Th e profession of social pedagogue is classifi ed as a helping profession. Social pedagogues can prove their worth in various sectors and work with various target groups. Th e study analyses legislative possibilities and actual activities of social pedagogues in schools in Slovakia. Social pedagogues working in Slovak elementary and secondary schools carry out primary and secondary prevention, deal with pupils' problem behaviour, screen for threatened pupils, provide counselling, actively work with pupils from socially disadvantaged environments, cooperate with pupils' parents and with specialists. Th e author also briefl y elucidates school preventive socio-educational work of social pedagogues in the other V4 countries comparable geographically, historically and culturally.

Social pedagogues' activities in school have already been anchored in Slovak legislation. Professionalization of preventive socio-educational work in school is a prerequisite for its increased eff ectiveness and prevention of pupils' problem behaviour. It is regrettable that school practice so far does not fully respect the school legislation and social pedagogues are rather sporadic in schools.

The study deals with the competences and real possibilities of primary and secondary school teachers in the implementation of prevention of problem and risky behaviour of pupils. It also looks at the current state of problem and risky behaviour among primary and secondary school pupils. Effective school prevention, in which the teacher plays an important role, contributes significantly to the creation of a safe school environment.

The study focuses on pupils' aggression towards teachers. The goal of the study was to determine a statistically significant relationship between the forms of aggressive behaviour and the age of teachers and the length of their teaching experience. The research sample consisted of 268 teachers of elementary schools, secondary vocational schools and grammar schools in the region of Banská Bystrica. Results revealed a statistically significant negative relationship between teachers' age and the years of teaching experience in three forms of aggressive behaviour: refusal to obey instructions, intentional disruption and ironic remarks. A statistically significant relationship was observed between the length of teachers' teaching experience and destruction of school property.

An increase in problem behaviour of varying intensity with pupils of primary and secondary schools raises the necessity of performing effective prevention. This paper approximates the current state of its implementation and analyzes the problems which it encounters in the conditions of Slovak schools. It also presents the current situation of the occurrence of problematic and risk behaviour among pupils at primary and secondary schools.