Abstract:

In the 21st century, the socio-economic environment and the conditions of education have changed, both in the family and in public education institutions. Parents need support, both to understand their role as parents and to develop their parenting competences. This parental support should become an integral part of the teacher's work, especially in inclusive education. Over the past decades, pedagogy has paid great attention to differentiated (adaptive) teaching methodologies in order to optimise the development of children with different educational needs. At the same time, little attention has been paid to the acceptance of family diversity, and the approach and methodology needed to strengthen parental competence have not yet become a sufficiently conscious part of the professional culture. The integration of individual and group counselling methods into the activities of special teachers could be a solution to the above-mentioned gaps in pedagogical expertise. In inclusive education, it is not only necessary to strengthen parental competence, but also to support mainstream teachers and pupils with special needs.

Pedagogical counselling can be defined as a goal-oriented problem-solving activity in which teachers provide support to their students (or their parents or other teachers) through interpersonal contact in order to find the best solutions to life situations that arise in the course of institutional education. In this interaction, the information related to the solution of the problem is processed with the help of the counselling teacher.

The presentation will review the tasks, the system of activities and the limits of competence of pedagogical counselling in inclusive education.

The presentation will also present the results of a research in which practising teachers were interviewed about the types of problems that arise in inclusive education depending on who is seeking advice: parents, mainstream teachers or children with special educational needs.

The survey involved nearly 100 teachers. Data was collected through an online questionnaire and interview.

The main results of the research show that most often learning and behavioral problems, lack of motivation, occur during integration, and help is requested for development.

The results will be presented in detail at the conference.

Keywords:

Counselling, special education, inclusion.