SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER IN THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC

Abstract

For the first time in the Slovak Republic the position of Special Education Teacher as a Professional in the Kindergarten is being introduced within the framework of the National PRIM Project – Kindergarten Project. The task of the special education teacher is to optimize the educational and personal development of children, i. e. to contribute to the correction and improvement of their success, to prevent deterioration and to prevent behavioral disorders, to mitigate their manifestations as much as possible, developing internal assumptions about learning that affect study. School teachers carry out their professional activities in kindergartens daily, which significantly contributes to the creation of a favorable educational and social environment, develops special pedagogical aspects of educational processes and helps to optimize the personal development of children.
The strategic goal of the National Project "Inclusion in Kindergartens – PRIM" is to provide quality educational services to children with special educational needs at all levels of education, from pre-school education, to increasing the number of children with special educational needs in pre-school institutions by creating inclusive environments and conducting educational activities. and family outreach.
The main strategic goal of the National School Open to All (ŠOV) project is to "support inclusive education by enhancing the professional competences of pedagogical and professional staff, ensuring equal access to quality education, improving the outcomes and competences of children and students." The strategic goal is to implement an inclusive educational model in kindergarten and support non-formal education. That is, to support the success of inclusive school modeling in Slovakia, an inclusive environment is being introduced at pre-school level. To this end, a methodological guide and programs of concrete actions have already been created at different stages of the pedagogical staff of kindergartens.
Today, the key role of special education teachers is to introduce inclusive diagnosis of preschool children through screening, orientation and further effective stimulation, which will help accelerate the development of socially and physically disadvantaged preschool children in line with philosophy. The main objective of our article is to highlight specific procedures for conducting stage-by-stage screening of child development in kindergarten. The proposed manual (authors V. Shilonova, V. Klein, P. Shinkova, 2019) can serve as a methodological guide for the pedagogical and professional staff of kindergartens on the successful carrying out of the check of the development of preschool children. After identifying and registering individual existing or potential violations or deficiencies, the results of the screening should be summarized to work out a child support algorithm through the use of special incentive programs. This approach can sufficiently satisfy the educational requirements for children in primary school.
The key task of the authors is the introduction of a screening and stimulation program designed to create an effective tool for the gradual development of preschoolers, as well as aimed at preventing the occurrence of behavioral disorders, unwanted barriers in the learning and socialization, preventing unauthorized inclusion of children with health problems or social problems systems of special schools (especially schools for students with mental disorders, disabilities). In the longer term, the authors of the program seek to focus the attention of all participants in the educational process on the timely identification of the development of children before entering school, identify their strong positions and key competences, stimulate them to be active in life, in particular, inclusive education in primary and secondary school to prepare children for better conditions for their potential professional and life-long employment in society.