Collaboration and competition in preschool

Tekmovanje in sodelovanje sta neizogibna dejavnika današnjega življenja, ki sta prisotna tudi pri otrocih. Družba je v današnjem času pogosto tekmovalno naravnana in temu se je potrebno prilagoditi. Sodelovanje velja za pozitivno ravnanje, h kateremu je potrebno sistematično spodbujati že otroke v predšolskem obdobju. Manj enotna so prepričanja in utemeljitve glede tekmovanja, ki ga je potrebno primerno usmerjati in prilagajati posameznikom ter posebnostim skupin v vrtcu. Zaradi pomembnega vpliva, ki ga imata tekmovanje in sodelovanje na otroka, pa velja izpostaviti vlogo strokovnih delavcev v vrtcu, ki seznanjajo otroke s tekmovanjem in sodelovanjem in predstavljajo zgled zanje. V diplomskem delu sem raziskala poglede vzgojiteljic in pomočnic vzgojiteljice na prisotnost tekmovanja in sodelovanja otrok v vrtcu, pogostost vključevanja teh dveh oblik dela v njihovo pedagoško delo ter na kakšen način ju spodbujajo. Zanimalo me je, s kom otroci v vrtcu najpogosteje sodelujejo in s kom tekmujejo. Raziskala sem tudi, v katerih situacijah strokovne delavke najpogosteje vključujejo tekmovanje in sodelovanje. Pri zbiranju podatkov sem kombinirala anketiranje strokovnih delavk in opazovanje vrtcu, in sicer v petih različnih vzgojnih skupinah. Rezultate, pridobljene z anketnim vprašalnikom, sem primerjala glede na delovno mesto. Ugotovila sem, da se strokovni delavci strinjajo s tem, da je sodelovanje pomembno, pri tem pa izpostavljajo tudi pomembnost vključevanja tekmovanja v predšolsko obdobje. Med vzgojiteljicami in pomočnicami vzgojiteljice v pogledih na tekmovanje in sodelovanje nisem našla statistično pomembnih razlik. Pomembno je, da strokovni delavci zmerno vključujejo tekmovanje in sodelovanje v svoje pedagoško delo, saj bodo le tako otroke pripravili na življenje v današnjem svetu, za katerega je potrebno imeti razvite tako spretnosti tekmovanja kot sodelovanja.Competition and collaboration are two inevitable factors of today’s life, which are also present in the lives of children. The modern society is often competitively oriented, which calls for some adjustments. Collaboration is seen as positive behavior that requires a systematical encouragement of children already in the preschool period. The beliefs and arguments concerning competition, which needs to be appropriately guided and adjusted to the individuals and the groups’ peculiarities in kindergarten, are less unified. Due to the important influence that competition and collaboration have on the child, it is worth pointing out the role of expert associates in kindergartens, who familiarize children with competition and collaboration and act as their role models. In my Bachelor’s thesis I investigated the kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ views on the presence of competition and collaboration of children in kindergartens, the frequency of incorporating these types of tasks in their pedagogical work and in what way they encourage them. I was interested in who the children collaborate with and against whom they compete. I also researched in which situations the kindergarten teachers most commonly include competition and collaboration. When collecting the data, I combined surveying of expert associates and observation of five different groups in the kindergarten. I compared the results obtained through the survey according to the work position of the interviewees. I came to the conclusion that the expert associates agree with the fact that collaboration between children is imperative, but also highlight the importance of including competition in the preschool period. Among kindergarten teachers and their assistants I could not find any statistically relevant differences. It is essential that expert associates include competition and collaboration in their pedagogical work, given that in this way they will prepare children for the life in the modern world, which requires us to develop competition skills as well as collaboration skills