The main goal of this research was to identify and understand the effects of play therapy on the prevention of behavioural disorders of younger school-aged children. A semi-structured interview was used as the data collection method with 17 open-ended questions. The study participants were seven parents whose children were involved in play therapy treatment for at least 3 months. It has been shown that play therapy is an effective medium in empathy development, more successful emotion management, encouragement of non-violent communication and reduction in aggressive behaviour. It can be concluded that the effectiveness of play therapy in the prevention of behavioural disorders significantly depends on the involvement of parents in treatment and the relationship between a therapist and a child. This research certainly serves as a basis for further research that will recognise the importance of therapeutic play in solving emotional and/or behavioural difficulties of children and youth.   Keywords: Behavioural disorders, child, play therapy, prevention.

COVID-19 virus, still relatively unknown to the general public, has taken over the world. The period of the coronavirus epidemic has affected all segments of life, including the education system. The traditional way of teaching (face to face) has been replaced by online teaching and a virtual environment through the mediation of information and communication technologies. The aim of this research is to gain insight into parents ’perceptions of teacher-student communication during online teaching in the time of corona crisis. Fifteen parents of lower primary school students participated in the research. A semi-structured interview was used for data collection purposes. Participants’ statements indicate that during online teaching students most often communicated with their teachers via e-mail, WhatsApp, Zoom, Google Classroom, and Teams. As one of the biggest advantages of communication during online teaching, participants stated the improvement of their children's digital competencies and introduction to various communication tools, while they said that the biggest disadvantage were technical difficulties. In order to improve communication between teachers and students during online classes, participants suggested that teachers use videoconferencing more often in their teaching and organize various discussions in virtual classrooms and online forums.

Communication is the process of exchanging information, thoughts, ideas, feelings among people by applying verbal and nonverbal messages. The educational outcomes of modern teaching are achieved through communication between those who participate in the educational process. A prerequisite for achieving the goals of the teaching process is quality and two-way communication based on active listening. Active listening is the ability to accurately and precisely perceive what the other person (interlocutor) is experiencing and to offer feedback on what one has noticed, perceived. Encouraging and developing a culture of active listening is especially important in school because it influences the creation of a positive and motivating classroom atmosphere, the development of social competencies, the building of quality relationships and the promotion of understanding. The aim of this research is to establish the extent to which teachers actively listen to students during regular classes and extracurricular activities. A total of 171 students from 2nd to 4th grades of primary school (83 students and 88 girls) participated in the research. The results of the research indicate that students perceive that teachers listen to them extremely actively, as teachers greatly contribute to the development of students' communication skills.

Biti učitelj u suvremenom društvu postaje sve izazovnije. Društvena očekivanja od učitelja konstantno rastu. Učitelji zato teže unaprjeđivanju vlastitih osobina i kompetencija. Pri tome je važno znati koje osobine ličnosti i kompetencije društvo očekuje od dobrog učitelja. Vođeni time, cilj ovog rada je cjelovito prikazati dobrog učitelja, uzimajući u obzir njegove poželjne osobine ličnosti, profesionalne kompetencije i percepciju dionika odgojno-obrazovnog procesa. Rezultati pregleda relevantne literature i dosadašnjih istraživanja ukazuju da je dobar učitelj spoj osobina ličnosti poput humanosti, mudrosti, razboritosti, upornosti i dr. te kompetencija poput ostvarivanja pozitivnih odnosa s učenicima, uspješnog upravljanja razredom, prepoznavanja važnosti motivacije i dr. Konačno, dobar je učitelj sinergija poželjnih osobina ličnosti i težnje permanentnog profesionalnog rasta. Stoga ovo istraživanje može doprinijeti praksi pri kreiranju stručnih usavršavanja i izobrazbi učitelja.

Evaluation of what has been learned, assessment, is one of the fundamental components of modern teaching. The way, the atmosphere and the moment in which the grade is assigned, can significantly affect the overall outcome of the learning process. Assessment due to its didactic, methodological and psychological significance affects all stakeholders in the educational system. As one of the primary determinants of assessment is its motivational function, the aim of this research is to determine and present the relationship between the evaluation of what has been learned (assessment) and motivation for the learning process, based on scientific literature and empirical research. Theoretical starting points and empirical research have shown that assessment significantly affects student motivation and as such manages and determines the entire learning process and outcome. The findings of this paper will contribute to practitioners in the field of education by pointing out the limitations of the existing system of evaluation of student achievement. From the scientific aspect, this paper will point to the docimological factors that determine the choice of models and criteria for school assessment and their influence in the form of a motivating factor in the learning process.

The theoretical framework of this paper presents the characteristics and specifics of extracurricular activities with the previous terminological definition of the National Curriculum Framework, school curriculum, and an overview of the educational activities of gender-differentiated schools in Croatia. The aim of the research was to study the school curriculum documentation of Ružičnjak Primary School and Lotrščak Primary School for the school year 2020/2021 and to find out about the extracurricular activities in different educational areas of their curriculum. Extracurricular activities of gender-differentiated schools intended for 1st - 8th-grade students were analyzed in the paper. The results show that the most represented educational area in both schools regarding the number of extracurricular activities is the area of art. The results of Ružičnjak school curriculum analysis indicate that the area of art is followed by social and humanities, technical, language-communication, and physical and health education areas. On the other hand, Lotrščak school curriculum analysis shows that the artistic activities are followed by the extracurricular activities in physical and health, language-communication, natural sciences, technical and informatics areas. Among the offered extracurricular activities in Ružičnjak Primary Schools, there is no single extracurricular activity within the mathematical and natural sciences areas, while Lotrščak Primary School does not plan any extracurricular activities within the mathematical educational area.

The traditional school system has not met the needs of students for many years. Parents, in order to allow their children to move away from the rigid class-subject-hour system, established schools. The founders of alternative schools can be citizens, parents and teachers, religious communities as well as other legal entities. These are the so-called free schools, civic educational initiatives, reform pedagogical attempts, educational boarding schools, etc. The aim of this paper is to present the pedagogical concepts and ideas of schools in the Republic of Croatia whose founders are parents. The paper presents the basic pedagogical principles and aspects of teaching Waldorf and Montessori pedagogy based on educational pluralism, a brief overview of partnership between parents and schools in Croatia and the educational model of primary Catholic schools “Ružičnjak” and “Lotrščak”. The observed schools are located in Zagreb and have only one goal - to adapt the school to the child. An effort is made to provide each student with an individual approach. The starting points are the child’s needs and interests. These are the schools where students have freedom of choice. The goal of ing and education is the holistic development of the child. The emphasis is on active learning methods and abandoning didactic scenarios in which the child is only a passive observer. Keywords: alternative schools; catholic schools; educational pluralism; partnership; parents

Being a teacher in contemporary society is becoming more and more challenging. Social expectations of teachers are constantly growing. Therefore, teachers strive to improve their characteristics and competencies. In that respect, it is important to know which personality traits and competencies society expects from a good teacher. Guided by that, this paper aims to comprehensively present a good teacher, considering his or her desirable personality traits, professional competencies and perceptions of participants in the educational process. The results of the review of relevant literature and previous research indicate that a good teacher shows a combination of personality traits such as humanity, wisdom, prudence, perseverance, etc. and competencies such as achieving positive relationships with students, successful classroom management, recognizing the importance of motivation and others.Finally, a good teacher is a combination of desirable personality traits and permanent professional growth. Therefore, this research can contribute to the practice of creating professional development and teacher education programs.