Views of Teachers,School Counsellors and Parents on the Importanceof Their Mutual Co-operation

In this paper we focus on the role of some factors of quality co-operation between the school and the home, particularly on the views of parents, teachers and counselling workers on the quality of their mutual co-operation. The empirical research was carried out on a representative sample of primary school teachers together with primary and secondary school counsellors and parents of children who attended the third, fifth/sixth and ninth primary school grades in Slovenia. One of the main findings is that teachers, counselling workers and parents are aware of the importance of their mutual co-operation. In general, most schools exhibit great readiness and a favourable atmosphere for co-operating with parents. Parents also experience a high level of the school’s or teachers’ readiness to co- operate with them. However, at the same time, the data warns that co-operation could be improved in many cases. It is up to schools, teachers and counsellors to find what to improve and how

Škola, školství — mezi právním státem a společností

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School counselling work in Slovenia: between the normative and the ethic

This paper casts light on some formal aspects and aspects of professional ethics that bind and direct school counsellors in their work. Some basic principles of ethical treatment are presented, with focus on the principle of confidentiality and dilemmas that appear in its application. In striking a balance bet ween the ethical and legal aspects in counselling work with children/pupils it is important that the counsellor accepts parents, teachers, head staff and other experts as allies and partners in the counselling process, as these people most often offer assistance to the child/pupil who is in need of help

The model for evaluating the influence of student participation on school quality

In this article, special attention is given to student participation as a factor that differentiates schools from one another as regards school quality. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of research on the impact of student participation on the quality of schoolwork. The aim of the research was to develop and verify a model for evaluating the influence of student participation on school quality. In order to achieve the research objectives, it was necessary to determine which school activities the students are most often involved in and the criteria of quality in those schools in which the impact of student participation is the greatest. To design the model, we used the computer programme DEXi. For the purpose of the so-called “what-if” analysis, we used the programme Vredana. Both tools are available for free at http://lopes1.fov.uni-mb.si.U ovom se članku posebna pažnja posvećuje aktivnosti učenika – čimbeniku koji škole razlikuje po pitanju njihove kvalitete. Svrha je rada prikazati rezultate istraživanja o utjecaju aktivnosti učenika na kvalitetu rada škole. Cilj samog istraživanja bio je razviti i verificirati model evaluacije utjecaja učeničke aktivnosti na kvalitetu škole. Da bi se taj cilj ostvario, bilo je nužno odrediti u koje i kakve su školske aktivnosti učenici najčešće uključeni, te kriterije kvalitete u tim školama u kojima je utjecaj učeničkih aktivnosti najveći. Za kreiranje modela korišten je računalni program DEXi. Za potrebe tzv. “što ako” analize korišten je program Vredana. Oba alata dostupna su besplatno na adresi http://lopes1.fov.uni-mb.si

Cooperation between head teachers and professional school counsellors in Slovenian schools

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