Between school and family environment. Tasks of a school social worker in the contemporary educational system in Poland

Abstract

The school is an very important educational environment that, along with the family home, has a huge impact on the formation of the attitudes of the children and young people who attend it. It becomes especially important in situations where the family does not properly carry out its functions. Then the school environment has a chance to carry out tasks compensating at least in part for the shortcomings of the home environment. In addition to educators and teachers, an important tasks are performed by the school pedagogue, providing broad support to the student and his parents experiencing difficult situations, which are reflected in the functioning of the student in the school environment. An important support for the school pedagogue could be a school social worker, who, thanks to his/her special competence, could become a link between the school and the student's family environment, allowing to look at his school or social failures from a broader perspective. For that reason the article includes a proposal for schools to employ social workers. The assumptions of social work fit perfectly into the educational program of the school, which assumes, that the school supports the student in his comprehensive development, in the pursuit of self-development, to bring out his potential, discover his abilities and strengthen his self-esteem.