An Application of Positive Psychology in an Inclusive Primary School in Slovakia

In recent years,there has been an increasing interest to identify and assess indicators of school quality in Slovakia.Social-emotional health of pupils and teachers has been identified as one of the most important criterion of school quality.This chapter reports on social-emotional health of pupils and teachers in a Slovak inclusive primary school.The main organizational principles of an inclusive primary school in Bratislava,Slovakia are presented.The social-emotional health of teachers and students was assessed via an adapted Social-Emotional Health Survey-Secondary(SEHS-S).Findings of this pilot project indicate that teachers and pupils reported high level of social-emotional health associated with school’s core organizational principles guided by positive education frameworks.

The Performance of the School Psychologist in Schools for the Inclusion of Autistic Students in the Scenario of COVID-19

During COVID-19,the repercussions on scholar dynamics,functioning and structure were inevitable,causing an impact on groups that,historically,are minority in relation to the scope of school inclusion policies,such as students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder(ASD).This scenario is followed by educational phenomena in the face of which School Psychology has collaborated with the advancement of research and knowledge production.This qualitative study,based on Historical-Cultural Psychology and Critical School Psychology,analyzed the role of the school psychologist in monitoring students diagnosed with ASD in the context of regular school during the pandemic.The following procedures were conducted:application of an online questionnaire;and semi-structured interviews with four school psychologists.As a result,three zones of shared meanings were built:the claim for the right to education with support and adaptations;the psychologist as the great savior of inclusion;the non-total inclusion that denounces the structure of injustice by school.The information suggests that professional performance was hampered by different obstacles in the pandemic,such as the difficulty imposed by school,overload of demands,and impasses in the implementation of inclusion historically experienced at school,revealing that the school structure still carries historical consequences of exclusion.These shared meanings have demanded a professional performance with more effort,resistance,and strategies that accept the demands of school inclusion,providing collective mobilization,together with school actors,capable of breaking down barriers,especially those related to capacitist concepts.