ANALYSIS OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION DEPENDING ON A TEACHER’S GENDER

School is a place where it is not only teachers and pupils who interact, because interpersonal relationships also develop between teachers and parents, amongst teachers, amongst pupils and also between teachers and the school management. Yet it is true that the relationship between the teacher and the pupil is the most ex posed one (Bowman, 2005), constituting a basic ele ment of education (Brajša, 1995). Apart from the pro fessional relationship there is also a personal relationship between the two, and the emotional component is strongly attached to this rational core, thus contributing to a positive emotional climate which is necessary for spontaneous interaction. This interaction between the two consists of cooperation, mutual infl uence and one’s communication with the other, which sometimes leads to confl ict situations. Such disagreements have va rious roots ranging from discipline and assessment to the (in)appropriate delivery of learning materials, and can arise from intrapersonal or interpersonal confl icts with teachers and pupils alike, etc. All of the above also applies to the pedagogical process in physical education where the specifi c nature of work in certain situations intensifi es the occurrence of confl icts (Štihec, 1994; Štihec, Bežek, Videmšek, & Karpljuk, 2004). The complexness of the confl icts was described by Anderson, Foster Kuehn and McKinney (1996) in a joint defi nition. They believe that the key role is played by individuals with all their complexity – both conscious and subconscious – interacting with each other, yet pursuing diff erent mutually uncoordinated goals (Anderson, Fos ter Kuehn, & McKinney, 1996). Kržišnik (2004) reported something similar, defi ning confl ict as a situation ANALYSIS OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION DEPENDING ON A TEACHER’S GENDER


INTRODUCTION
School is a place where it is not only teachers and pupils who interact, because interpersonal relationships also develop between teachers and parents, amongst teachers, amongst pupils and also between teachers and the school management.Yet it is true that the relationship between the teacher and the pupil is the most ex posed one (Bowman, 2005), constituting a basic ele ment of education (Brajša, 1995).Apart from the pro fessional relationship there is also a personal relationship between the two, and the emotional component is strongly attached to this rational core, thus contributing to a positive emotional climate which is necessary for spontaneous interaction.This interaction between the two consists of cooperation, mutual infl uence and one's communication with the other, which sometimes leads to confl ict situations.Such disagreements have va rious roots ranging from discipline and assessment to the (in)appropriate delivery of learning materials, and can arise from intrapersonal or interpersonal confl icts with teachers and pupils alike, etc.All of the above also applies to the pedagogical process in physical education where the specifi c nature of work in certain situations intensifi es the occurrence of confl icts (Štihec, 1994;Štihec, Bežek, Videmšek, & Karpljuk, 2004).
The complexness of the confl icts was described by Anderson, Foster Kuehn and McKinney (1996) in a joint defi nition.They believe that the key role is played by individuals with all their complexity -both conscious and subconscious -interacting with each other, yet pursuing diff erent mutually uncoordinated goals (Anderson, Fos ter Kuehn, & McKinney, 1996).Kržišnik (2004) reported something similar, defi ning confl ict as a situation featuring two vital elements: a confl ict of interest and interdependence.The participants in a confl ict strive to take diff erent directions because of diff erent subjective interests and priorities (Gross & Guererro, 2000), yet they are bound by this interdependence which prevents them from taking their own paths since the choice made by one of them would limit the choice made by the ot her and vice versa (Kržišnik, 2004).Theory abounds with diff erent defi nitions of the notion of confl ict.Many other defi nitions exist, yet the common denominator of all of the abovementioned defi nitions off ered by different authors is that confl icts stem from the diff ering interests and goals of individuals or groups and from the hindered achievement of these goals.

