Peer bullying is a phenomenon present in all schools. The school as an institution has a major role in limiting peer bullying. The primary goal of the study was to determine how different groups of students perceived school climate in relation to peer bullying regarding their role in peer bullying (active participants: bullies, victims, bully-victims and non-active participants: observers). 414 students (from 18 primary and secondary schools) responded to The School Climate Bullying Survey (SCBS; Cornell, 2012), which measures the incidence of various forms of peer bullying and three dimensions of school climate (prevalence of teasing and bullying, aggressive attitudes, and willingness to seek help). The results showed that the active participants in peer bullying report a frequent presence of verbal and social bullying (54% and 40%, respectively) and a significantly lower frequency of physical and cyber bullying (14%). The largest differences between the groups of students were found in their perceptions of the prevalence of aggressive attitudes and willingness to seek help in a school context. In the perceptions of both of these dimensions we found a high degree of similarity between the groups of bullies and victim-bullies, and between the groups of victims and observers. The first two groups, when compared to the victims and observers, perceived to a greater extent that school allows aggression as a way of affirmation among peers and in school in general, and that neither teachers nor peers do not stop the bullying, which discourages the victims from seeking help from them. The results confirmed the existence of the association between students' perceived school climate by bullying and their behavior (roles) in peer bullying.Keywords: peer bullying, perceived school climate, bullies, victims, observers Šolska klima pri medvrstniškem nasilju: zaznave opazovalcev in aktivnih udeležencevSonja Pečjak * in Tina Pirc Oddelek za psihologijo, Filozofska fakulteta, Univerza v Ljubljani Povzetek: Medvrstniško nasilje (MVN) je pojav, prisoten v vseh šolah. Pri omejevanju MVN ima šola kot institucija pomembno vlogo. Glavni cilj naše študije je bil ugotoviti, kako posamezne skupine učencev glede na vlogo v MVN (aktivni udeleženci: nasilneži, žrtve, žrtve-nasilneži in neaktivni udeleženci: opazovalci) zaznavajo šolsko klimo v povezavi z medvrstniškim nasiljem. V raziskavi je sodelovalo 414 učencev iz 18 osnovnih in srednjih šol. Uporabili smo Vprašalnik šolske klime pri medvstniškem nasilju (SCBS, Cornell, 2012), ki meri pojavnost različnih oblik MVN ter tri dimenzije šolske klime (dopuščanje nasilja, dopuščanje agresivnih stališč in spodbujanje iskanja pomoči). Rezultati so pokazali, da aktivni udeleženci MVN poročajo o pogostejši prisotnosti verbalnega in odnosnega nasilja (v 54 in 40 %) ter o pomembno manjši pogostosti pojavljanja fizičnega in spletnega nasilja (14 %). V zaznavah dimenzij šolske klime smo med skupinami učencev našli največje razlike pri dopuščanju agresivnih stališč učencev in iskanju pomoči...

Research shows that school climate has an important effect on the prevalence of peer bullying. Therefore, the aims of our study were to determine: 1) if there are differences in the perceptions of bullying-related school climate by victims, bullies, non-victims and non-bullies, and 2) which sociodemographic and school climate factors predict the roles of chronic victims and bullies. The results suggest that there are more victims in younger students and more bullies among boys. We also found significant differences in perceptions of school climate by victims and bullies and were able to predict a small/moderate amount of variance in the roles of chronic victims/bullies by sociodemographic and school climate variables. Implications of the study findings are also discussed.

The aim of our study was to determine whether summarizing skills could be developed in 4th grade primary school students. We designed a 5-month intervention programme as an experimental study, in which teachers trained students in the experimental group in their ability to summarize, which is one of the important strategies that enhance reading comprehension. 190 students in 4th grade from 8 primary schools in Slovenia participated in the study. We evaluated students' general reading competency, their metacognitive knowledge about reading and their ability to make summaries of two short and one longer expository text (pretest, posttest and follow-up test). The general reading competency explained the most variance in summarizing at pretest and posttest by experimental and control group of students. In the follow-up test, the summarizing from posttest was the strongest predictor in both groups and in the experimental group also the metacognitive knowledge about reading. The results showed that teachers can develop summarizing skills in students by systematically training them to use these skills, but the training effects decrease if the learning environment does not encourage students to use these skills.

