Cooperation and Competitiveness in the Educational Environment from the Students’ Perspective. An Essay Analysis

AbstractApplied to the classroom (undergraduate or academic field), competition and cooperation have advantages and disadvantages, according to multiple analysis criteria. The present study aim to evaluate how the students at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest describe and use the concepts of cooperation and competition, with possible applications in other educational domains (working groups from high school and university). We conducted a content analysis of responses by grouping them on several topics and sub-topics. Then we have established a hierarchy of frequency of occurrence of these emerging themes, describing the preferences in relationship types for the group of students concerned. The results confirm the current considerations upon cooperation and competition, bringing in the same time a new personalized evaluation of their effects on personal performance and that of colleagues, emotional climate, and personal identity development