Sekundarni povzetek: |
In my diploma, I have been conducting a research to learn in which cases teachers and their assistants in English and Slovenian classes encourage competitive and co-operative behaviour and in which cases such behaviour is limited. Simultaneously, I wish to learn pupils’ experiences in co-operation and competition within and outside the school.
In the theoretical part of my diploma, I presented facts from the field of competition and co-operation. Competition usually stands for a contest between two or more individuals who attempt to overcome an obstacle to achieve their set goals. In schools, competition is used as a means of increasing motivation during school work or encouraging competition with their own achievements. In competitive situations, conflicts may arise; consequently, competitions sometimes gain negative connotations. Co-operation is an activity of at least two or more individuals who attempt to achieve common goals. It is a form of social behaviour which is frequently encouraged rather than limited in schools. Cirila Peklaj is one of the first people in “the Slovenian area” who presented co-operative learning in greater detail for the first time. She believes that co-operative learning is much more than simply group work of pupils.
In this research I included an English class, a teacher and her assistant from an English class, a Slovene class and a teacher with her assistant from a Slovene class. In order to collect data, I used an observation scheme, a half structured interview with the teachers and their assistants, and questions for pupils. At the end I compared the gained results with an international study which, among other issues, was involved in observing co-operation and competition in English and Slovenian schools.
The answers from the teachers and their assistants demonstrate that co-operation as well as competition is encouraged in schools although possible negative consequences of competition are taken into account. Pupils like to compete, for competition represents a challenge. The result of competition is more important than the process. Pupils are willing to help, especially if it is their friends who need help. The results of my study confirm the observations from the international study even though my observations were based in the countryside and the international study was conducted in capital cities. |