V Sloveniji se je dolgo ohranjal model organizacije družbe, ki je koreninil v skupnostni formi. V taki družbeni formi je na ravni lokalne skupnosti osnovna šola daleč presegala svojo primarno ...vzgojno-izobraževalno funkcijo. Urbanizacija, ki je danes precej zajela tudi za podeželje bolj značilno skupnostno družbeno formo, je prinesla zanimive spremembe v omenjeni širši funkciji šole. Raziskali smo, kako danes šole razumejo potrebe po povezovanju šole in skupnosti. Ugotovili smo, da se razumevanje tega povezovanja in njegove modalitete močno razlikujejo. Načini, kako šole odgovarjajo na potrebe skupnosti (in obratno), so močno odvisni od obstoječih modelov družbene organizacije. Pričakovanja so večja v okoljih, kjer je šola ena od redkih ali celo edina javna ustanova v kraju. Čeprav si tudi v preostalih okoljih šole prizadevajo za motivacijo in angažma prebivalcev, pa jim pogosto zmanjka časa in energije. Rezultati kvalitativne analize so razkrili, da ima zapiranje lokalnih ali podružničnih šol negativne demografske in socialno-kulturne posledice. Sočasno pa je analiza pokazala na neizrabljen potencial v novih urbanih okoljih, kjer bi šola lahko bila ključen element družbene organizacije v lokalni skupnosti.
In mid-March 2020, Slovenia declared the COVID-19 epidemic, which led to the closure of schools and the transition to remote education. This article presents the findings of a study conducted during ...the lockdown among school heads in primary and secondary schools. The authors identify the challenges and issues the school heads faced in the first weeks of the epidemic and examine the positive experiences that may represent examples of good practice for dealing with similar problems in the future. The study was carried out through an online questionnaire containing 12 single-answer and multiple-choice questions and one Likert-type scale. The school heads were free to write their answers to two open-ended questions. The findings show that schools responded quickly to the changed circumstances and continued to deliver education to their students without interruption, although their approaches differed significantly. A great deal of improvisation was observed, as was to be expected, as the state did not have a pre-prepared plan and was not able to provide a quick and adequate response.
This article discusses the topic of schools as a learning communities from the perspective of the collaboration of two groups of school workers - teachers and school counsellors. The introduction ...defines how the concept of schools as learning communities is understood and how it is related to the concept of learning organizations. It also further elaborates on the key characteristics of learning communities. The first premise of the contribution is that through joint effort and collaboration, counsellors and teachers can more efficiently face the practical challenges of their work, both in providing help and encouragement to students and in ensuring better classroom work on the level of the whole school. The second is that they are important partners to each other in their professional development through joint reflections of their educational principles and expectations. The article further focuses on the quality of cooperation between counsellors and teachers in primary and secondary schools in Slovenia. The results of the empirical research show that both groups of school workers tend to evaluate their cooperation as either very good or good while teachers tend to be more satisfied. The questionnaire responses show that teachers believe collaboration can benefit them, however that they frequently leave decisions about work with specific students or classes to the counsellors. Establishing and maintaining partner collaboration is always a challenge, however, it is also crucial for effectively confronting contemporary challenges and ensuring quality learning for all and the contribution thus concludes with guidelines for establishing such a beneficial collaboration.
The text questions the assumption of the Bologna reform that student-centered learning will improve the quality of university study. Research conducted on a sample of 429 students from various study ...programs at two faculties of the University of Ljubljana, whom we asked about their reading and study habits, showed that relying on the subjective motivation of students alone is not enough to ensure that they read compulsory reading material and thus acquire the knowledge that only this type of study can bring. We therefore emphasize in the conclusion that calling for motivation that is tied to interest may actually have the effect of putting students off reading material that is not related to their direct interest or does not show directly applicable value. The results of the study also show that students are clearly attentive to the requirements and expectations of individual faculty member and therefore adapt their method of study (and the amount they study) in such a way as to satisfy these (frequently low) expectations.
The article discusses results of a study that evaluated university students’ competencies related to inclusive education. The study aimed to find out how prospective school counselors, who were ...familiar with theories on inclusion as an educational concept and had some relevant field experience, analyzed and reflected upon inclusion-related, real-life situations. The authors also aimed to establish any differences in views and explanations depending on students’ average grades and whether students have experience working in inclusive settings. A questionnaire was developed that consisted of seven questions related to independent variables (e.g., average grade, experience with working in inclusive settings) and six open-ended questions related to a real-life situation. The results indicate that most students understand at least the basic elements of the broader definition of inclusion and can provide some ideas for improvement of practice. Interestingly, students’ grades do not seem to be a decisive factor, but field experience does play a role in students’ competencies related to inclusive education.
