Experiences and needs of school pedagogues in pedagogical counseling of students

Stručni suradnik pedagog pedagoško savjetovanje svakodnevno provodi s učenicima, što ga stavlja na poziciju jednog od najvažnijih područja njegova rada. Pedagoško savjetovanje je jako izazovan dio posla pedagoga: kako bi što učinkovitije odgovorili na izazove i zahtjeve pedagoškog savjetovanja te unaprijedili kompetencije za njegovo kvalitetno vođenje, pedagozi se moraju kontinuirano stručno usavršavati. Međutim, pedagoško savjetovanje je područje pedagogije koje je nedovoljno istraživano, ali i nedostatno razvijeno kao praksa stručnog suradnika pedagoga, a o procesu savjetodavnog rada pedagoga s učenicima manjka stručnih i znanstvenih radova, posebice na području Republike Hrvatske. Iz navedenih razloga, ovo istraživanje je obuhvatilo upravo tu tematiku, kako bi novim spoznajama doprinijelo pedagogijskoj znanosti i praksi. Shodno tome, cilj ovoga istraživanja bio je ispitati kako pedagozi shvaćaju pedagoško savjetovanje učenika i svoju ulogu savjetnika, koja su njihova iskustva i potrebe u pedagoškom savjetovanju učenika te kako procjenjuju vlastitu kompetentnost za provođenje pedagoškoga savjetovanja i uspješno odgovaranje na izazove koje ono nosi. Proveden je polustrukturirani individualni intervju na uzorku od šest pedagoginja zagrebačkih osnovnih škola. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da sve sudionice pedagoško savjetovanje učenika i svoju ulogu savjetnika smatraju jednim od najvažnijih područja svog profesionalnog djelovanja. Isto tako, većinom smatraju da su kompetentne za pedagoško savjetovanje koje u vlastitoj praksi učinkovito i provode. Smatraju kako im studij pedagogije nije dao potrebna znanja i vještine za kvalitetno provođenje pedagoškog savjetovanja, već učinkovitost pripisuju svojoj osobnoj motivaciji za stručnim usavršavanjem u tom području. Osim toga, sudionice pedagoško savjetovanje smatraju jako izazovnim područjem rada prilikom kojeg mnoge njihove potrebe trebaju biti zadovoljene da bi ono moglo biti kvalitetno vođeno, pri čemu ističu potrebu za cjeloživotnim obrazovanjem kao ključnu potrebu koju smatraju ne samo osobnim izazovom, već i odskočnom daskom za uspješno pedagoško savjetovanje.Professional assistant pedagogues conduct pedagogical counseling with students on a daily basis, which makes pedagogical counseling one of the most important areas of their work. This means that pedagogical counseling is very challenging for pedagogues, and in order to respond as efficiently as possible to the challenges and requirements of pedagogical counseling and improve the competencies needed to perform well as a counselor, they must continuously improve their skills. However, pedagogical counseling is an area of pedagogy that has to date not only been insufficiently researched, but also insufficiently developed as a practice of a professional assistant pedagogue, and the process of advisory work of pedagogues with students lacks professional and scientific papers, especially in Croatia. For these reasons, this research covers precisely this topic in order to contribute new knowledge to pedagogical science and practice. Consequently, the aim of this research is to examine how pedagogues understand pedagogical counseling of students and their own role as counselors, what their experiences and needs in pedagogical counseling of students are and how they assess their own competence to conduct pedagogical counseling and successfully respond to the challenges it presents. A semi-structured individual interview was conducted on a sample of six pedagogues from Zagreb primary schools. The results of the research show that all participants consider pedagogical counseling of students and their role as counselors to be one of the most important areas of their work. Likewise, most of them believe that they are competent for pedagogical counseling, which they effectively implement in their work. They believe that the pedagogy program did not give them the necessary knowledge and skills for quality pedagogical counseling, but attribute their performance to their personal motivation for professional development in this area. In addition, the participants consider pedagogical counseling to be a very challenging area of work where many of their needs need to be met in order for it to be conducted well. All participants agree that their key need is lifelong learning, which is not only a personal challenge, but also a stepping stone for successful pedagogical counseling