Assertiveness of teacher with regard to preventing aggressive behaviour in elementary school students

Abstract

Numerous challenges that teachers face in contemporary society are the result of their efforts to help their students deal with the curriculum. For that reason, teachers focus their professional training on methodological competences and selection of adequate teaching strategies, thus rendering moral education less important. With regard to this, pedagogy raises numerous issues concerning prevention of violence, aggression, and conflicts. In this paper, the authors discuss different possibilities of a teacher’s response to aggressive behaviour of a student. They can either choose to retreat when faced with it, that is, not to notice it on the whole, or to be aggressive themselves, or take an assertive stance. In addition, the authors look more closely on the notions of aggression and assertion, and point to the downsides of the former, as well as to potential issues and difficulties in moral education. In addition, they emphasise the role of the family and their daily routines and duties and the impact of media and society on a student’s behaviour. In the end, the authors point to the possibilities and necessity of organising assertive trainings within the context of developing this sort of behaviour in class.