The master thesis aims to address the question of how classroom teachers and school counselors respond to anger and aggression expressed by first-grade students. Educational institutions are increasingly confronted with high levels of destructive forms of anger and aggression, peer bullying, and other forms of dysfunctional emotional expression among students. This work, therefore, aims to present the value aspect of developing emotional competencies and executive functions, specifically the ability to regulate emotions, in responding to such problems by school practitioners.
Eleven professionals from three primary schools in Ljubljana, including three counselors and eight first-grade class teachers, took part in the study. A grounded theory method was used, which, based on empirical data obtained through interviews with the professionals, examined their reactions to the anger and aggression of students. Through open and axial coding, the author formed four main categories for classroom teachers: understanding the child, anger, aggression, and violence; school practitioners' coping with anger; social network of school practitioners in the face of violence; and perception of possible solutions from the practitioners' perspective. The individual categories were then illustrated with sub-categories, where the practitioners' responses were compared with existing research findings. The findings of the research showed that the level of training of classroom teachers and counselors to empower the development of emotional competencies and executive functions is mirrored in their responses to healthy and unhealthy forms of anger and aggression in first-trimester classes, which consequently does not provide educational institutions with the conditions to establish a supportive-safe dynamic in the school.
The usefulness of promoting the development of emotional competencies and executive functions in lower-grade pupils in the context of the school corpus, or classroom management, to promote functional responses to negative emotions and reduce destructive behaviors, has been somewhat better studied in foreign studies. Nevertheless, this work encourages further research into the effect of deliberately targeted activities or programs during the first trimester to develop emotional intelligence on the incidence of peer bullying during the school year. Intending to stimulate reflection on the applied spectrum of developing emotional competencies and executive functions in the regulation of functional and less functional forms of anger and aggression, the results of the research encourage the reader to think critically about the guidelines for educational institutions when confronted with destructive forms of student behavior and the need for interdisciplinary cooperation, action and further professional development of schools. The work also aims to stimulate the process of evaluation of programs and guidelines for the functioning of schools, in providing a safe and inclusive environment that promotes the emotional development of children.
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