School-based social pedagogy and its implementation in the Czech school system

The article aims to showcase the complicated, unfinished process of the implementation of social pedagogy and pedagogues into the practice of Czech schools, outlining the concept of social pedagogy along with its position in the international context. The focus of the text is the process of introducing social pedagogues into Czech schools over the past two decades. It describes the role of various projects that have supported the implementation of this new post, the activities of the academic community in attempting to influence legislation to include social pedagogues, as well as the viewpoints of the decision-making sphere. Risks to the aforementioned process are identified in the conclusion: legal reforms of the Act on Pedagogical Workers being blocked, fears of the financial burden resulting from the establishment of a new professional post within the school system, low awareness among school management of the kind of work social pedagogues do, unclear qualification requirements for social pedadogues, and finally competition between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Affairs over which of them should be in charge of the process.