Research shows that teachers' perceptions of peer bullying (PB) are an important predictor of their intervention. Th erefore, the aims of the study were to fi nd out i) how serious pre-service teachers and teachers fi nd diff erent types of PB, ii) how empathic to the victims and willing to intervene they are, iii) what predicts interventions in both groups and iv) what forms of intervention pre-service teachers and teachers would use regarding victims and perpetrators. Results suggest that teachers perceive all types of PB as more severe than pre-service teachers and are more willing to intervene earlier, but pre-service teachers show more empathy for the victims. Th e strongest predictor of intervention in both groups is beliefs about the severity of bullying, but their forms of intervention diff er signifi cantly. Implications of the study fi ndings are also discussed.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, distance learning and social isolation have dramatically changed the social and learning experiences of adolescents. Given that social isolation can adversely affect students' psychosocial well-being, our study examined the extent to which ICT competences, resilience, and individual types of contact with teachers and classmates contribute to the psychosocial well-being of lower secondary school students (N = 1,813) over an extended period of distance learning. The questionnaires were conducted in groups via videoconferences using the 1ka application. The structural model showed that perceived proximity and support from teachers and classmates as indicators of psychosocial well-being were most strongly predicted by student resilience, teacher organization of group work, student contact with class teachers outside of regular school hours, and contact with classmates through online social networks. These findings have practical applications for teacher education and implementation in teacher practice.

The aim of the study was to examine and to compare the relationships of different personality traits, subject-specific motivational dimensions and students' achievement in math and mother tongue in general upper secondary education, as well as how these variables predict their achievement. A total of 397 students attending the first year of general upper secondary education in Slovenia participated in the study. Different measures were used to assess students' personality traits, subject-specific interest, self-efficacy, volitional strategies and final grades in math and mother tongue. The results of the research showed different patterns of achievement predictors in both subjects and differences in the predictive power of included variables according to subjects. The included variables predicted 18% of variance in the Slovene language and 31% of variance in math. In both subjects, achievement was significantly positively predicted by self-efficacy and interest, and significantly negatively predicted by energy and procrastination. In math, agreeableness was also found as a significant negative predictor, and in Slovene language conscientiousness and immediate action were found as positive predictors of students' achievement. Implications of the study's findings are also discussed.

The importance of self-regulated learning (SRL) has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and measures for assessing students’ self-regulation skills and knowledge are greatly needed. We present the results of the first thorough adaptation of the Children’s Perceived use of Self-Regulated Learning Inventory (CP-SRLI). The inventory, consisting of 15 scales measuring nine components of SRL, was administered to a sample of 541 Slovenian ninth graders. Confirmatory factor analyses supported internal structure validity of most components, but two components required some structural modifications. Internal consistency coefficients were acceptable for the majority of scale scores and were highly comparable to the original ones. While metric invariance across gender was confirmed, the scalar invariance of some scales needs further examination. Meaningful correlations with relevant externally assessed and self-reported self-regulation and school performance variables indicated good criterion validity of the inventory. The Slovenian version of the CP-SRLI thus proved to be a sufficiently valid and reliable instrument for assessing pupils’ learning self-regulation.

The study aimed to examine whether students' different career decision styles predict their difficulties in deciding about their future education. We measured students' adaptive self-confident and three maladaptive decision-making styles: avoidant, panic, and impulsive, and examined how these styles are related to students' difficulties in career decision-making: internal and external conflicts, lack of information, and dysfunctional beliefs. Our sample comprised 792 final-year students from 26 Slovenian secondary schools. We used the Career Decision Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ) and Adolescent Decision Making Questionnaire (ADMQ), which we adapted to the Slovenian language. The results showed that boys use self-confident and impulsive decision-making styles more often and panic decision-making style less often than girls do. Boys reported less internal conflicts, lack of information and dysfunctional beliefs. Among CDDQ scales, we found a strong correlation between Internal Conflicts and Lack of Information scale scores and moderate correlations of these two scales with External Conflicts. Correlations between ADMQ scales were low to moderate: Self-Confident Style scale score correlated negatively with scores on scales of all three maladaptive styles. The Lack of Information score was best predicted by the Panic Decision-Making Style score, the External Conflicts score by the Panic and Impulsive Decision-Making Style scores, and the strongest predictors of Dysfunctional Beliefs score was the Panic Decision-Making Style score. Having more pronounced panic style and being a girl turned out to be related to more difficulties in all domains of career decision-making. Some practical career counselling implications of these findings are discussed.