THE ROLE OF PUNISHMENT AND REWARD IN PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN

Pri pisanju diplomskega dela sem želela ugotoviti, kakšno je razmerje med kaznovanjem in nagrajevanjem otrok s strani vzgojiteljev/ic in pomočnikov/ic v predšolskem obdobju, katere strategije nagrajevanja in kaznovanja se v vrtcu poslužujejo in ali prihaja do razlik pri pogostosti uporabe strategij kaznovanja in nagrajevanje med prvim starostnim obdobjem (1–3) in drugim starostnim obdobjem (3–6). Diplomsko delo je sestavljeno iz teoretičnega dela, kjer sta podrobneje opredeljena kaznovanje in nagrajevanje ter iz empiričnega dela, kjer so predstavljeni rezultati, pridobljeni s pomočjo anketnih vprašalnikov. V teoretičnem delu je zapisano, kdaj je nagrajevanje/kaznovanje smiselno, kakšne vrste nagrajevanja/kaznovanja poznamo, kako nagrajevati oz. kaznovati, kdaj je lahko nagrajevanje škodljivo in kaj lahko storimo namesto posluževanja strategij kaznovanja. V empiričnem delu sem predstavila rezultate, ki sem jih pridobila z anketnim vprašalnikom, razdeljenim med 100 vzgojiteljev/ic in pomočnikov/ic v iz celjskih in šentjurskih vrtcev. Rezultati so potrdili moja predvidevanja, ki sem jih izrazila v vnaprej zapisanih hipotezah. Nagrajevanja se pri procesu dela v skupini poslužujejo pogosteje kot kaznovanja, pri kaznovanju in nagrajevanju ni razlik med spoloma. Na podlagi rezultatov lahko rečem tudi, da pri pogostosti uporabe strategij nagrajevanja in kaznovanja med prvim starostnim obdobjem (1–3) in drugim starostnim obdobjem (3–6) ni večjih razlik.My thesis is aimed at stating the ratio between rewarding and punishing children by childcare workers and their assistants in the preschool period, what rewarding and punishment strategies are used in the kindergarten and if these strategies are differently often used in the first age bracket (1 to 3 years) and the second age bracket (3 to 6 years). As a matter of fact my thesis comprises the theoretical part dealing with rewarding and punishment in detail and the empirical part consisting of the results gained with the help of questionnaires. The theoretical part contains the information when rewarding and punishment make sense, what types of rewarding and punishment we know, how to reward and punish and also when rewarding is harmful and what to do instead of using the punishment strategies. Furthermore, the empirical part contains the survey results carried out among 100 childcare workers and their assistants in the Celje and Šentjur kindergartens. The results, however, confirmed my forecast being written down in my hypotheses in advance. I came to the conclusion that rewarding is more often used in the process of group work than punishment. Furthermore, there are no differences in gender and the frequency of the rewarding or punishing usage in the first age bracket (1 to 3 years) and the second age bracket (3 to 6 years)