School guidance teams

Through the European Social Fund project 'VIP-Career' in the Czech Republic, school psychologists and school special educators have been incorporated into the school system. As part of a network of school guidance centres, school psychologist, the school special educator together with school counsellor and prevention methodologist, form the school guidance team. The team offers a range of preventative measures to support young people, including those with special educational needs or at risk for early school leaving.

The ESF project VIP-Career and subsequent follow-up projects, VIP-II and RAMPS, established the positions of the "school psychologist" and "school special educator" in participating schools and incorporated the positions into the school system. These projects created a network of school guidance centres where the school psychologist and school special educator, together with school counsellor and prevention methodologist, formed the school guidance team.

The range of activities and services that these professionals provide in schools were primarily aimed at ensuring equal opportunities in education for all pupils while creating a wide array of preventive measures. Interventions aim to help individual pupils who are for some reason failing in their school work and to work with whole class.

The projects have gradually focused on working with children with special educational needs and with pupils at risk (i.e., those with behavioural problems, long-term illness, range of learning disabilities, social disadvantages, etc.).