Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.15516/cje.v18i3.1608
Pupils' Initiative in the Classroom
Anđelka Peko
; Faculty of Education, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek
Rahaela Varga
; Faculty of Education, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek
Abstract
The paper explores pupils' initiative as a segment of entrepreneurship that needs to be enhanced through classroom activities. The national curriculum has been promoting pupils' entrepreneurial competence in education for years and the authors were intrigued to find out whether the contemporary teaching supports its development. More precisely, it was investigated what aspects of pupils' initiative pupils themselves perceive to be most frequently stimulated with the learning activities that take place in the classroom. In addition, individual differences based on pupils' age and gender were looked into. The participants were primary school pupils in the fourth and eighth grades from four Croatian towns. The results suggest that pupils (regardless of their gender or age) perceive mutual assistance as the most frequent activity that enables them to express their initiative during regular classroom activities. The differences between boys and girls when it comes to the perception of classroom activities were not detected. This is not the case with age difference. Similar to previous research, it was found that younger pupils perceive themselves as taking initiative in the classroom more frequently than older pupils. The necessity of continuous professional development of teachers is implied, so that they could become more competent to support pupils' initiative through their teaching.
Keywords
competence; entrepreneurship; initiative; pupil; teaching
Hrčak ID:
167966
URI
Publication date:
28.9.2016.
Visits: 1.773 *