Formation of constructive strategies of behaviour of primary school pupils in conflict with their peers

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of primary schoolchildren’s conflict behaviour. The necessity of forming constructive strategies of children's behaviour in conflict through the implementation of the developed programme is shown. The results of ascertaining experiment conducted on a sample of 60 fourth-formers using the following diagnostic tools are presented – the method of Kenneth W. Thomas & Ralph H. Kilmann’s Conflict Mode Instrument (in the adaptation of Natal’ya Grishina), expert assessment of the behaviour of schoolchildren in a conflict situation by pedagogues and parents, a questionnaire for teachers ‟Signs of conflict” by Yelena Lyutova & Galina Monina). The analysis of the data showed that the majority of primary schoolchildren choose non-constructive behavioural strategies (adaptation, competition, avoidance), and also have an increased level of conflict, which indicated the feasibility of developing and implementing a programme for the formation of constructive behavioural strategies of pupils. 15 group sessions were conducted in the form of training using role-playing games, psychohymnastic exercises, mini-lectures, discussions, and situation analysis. The control experiment, as well as the use of mathematical statistics methods, showed the effectiveness of the work done – the presence of changes in the strategies of behaviour in conflict, in particular, pupils more often choose constructive strategies (cooperation and compromise) and less often destructive ones (rivalry and withdrawal), there was a decrease in the level of conflict.