Confl icts in physical education
Physical education in all kind of schools (451 primary, 158 secondary) in Slovenia is compulsory.Pupils in primary schools have three lessons per week, each lesson takes 45 minutes.Lessons are conducted by physical education teachers -they are specialists only in physical education (this one subject is studied for 5 years).Physical education in all schools is divided by pupils' gender.Male pupils have male teachers, female pupils have female teachers.Each physical education teacher has a group of a maximum of 20 pupils.
In the physical education process, the specific natu re of work in certain situations may intensify the occur rence of confl icts (Štihec, 1994;Štihec, Bežek, Vi demšek, & Karpljuk, 2004).While doing their work, in terms of what can lead to a confl ict situation, physical education teachers often have to cope with a lack of discipline, excessive boisterousness, failure to follow the instructions, unauthorised absences, pupils' lack of motivation, potentially dangerous situations/activities for pupils, etc.It is true that physical education classes are less formal than other subjects requiring someone to peacefully sit at a desk (Štihec, 1994), nevertheless, the greater freedom of movement during physical education classes should not be a reason for creating situations leading to confl icts.Due to the specifi city of this work (noise, pupils' distance, a dynamic pedagogical process, etc.) the causes of confl icts can also be related to the problem of communication in the physical education process.The problem of communication, both verbal and non-verbal, can arise on the side of the teacher or the pupil.Non-verbal communication is therefore even more important than during other classes which also play their part in the education process at school.The secret of successful interpersonal communication in phy sical education thus lies in achieving harmony between verbal and non-verbal messages.

Resolving confl ict situations
Researchers in diff erent academic areas have developed diff erent theories and approaches to handling confl icts (Tolar & Katz Jameson, 2006).Gordon (1981) advocates the confl ict resolution method where there is no loser and both sides strive to fi nd a solution which ensures that nobody ends up a loser.A modifi cation of Gordon's confl ict resolution method was developed by Robbins (1989).He distinguishes between four methods: the fi rst is based on "insisting on one's own opinion", the second is the adjustment method, the third con sists of a compromise, while the fourth is cooperation.Deutsch (1976) describes only two types of confl ict handling behaviour: cooperation and competition.Rus (1994) believes that confl icts can be resolved using confrontation, negotiation, mediation or arbitration.Glas ser (1994) states the methods of avoidance, adjustment, competition and cooperation.Horvat (1998) establishes that, despite the various names and diff erent numbers of confl ict resolution methods reported by various authors, these methods can be divided into two large groups: the fi rst group includes those working on the principle of power and bringing satisfaction only to one side, whereas the second group consists of methods satisfying and benefi ting all participants.
Teachers in schools resort to diff erent confl ict resolution methods (Bjekić & Zlatić, 2006;Mahon, 2009) and this has also been established for physical education teachers (Štihec, Bežek, Videmšek, & Karpljuk, 2004).It is the resolution strategy that is crucial since a confl ict can serve as a very eff ective educational element (Brajša, 1993).In his studies, Gordon (1992) fi nds that teachers in schools mainly take two approaches, with both being based on the "win or lose" principle.It is relatively rare for teachers to use one method only and they tend to use both of them, depending on the situation.However, this switching between methods only puzzles the pupils and they never know which restrictions apply on which day.This does not constitute a sincere democratic approach whereby the teacher truly considers and respects the pupil's needs (Bežek, 2000).However, to ensure effi cient confl ict resolution in physical education the tea cher must employ diff erent approaches.Which approach the teacher will use in a specifi c situation depends on them personally, their qualities and mood as well as on the pupils, the environment and the particular situation (Štihec, Videmšek, Karpljuk, Bežek, Šebjan, & Vrbnjak, 2007).
Robbins modifi es Gordon (1992) by defi ning four methods of confl ict handling.These methods are similar to those above, diff ering only in terms of an additional variant where both participants in the confl ict are satisfi ed even though the result is not ideal for either of them (Brajša, 1993).
In our study a survey was used to establish how the participating Slovenian physical education teachers react to specifi c hypothetical confl ict situations divided into several pedagogical situations.We were interested in how they resolve those confl icts which could result in pupils' injuries and are therefore dangerous, confl icts hindering or thwarting the conduct of the pedagogical process and confl icts arising from pupils' diff ering interests.The aim was to establish which confl ict resolution method is most frequently applied by Slovenian physical education teachers.We also asked them to evaluate themselves whether they are consistent in the way they resolve confl ict situations.We were also interested in whether there were any diff erences between male and female physical education teachers in terms of which confl ict resolution strategy they selected.