The article presents some essential characteristics of collaboration between the school counselling service and individuals or institutions in the community. The role of school counselling in ...Slovenia is not limited merely to counselling and providing direct assistance to students with learning and their personal development. Rather, it includes the encouragement of all participants in the educational process to create adequate learning environments. The role, however, should also be understood in broader terms as organizational and content collaboration with external environments, institutions and individuals in the community. The authors begin by proposing some starting points for collaboration between the school counselling service and the local community and, in the second part of the article, they move on to the findings of their empirical research study, conducted on a representative sample of school counsellors working in Slovenian primary schools. The results prove the need for collaboration between the school counselling service and different institutions or individuals in the community. The authors primarily focus on examining the obstacles and drawbacks to the collaboration, while they simultaneously highlight examples of good practice that enable constructive collaboration, without which schools and school-based counselling would not be able to contribute to educational processes. The described examples demonstrate that collaboration between schools/school counsellors and institutions/individuals in the community is crucial to solving the problems that students and their families face.
The school counselling service in Slovenia is part of every school. Collaboration among all participants in the school community is particularly important for the quality of the work. The aim of this ...paper is to gain insight into the collaboration between school counsellors and teachers in Slovenian primary and secondary schools. The frequency with which teachers take the initiative to cooperate with school counsellors in different areas of work will be presented, as well as the specific issues of classwork and teaching in which they believe they would most benefit from cooperation with school counsellors. A quantitative research design was used, and questionnaires were designed for school counsellors and teachers. These were sent to all school counsellors, of whom 315 (32.6%) responded. The questionnaires for teachers were sent to randomly selected schools; 501 teachers responded. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. The results show that - according to both teachers and counsellors - teachers most often take the initiative to support individual students who need help. On the other hand, according to teachers' open-ended responses and the perception of the counsellors themselves, teachers also need support and collaboration in their work with the classroom community. However, if the focus of school counselling is solely on remedial and service tasks, it is difficult to speak of quality collaboration. This paper reveals the importance of strengthening mutual collaboration in co-creating supportive and inclusive learning environments and classroom communities. In the future, it would be useful to examine the obstacles to such collaboration.
The characteristics of cooperation between head teachers and school counsellors are presented theoretically and empirically. Distributed leadership means that head teachers do not lead schools ...through school-based educators but rather together with them, with school counsellors playing an important role. Numerous research studies demonstrate that a strong head teacher–school counsellor relationship is a crucial component of meeting the vision, goals and well-being of the school. The findings of our research study, conducted among head teachers and school counsellors, show positive attitudes of both groups towards mutual cooperation. Both considered the cooperation to be good or very good, the head teachers rated it even better. It is interesting to observe that the head teachers found more support in school counsellors than vice versa. Also, more of the head teachers said they saw school counsellors as partners than did the school counsellors. It thus remains to be seen how school counsellors’ perception of the school leadership’s support in their work could be strengthened and how head teachers could be encouraged to support the work of the school counselling service even more, so that this relationship becomes reciprocal and that each party’s ability to perform their work will be enhanced by the strong relationship.
V članku se ukvarjamo z razvojem strokovnih kompetenc in načini dela v visokošolskem izobraževanju. V raziskavi smo želeli ugotoviti, kako študenti 1. in 3. letnika študija pedagogike iz Beograda ter ...pedagogike in andragogike iz Ljubljane ocenjujejo kakovost študija in kakšno je njihovo mnenje o njegovih posameznih vidikih. Zanimala so nas mnenja študentov o vsebini in strukturi študija, oblikah izobraževanja in študijskih gradivih ter kako ocenjujejo svojo usposobljenost za opravljanje bodočega poklica. Rezultati raziskave kažejo, da so študenti obeh univerz prepoznali študijsko prakso oziroma vaje kot ključne za razvoj strokovnih kompetenc. Med študijskimi aktivnostmi, ki lahko pripomorejo k razvoju kompetenc, so ljubljanski študenti višje ocenili predavanja, samostojni študij in hospitacije. Srbski študenti pa so statistično pomembno više ocenili pomen raziskovalnega dela.