The independence of a child is very important for their healthy development, their self-confidence, good self-image and positive identity. It is only with the development of independence in a child’s early age that they can become an autonomous, independent, free, successful and responsible person with a firm personality. Parents are very important for child’s independence, so they have to be the first who encourage their child to develop independence. When child go to school, teachers are also of great importance. They can do a lot for a child’s independence if this was not developed in the family earlier on. School has many aims and recommendations about educational system written in Bela knjiga (1995 and 2011), and in Zakon o osnovni šoli (2006), which are oriented towards developing the independence of children. Nowadays it is noticeable that children are not independent enough when they enter school. This was the reason why I was interested in the research of children’s independence. In this research 118 pupils, who went to the first class in the school year 2016/2017, were included. The independence of first-grade pupils in school work at school, in school work at home, in taking care of themselves and in household chores was studied. Additionally, pupil’s parents and 19 teachers were included in the research. The results have shown that first-grade pupils are not entirely independent in taking care of themselves and in school work at home. They are independent just occasionally, whereas parents often help them. In school work at school, first-grade pupils are entirely independent. But on the other hand, when doing household chores, children are not always independent. Differences in independence of first grade pupils between those living in the countryside and those living in cities have also been checked. It has been found that pupils in the countryside are somewhat more independent than pupils in cities. From the results of the research it can be concluded that parents’ and teachers’ views about the development of children’s independence are encouraging, because most of the parents and teachers completely agree that independence has a significant impact on the child’s development of self-confidence. Teachers agree more than parents that parents have a vital role in the development of a child’s independence. Both teachers and parents agree that the family has an important role in the development of a child’s independence. Parents agree with the statement that school has a major role in the development of a child’s independence, while teachers do not credit school with much importance. Teachers agree more than parents that for learning independence, children must be involved in household chores. However, both believe that with dressing up, putting on shoes, feeding themselves and choosing their friends, children have to be independent already in kindergarten. Parents and teachers think that children have to be independent in first or second grade when it comes to washing their teeth, showering, choosing their clothes and time to go to sleep.
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