Pedagogika

Objectives: This study examines how the management of primary schools with a high proportion of socially disadvantaged pupils describe the activities, roles and contributions of social pedagogues involved in the ‘Support for Equal Opportunities’ project.

Methods: A qualitative thematic analysis was carried out on 125 annual evaluation reports for the 2023/2024 school year. The reports were completed by the management of 125 schools, in which 141 social pedagogues were employed. Responses to open-ended questions comprised 89 pages of text. The thematic analysis was supplemented by an overview of the frequency of mentions of individual activities and benefits.

Results: Of a total of 516 mentions of activities, 334 (64.73 per cent) related to individual support interventions, 108 (20.93 per cent) to prevention and 74 (14.34 per cent) to group work. The most frequently mentioned activities were connecting families with services and institutions (87 mentions), outreach work (65) and support for school attendance (60). In assessing the contributions, school management particularly highlighted communication between the school and parents, cooperation with other institutions, and the identification of pupils from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

Conclusions: The management of the schools surveyed particularly values the mediating role of the social pedagogue between the pupil, the family, the school and other institutions. These findings are based on statements from school management; the evaluative purpose of the reports may have influenced the way in which the benefits were described.