Third category: Relationships

Primary school is the first time when the child gets to interact with a large number of peers, and the social contacts created at that time determines who we become. Studies have shown that social problems in relationships have an impact on student’s well-being and success in school. One of the major things that affect in children’s well-being at school is peer relationships. (Cowie, 2009.) Because the group in school is quite a sustainable one, especially the experiences experienced at this time have an impact on a child’s later development. Sometimes a positive atmosphere isn’t a given, so the teacher has to encourage children towards positive experiences in the peer group. (Salmivalli, 2006.)

Undoubtedly, teachers make a great impact in our lives – we spend many hours of our day at school, and the teacher is the adult who we have the contact with and who takes care of us. While remembering our schooling memories when it comes to teachers, we all felt lucky that we have had teachers who have been caring for our needs and who have listened to us. In primary school, we could tell our worries to our teachers and he/she would help to solve them. This wasn’t the case in secondary school anymore, though. Some of us didn’t have a specific class monitor, with whom we would spend the most time – the teacher would always change within subjects. 

When talking about the relationship between the students, we could say that most of us were in good relations with our classmates. Of course, there are always persons who we don’t like that much or get along very well, but it seems like in primary school basically, everybody was friends with everybody. One of our group members, though, was bullied during her journey to school – other students would pull her hair or laugh at her. What comes to the relationship between us and the other classes, most of us felt like we were “enemies” with the other classes – we would always compete with them – for example in football. 

Resources:

- Cowie, H. (2009). Peer Support Challenges School Bullying. In Carmel, C. & Cooper, P. (ed.) Promoting Emotional Education. Engaging Children and Young People with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. Support for Learning. Vol. 25 Issue 3. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, pp. 153-154

- Salmivalli, C. (2006). Vertaissuhteet ja lapsen sosioemotionaalinen kehitys. Julkaisussa Rajala, R. (toim.) Lapsen parhaaksi – tukea ja laatua aamu- ja iltapäivätoimintaan. Opetushallitus, pp. 40-42