The function of the school pedagogue – comparative Review in 10 European Countries

Abstract

In the school system in the countries, in addition to the teaching staff, experts (professional associates) are hired in the schools whose main task is to provide professional help and support to the participants in the work in the schools in order to be successful in the realization of the school education and the effects that have been achieved to be better. Their professional goal is aimed at fostering development and in identifying and understanding the difficulties students face and providing assistance in overcoming them, as well as preventing learning and behavioral difficulties. In this paper, we will try to explain and compare the function of the school pedagogue in schools in 12 European countries separately. This publication contains an overview of the professional work of school teachers in 12 countries: Austria, Serbia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Croatia, Ireland, Macedonia, Malta, Russia, America, Slovenia, Serbia and the United Kingdom. The author's interest was primarily focused on questions and professional problems of pedagogues in European countries. Different names are used for the experts whose main function is to provide help and support to the students in the countries participating in the school work. In Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia they have the designation - professional associate in Bulgaria - pedagogical adviser, adviser in Slovenia, in the United States of America, United Kingdom, USA and Malta school adviser, in Austria, pupil or education adviser, in Ireland pedagogical adviser guidance, consultant in Denmark Counselor for Pedagogical - Psychological Service, and in Russia a pedagogue-psychologist in the school psychological service. Also, the names of the professional service in which these experts work in different. Let's say, in Croatia there is a development-pedagogical service, in Denmark a pedagogical-psychological service, in Malta a counseling service, in Russia a psychological service, in Serbia a professional service. Due to its terminological diversity, in situations where the professional work of these experts is generally discussed, and in our paper, it was necessary to decide on a term that would apply to all countries, regardless of the specific name they have in each of them. An adequate solution may be the school term school pedagogue, as it is most often found in the professional literature at the international level, but it is also the closest name used in a larger number of selected countries, so we’ll use term – pedagogue. On the other hand, considering that in Serbia there is an appointment as a professional associate in a school, we decided to use it as a dominant collective term that applies to all countries.