provide
them with possibilities of cooperation that best suit their needs
and possibilities.
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