Aggressive behaviour is one of the most common problems that teachers/educators in educational institutions face with. Aggression in educational institutions is a very common phenomenon, and often one of the main factors that call for urgent action. Peterman and Peterman (2010) emphasize the importance of providing children with motivation, which, however, requires a great deal of effort from the expert. Children and adolescents do not perceive their behaviour as a problematic, and often do not feel regret their aggressive behaviour. Aggression is often the very way to achieve their goal. Aggressive individuals see no reason to change inappropriate behaviour and avoid change (Peterman and Peterman, 2010). Zrim Martinjak (2017) points out that about 25 years have passed since the last shift has been made to the system. The shift was implemented according to the needs of children and adolescents in educational institutions. The author also mentions Škoflek (2006), predicting that educational institutions would be dealing with an increasingly more demanding and challenging population of children (i.e. children who express more severe forms of behavioural disorders), which should require specially educated and trained staff. This is a task that requires responsible and sensible approaches (Zrim Martinjak, 2017).
The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the operating principles of educational institutions in Slovenia and the analysis of actual situation. Furthermore, theoretical aspects of aggressive behaviour are presented, as well as causes of aggressive behaviour, theories of the origin of aggressive behaviours, and various forms thereof. The theoretical part ends with the introduction of various techniques for working with aggressive children and adolescents. The thesis continues with a more personal chapter and some guidelines established for the purpose of functional coping with aggression of children and adolescents in educational institutions.
The empirical part deals with the question as to how often one witnesses different forms of aggression. Furthermore, the following aspects and issues are looked into: the degree of disruption of individual forms of aggression for educators, reasons for satisfaction at work, reasons for aggressive behaviour, the usual measures/actions with aggressive actions, educators’ feelings about aggressive acts (competence, expertise, support), ways to reduce aggressive behaviours, as well as sources (and/or lack thereof) of support to help educators cope with aggression. The existence of statistically significant differences between educators has also been examined – according to gender – in the frequency of use of either conversation or physical limitations in cases of physical aggression that might harm the aggressive individual or others. The survey was conducted on the basis of anonymous survey questionnaires. It included 100 educators of both sexes and different ages who are employed at the Vzgojno-izobraževalno zavod Višnja Gora Educational Institution, the Vzgojni zavod Kranj Educational Institution, Zavod za vzgojo in izobraževanje Logatec Educational Institution,Vzgojno-izobraževalni zavod Frana Milčinskega Smlednik Educational Institution, OŠ Veržej Primary School and Mladinski dom Maribor Youth Center.
The research has shown that educators most often deal with screaming children and adolescents, while the most disturbing form of aggression are physical attacks on the educators. They seek support from co-workers, which is also the source of their satisfaction at work. When dealing with aggressive behaviours, all of the participants are aware of the importance of team treatment and good relationships with adolescents. Educators point out the need for additional training in the field of aggression and call for organization of supervision meetings. Female educators report insults by children and adolescents significantly more often than male educators do. Nevertheless, there were no differences between the sexes of educators in the choice of actions and measures in the event of serious aggressive actions.
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