DIGITAL LIBRARY
IMPLEMENTATION OF INTEGRATED ASSISTANCE TO THE SCHOOL: COMMUNITY EXPERIENCES
Mykolas Romeris University (LITHUANIA)
About this paper:
Appears in: EDULEARN21 Proceedings
Publication year: 2021
Pages: 5202-5212
ISBN: 978-84-09-31267-2
ISSN: 2340-1117
doi: 10.21125/edulearn.2021.1071
Conference name: 13th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies
Dates: 5-6 July, 2021
Location: Online Conference
Abstract:
Accessibility of education services and their quality is one of the key priorities of the country. Therefore, their implementation strengthens the intellectual potential of any country and encourages to enter the space of the global economic competitiveness. Performed researches show that when seeking for better quality of education it is necessary: to improve the micro-climate of schools, to increase efficiency of the education process during the lesson, to improve availability of assistance for pupils with different education needs and to improve involvement of pupils.

Analysing scientific literature on provision of assistance to schools it has been established that the role of assistance of the social pedagogue and of the parents to the school children has been investigated the most. The aspects of cooperation between the specialists of education assistance to the pupil and the parents are also being analysed in different educational contexts. The results of researches show that engagement and assistance of parents are of utmost importance in the development of the children that have special needs.

Thus, the phenomenon of integrated assistance to the school as such in Lithuania has been investigated fragmentarily, just its different aspects are being analysed. That is why questions arise - how implementation of integrated assistance to the school works? What aspects of integrated assistance are acceptable for school communities? How do school communities assess the organisation of integrated assistance?

The study deals with the results of the integrated assistance implemented to schools in 2018-2020. With the help of the group discussion method, it was aimed to disclose the experiences of school communities in relation to implementation of integrated assistance to schools. Discussion groups with school communities were organized.

The data of the research revealed that implementation of integrated assistance was assessed by school communities as an opportunity for improvement of personal competences, self-improvement and to improve pedagogic activity by changing own attitudes and the attitude towards the process of education. The assistance implemented in response to the needs of the school community is assessed as targeted and encouraging the school community to get engaged in solution of the identified problems. The applied model of integrated assistance is assessed as a trigger and a motivator which encourages the school communities to not just make use of the good practices of the colleagues, to self-check and to reinforce oneself, but also to develop and implement innovations in pedagogic activity.

The data of the research show that when purposefully responding to the assistance needs of schools, communities change the culture of the organisation: solidarity, engagement into solution of problems increase and at the same time the attitude towards the process of education, pedagogic activity and continuous self-assessment of the activity does change.
Keywords:
School, school community, integrated assistance.