Inviting queries for educational counselling

Counselling sessions, workshops and training sessions are conducted by teachers, class / group tutors and specialists.

Specialists providing counselling and guidance in (nursery) schools and other educational institutions include in particular:

psychologists,
pedagogues,
speech therapists,
careers advisers, and
educational therapists.

Psychological and educational support is also offered to pupils’/students’ parents and teachers in the form of counselling or guidance sessions, workshops and training sessions.

Support offered to parents and teachers aims to:

assist them in addressing pupils’/students’ educational and learning problems;
develop their own educational skills to increase the effectiveness of counselling and guidance offered to pupils/students.

Where it is found that a child needs special educational support in view of his/her difficulties or special talents, the nursery school, alternative preschool education setting, school or the institution initiates measures to meet these needs. This is an area where an educational institution provides counselling and guidance / educational and psychological support.

Counselling and guidance sessions offered to children and young people are a form of such support.

in schools: pedagogical observation during ongoing work with pupils/students which is aimed at identifying:
learning difficulties and, for pupils in grades I to III of the primary school, competence deficits, language disorders, and the risk of specific learning difficulties;
potential and interests;
special aptitudes or talents;
support for pupils/students in making education and career choices during ongoing work with them.

Teachers, class / group tutors and specialists in (nursery) schools and other educational institutions undertake, in particular, the following activities:

in nursery schools: pedagogical observation aimed at early identification of developmental disharmonies and early intervention; and for children in one-year pre-school preparatory education: pedagogical observation ending with an analysis and assessment of children’s readiness for school (pre-school diagnosis);

collaborating with a counselling and guidance centre in diagnostic and post-diagnostic processes, in particular, regarding:
performance/functional behaviour assessment;
barriers and constrains in the environment which make it difficult for pupils/students to function and participate in the life of their (nursery) school or institution;
outcomes of measures taken to improve pupils’/students’ functioning and further measures to be planned.

identifying reasons behind academic failures or difficulties in pupils’/students’ functioning, including barriers and constraints which make it difficult for them to function and participate in the life of their (nursery) school or educational institution;
taking measures which help pupils/students develop their competences and potential in order to enhance the effectiveness of their learning process and improve their functioning;

The responsibilities of teachers, class / group tutors and specialists in (nursery) schools and educational institutions include, in particular:

assessing pupils’/students’ individual developmental and educational needs and psychological and physical abilities;
identifying pupils’/students’ strengths, predispositions, interests and aptitudes or talents;

The assessment of children’s and young people’s developmental needs is one of the main responsibilities of teachers and specialists working with them.

Psychological and educational support aims to help pupils/students fulfil their developmental potential and create conditions for their active and full participation in the life of their (nursery) school or institution and in their social environment.

Counselling and guidance, referred to as psychological and educational support, provided to pupils/students in nursery schools, schools and other educational institutions involves:

identifying pupils’/students’ individual developmental and educational needs and psychological and physical abilities, and environmental factors which have impact on their functioning in a nursery school, school or educational institution; and
addressing the needs identified.