Relationships with Children and Adolescents

The processes of forming working relationships with children and adolescents are often different than those with adults because of their physical, psychological, cognitive, emotional, and social stages of development. Additionally, they are at risk for many unique problems due to their dependency on and vulnerability to harm by adults. Their problems may be related to an absence of adequate family support and appropriate adult models, exposure to unhealthy social systems and traumatic situations, attachment issues, and difficulties with emotional regulation. Peer conflicts can also create distress for youth. Further, while children and adolescents are dependent on adults to get most of their needs met, they are often distrusting of adults, including social workers. The purpose of this chapter is to consider how social workers can engage with members of this population and develop relationships with them based on trust.

ŠKOLSKA KLIMA I PREVENCIJA VRŠNjAČKIH KONFLIKATA

School climate and students’ interpersonal relations are mutually conditioned and linked. By preventing peer conflicts in school, climate in which culture of peace prevails and students are taught to be socially responsible is created. Peer mediation and student activism are a means of preventive work of school with the aim of developing positive interpersonal relations. With theoretical analysis of research and authors’ views, we take into consideration the significance of these methods of preventing peer conflicts with which social and emotional competences develop, that is, we take into consideration the significance of preventive work of school with the aim of developing positive interpersonal relations. The role of school is to encourage students’ cooperation and compromise, that is, peer mediation and activism.

CONFLICTS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS THROUGH STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION

Conflicts are present in every aspect of the child’s process of growing up– in school, family, with friends, and sports clubs. Nowadays, kids are often surrounded by peer violence which manifests in verbal, mental, and physical form. Attempts to solve such conflicts often result in making things even worse. The root cause of those issues is a different perspective on the problems at hand. The main goal of this research is to understand students’ perspective on conflicts they come across at school. We used descriptive statistics methods (frequency) and Х² tеst for measuring the significance of differences among crossed variable segments. Results of this research showed that the number of conflicts increases with age, meaning that there are more conflicts in higher grades. When it comes to solving these conflicts, students are prone to turning to teachers and professional associates at school, regardless of the fact that their parents show the desire to engage in solving peer conflicts.