Abstract:

The increasing trend of problem behaviour of pupils calls for strengthening the preventive activities of class teachers in primary and secondary schools. One possibility is the development of pupils' moral competences through a class teacher who is in close contact with his/her class. In this paper we present partial results of applied research aimed at identifying the educational needs of the class teacher in the preventive field. We used a questionnaire of our own design. We calculated the overall reliability of the questionnaire by means of Cronbach alpha coefficient, standardized reliability coefficient and correlation coefficient. The measured results indicate high internal consistency of the research instrument. The questionnaire focused on the educational needs of classroom teachers in six areas of their activities (e.g., administrative activities, classroom coordination, communication, etc.); in this paper, we focus on activities that are related to the classroom teacher's role in prevention. Respondents were classroom teachers in primary and secondary schools in Slovakia (n = 266, males = 34, females = 232). They commented on selected aspects of their prevention activities in school, with regard to the perceived need for further training (e.g., effective strategies for preventing problem behaviors, prevention education programs, setting and following rules in school, etc.). The results of the research indicate that the greatest need for help and support was expressed by teachers under the heading of effective strategies for preventing undesirable student behaviour. The yes option was indicated by 35% and the rather yes option by 38% of teachers (73% in total). Similar scores were recorded for the item preventing undesirable behaviour of pupils with special needs (e.g. ADHD, Asperger's syndrome, from different socio-cultural backgrounds), with 33.1% indicating yes and 39.1% indicating rather yes (72.2% in total). The least support would be needed in the area of familiarising pupils with school rules (only 16.2% and 18% of teachers indicated yes and rather yes respectively, a total of 34.2%). Of the specific forms of assistance, the option marked most by teachers was to attend a specialized course or workshop (43.2%). The results indicate that classroom teachers would need to receive training in the prevention of undesirable behaviour of pupils. Analysis of the results showed a statistically significant difference (Mann-Whitney test) in the perception of training needs in the preventive field among teachers from different types of schools. Teachers of grammar schools subjectively perceived the lowest need for further education in the field of prevention, compared to teachers of primary schools and secondary vocational schools. The results create room for the implementation of prevention programs and quality training for classroom teachers with a focus on moral education. In this paper, we emphasize that the reinforcement of moral values and virtues such as responsibility, honesty, respect, understanding, etc., can be an effective tool in preventing the emergence of problem behaviors in students.

Keywords:

Prevention, moral education, class teacher, primary school, secondary school.