Qualification of Professionals in Montessori Kindergartens for Inclusive Approaches in Working with Children with Special Needs

V magistrski nalogi sem obravnavala usposobljenost strokovnih delavcev v montessori vrtcih za inkluzivne pristope pri delu z otroki s posebnimi potrebami. V ta namen sem v teoretičnem delu navedla različne opredelitve otrok s posebnimi potrebami in opredelila usmerjanje otrok s posebnimi potrebami. Nadalje sem opredelila vrtce, zakonodajo s področja predšolske vzgoje (Zakon o organizaciji in financiranju vzgoje in izobraževanja, Zakon o vrtcih, Kurikulum za vrtce), svetovalno službo v vrtcih. Opredelila sem pedagogiko montessori in predstavila montessori vrtce v Sloveniji. Na koncu teoretičnega dela sem predstavila še inkluzijo otrok s posebnimi potrebami in kazalnike inkluzivnosti. V empiričnem delu sem predstavila ugotovitve, do katerih sem prišla z intervjuvanjem in anketiranje vzgojiteljev, ki so v montessori vrtcu že delali z otrokom s posebnimi potrebami in z anketiranjem svetovalnega delavca, ki mi je predstavila svetovalno delo v montessori vrtcu. Vprašanja za vzgojitelje so bila vezana na njihovo delo z otroki s posebnimi potrebami, kakšen je njihov odnos do njih, kakšne pedagoške pristope uporabljajo in kako usposobljeni se počutijo za delo z otroki s posebnimi potrebami. Spraševala sem jih tudi po spodbudah in ovirah pri vključevanju otrok s posebnimi potrebami v njihove vrtce ter o svetovalni službi. Vprašanja za svetovalnega delavca pa so bila vezana na naloge svetovalne službe v montessori vrtcih. Raziskava je pokazala, da se vzgojitelji v montessori vrtcih srečujejo z otroki s posebnimi potrebami in pri delu z njimi uporabljajo predvsem individualne in montessori pristope. Pri delu z otroki s posebnimi potrebami se prizadevajo, da je odnos do otrok s posebnimi potrebami enak odnosu z ostalimi otroki v skupini. Prav tako je raziskava pokazala, da se montessori vzgojitelji počutijo usposobljene za delo z otroki s posebnimi potrebami, za delo z njimi pa bi vseeno potrebovali dodatna izobraževanja, supervizije ipd. Vzgojitelji v montessori vrtcih opažajo tako spodbude kot tudi ovire pri vključevanju otroka s posebnimi potrebami. O svetovalni službi sem izvedela o nalogah svetovalnega delavca v montessori vrtcu. Izvedela sem, da so svetovalne službe v montessori vrtcih slabo zastopane. Kot razloge za to so vzgojitelji navajali, da vrtci ne vidijo potrebe po tem, zaradi majhnosti in zasebnosti vrtca, zaradi stroškov, ki bi nastali zaradi zaposlitve svetovalnega delavca ipd.In my master\u27s thesis, I discussed the qualification of professionals in montessori kindergartens for inclusive approaches to working with children with special needs. In the theoretical part I have given different definitions of children with special needs and defined the placement of children with special needs. I further defined kindergartens, legislation in the field of pre-school education, counseling service in kindergartens. I defined Montessori pedagogy and presented montessori kindergartens in Slovenia. At the end of the theoretical part, I presented the inclusion of children with special needs and indicators of inclusion. In the empirical part, I presented the findings of interviewing educators, who have already worked with a child with special needs in a montessori kindergarten, and a counselor who presented me with counseling work in a montessori kindergarten. Questions for educators were related to their work with children with special needs (what is their attitude towards them, what pedagogical approaches they use and how qualified they feel to work with children with special needs). I also asked them about the incentives and barriers to the inclusion of children with special needs in their kindergartens and about the counseling service. The questions for the counselor were related to the tasks of the counseling service in montessori kindergartens. Research has shown that educators in montessori kindergartens encounter children with special needs and use individual and montessori approaches when working with them. When working with children with special needs, they strive to ensure that the attitude towards children with special needs is the same as the attitude with other children in the group. Research has also shown that montessori educators feel qualified to work with children with special needs, but would still need additional education, supervision, etc. to work with them. Educators in montessori kindergartens see both incentives and barriers to the inclusion of children with special needs. I learned about the counseling service about the duties of a counselor in a montessori kindergarten. I learned that counseling services in montessori kindergartens are underrepresented. As reasons for this, educators stated that kindergartens do not see the need for this, due to the small size and privacy of the kindergarten, due to the costs that would be incurred due to hiring a counselor, etc