In my master’s thesis, I researched the self-esteem of primary school students and identified the differences that occurred between individual dimensions of self-esteem between genders. At the beginning, I defined the period of adolescence and described the basic characteristics and the problems that adolescents face during this challenging period. Further on, I presented the school and described the hardships and problems associated with it and highlighted the supportive role of the school’s counselling services as an indispensable part of every school. Further on I focused on the definition of self-image and its important place in the life of an individual. The self-esteem of the adolescents is only just evolving, so it seems crucial to me, to be aware of which factors can have a positive and which can have a negative influence on it. It seemed essential to me, to emphasize its multidimensional structure and explain the characteristics of self-image formation in adolescence. I also highlighted how important self-esteem is, for student’s strength and attitude towards oneself and others. I also focused specifically on the connection between self-esteem and social acceptance in the classroom, learning performance and approaches to developing an appropriate self-image in the period of primary schooling.
In the research work, I presented the results of a survey conducted in March 2021 at Primary school Primož Trubar Laško. The sample included 142 students attending 5th and 9th grade. In the research, I used the SPA self-image questionnaire and adjusted it, so it was more fitting to the research itself. Research has shown that women possess a slightly higher self-esteem compared to men. It also turned out that women have a higher emotional self-esteem in comparison to men of the same age. After that I wondered what the differences in the general self-esteem at certain ages are. I found that the average general self-esteem of students attending the 9th grade is higher compared to the students attending the 5th grade. The results show that the average academic self-esteem between students attending the 9th grade is slightly higher than the average academic self-esteem of students attending the 5th grade. While in 5th grade the results are just the opposite, as women have a higher academic self-esteem than men. I came to the realization that students with lower socioeconomic status do not have lower general self-esteem compared to those, coming from the families with a better socio-economic status. I also examined the association of learning success with academic self-esteem and with the help of calculations proved, that students with poorer learning success have a higher academic self-esteem. Although the sample was relatively small, I believe it represents an important contribution to illuminating the self-image of primary school children. Concern for proper self-esteem is one of the fundamental educational goals, so I believe, that there are only benefits to researching this phenomenon further on in the future and in a little more detail.
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