Parents‘ view of school counselling work

Katja Jeznik, Petra Gregorčič Mrvar and Marjeta Šarić

Summary:  Pedagogical theory recognizes the concern for partnership forms of cooperation between school and parents as one of the key tasks of the school counselling service. Existing research suggests a lack of agreement on understanding and importance of partner collaboration. From the teacher’s point of view parents are sometimes recognized as too interfering with their educational work. However, since the parents’ views have received less research attention in the past, the paper presents the results of a comprehensive study of school counselling in Slovenia, with an emphasis on the analysis of the responses given by parents. The survey included 315 school counsellors and 1119 parents. The research indicates that parents are familiar with the basic tasks of the school counselling service and are aware that it is intended not only for individual children support, but also for parents and other participants in schools. The school counselling service is well accepted among parents and parents among school counsellors. With regard to these results we problematize the generalized notion of mutual dissatisfaction between parents and the school when interacting with each other and meeting expectations. The broader social circumstances in which modern parenting is involved, as well as the school, can only be overcome by strengthening the good cooperation between parents and the school counselling service in various fields, eg. enrolment, learning and teaching habits, relationships and personal development.