Introduction: Besides home, school is the second most important environment in a child’s life. Injuries that occur most often at school and school playgrounds are the leading cause of child deaths. If sudden health problems happen at school, teachers are the first to provide first-aid. Providing first-aid in primary schools is not regulated by one single legal act, but it is defined within various laws and regulations. Despite the fact that teachers are with students all time during classes and are as well as any other citizen responsible for giving first-aid, they do not receive the education for it. Purpose: To determine how first-aid is provided in primary schools in Slovenia; to find out how much primary teachers know about giving first-aid and the opinion of teachers and headmasters on renewing their knowledge about it. Methods: In the research part of the thesis, after having examined in detail some Slovene and foreign literature, we used a triangulation method of research along with an anonymous questionnaire, interview and partially structured debates in focus groups. Data collection in the framework of the descriptive method of research was carried out using an anonymous questionnaire in the online program. At the same time, we also conducted partially structured and focused interviews within focus groups of primary school teachers as well as interviews with primary school headmasters around Slovenia. Results: The questionnaire was fully completed by 192 teachers, 24 teachers participated in focus groups and 10 headmasters were interviewed. Insufficient theoretical knowledge of teachers was revealed when it comes to life-threatening situations, which was especially the case for those teachers who teach classes from the sixth to the ninth grade. They showed statistically less knowledge in four of the nine questions about first-aid in comparison with teachers who teach classes from the first to the fifth grade. Teachers in focus groups considered their knowledge as poor, while their headmasters mostly believe their employees are well trained in giving first-aid. In general, all the participants in the survey agreed that all employees should be responsible for giving first-aid, but still felt that more responsibility should be attributed to PE teachers and some other qualified teachers. Headmasters as well as teachers would like more first-aid training, especially practical one. The most important obstacles to organize some practical first-aid training are the lack of time and money. Discussion and conclusion: Better theoretical knowledge was shown by teachers who teach classes from the first to the fifth grade. This could be a result of their educational focused role in the early stage of educational system. Theoretical knowledge is only a basic prerequisite for giving first-aid, while practical skills are of key importance as well as renewing knowledge in accordance with constantly changing guidelines. Most of the teachers have an opinion that PE teachers are the most responsible to be able to give first-aid. During their professional education, they are the only group of teachers who has a specific modul about first-aid. This year, at the national level, guidelines for emergency response were issued and they will have to be properly implemented in primary schools in the following years. On the basis of our results we think that it will be necessary to take care of renewing first-aid knowledge as people tend to forget it very quickly.
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