Participants
The survey included 158 physical education teachers (78 men and 80 women, aged 28-60 years) from 43 randomly selected primary schools in Slovenia.The teachers at selected schools volunteered to take part in the study and their participation was anonymous.The questionnaire was given to all participants (separately at each school) and collected after 45 minutes.Each questionnaire was checked to make sure that it was properly completed (all questions must have answers).The survey was conducted in April 2010.
All personal data were acquired in compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act (Offi cial Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no.59/1999).The sample was not representative and does not allow for generalisation of the results.

Instruments and procedure
The sample of variables in the non standardized ques tionnaire with 17 questions (Bežek, 2000;Štihec, Bežek, Videmšek, & Karpljuk, 2004) used for surveying physical education teachers was based on a thesis by Robbins (Brajša, 1993) who ranked possible confl ict resolution methods into four classes.1. Insisting on oneʼs own opinion -the teacher insists on enforcing their needs.They are convinced that their opinion is the only correct one and their solutions the only ones that are acceptable.2. Yielding -the teacher adjusts to the desires and needs of pupils and does not enforce their own desires.3. Compromise -this includes voting; this time this, the next time that; both the teacher and the pupil yield.4. Cooperation -involving an explanation of one's own opinion and listening to the other person's opinion; a mutual agreement which satisfi es everyone.
Possible responses to each question, refl ecting the selected approach to confl ict resolution, were as follows: insisting on one's own opinion, yielding, compromise, cooperation and consistency.In each question which illustrated a hypothetical confl ict situation, the teachers circled the approach (1, 2, 3 or 4) corresponding to their method of solving this type of confl ict in the physical education process.These hypothetical confl icts were divided into several sets of pedagogical situations such as, for example, confl icts which can cause injuries during the physical education process, confl icts which disturb the conduct of the pedagogical process, confl icts resulting from the diff ering interests of individual pupils etc.

Methods of processing the statistical data
The data were processed with the SPSS 18.0 statistical software package.The frequencies of responses were calculated.The F 2 test was applied at a 5% risk level (p ≤ 0.05) to verify whether there were any diff erences between the male and female physical education teachers in terms of selecting a confl ict resolution strategy.

RESULTS
To ensure the better transparency of results, individual questions in the questionnaire were combined in three thematically related sets covering: -physical education teachers' reaction to dangerous situations in the physical education process; -physical education teachers' reaction to situations disturbing the physical education process; -teacher's consistency in resolving individual confl ict situations.

Physical education teachers' reactions to dangerous situations in the physical education process
In situations which could be dangerous (TABLE 1) the teachers mainly resort to resolving confl icts using the "insisting on one's own opinion" approach.The pupils often overestimate their abilities and are driven by a desire to prove themselves.The feeling of danger is pushed aside.Teachers' judgment about this is more ra tional.Whether they will take the time to discuss this with their pupils or not is a matter of their judgment (depending on the seriousness of the situation, the pupil and other circumstances).
One of the principles of communication comfort (Brajša, 1993) is the right to be active and passive during a conversation.Everyone has the right to take part in or withdraw from a conversation.In relation to this, it is also worth mentioning the motivation to resolve a confl ict.Sometimes pupils do not want to resolve a confl ict together with the teacher at all.On the other hand, their behaviour puts them and other pupils in dan ger.The teacher who is responsible for safety in the gym is therefore forced to employ the "power" method.Gordon (1992) believes that, when a fast and decisive reaction is required or when a large group of people is involved, the "power" method (whereby the teacher insists on their own opinion) is the only effi cient one.However, the absence of confl ict behaviour as such does not mean that the confl ict has been successfully resolved.The undesired behaviour could be repeated.It is thus reasonable to consider cooperation with the pupil involved (Mahon, 2009), of course at a convenient time.

Physical education teachers' reactions to situations disturbing the physical education process
In situations disturbing the pedagogical process, consuming time and reducing the effi ciency of the class, the most frequently applied approaches include the teacher insisting on their own opinion, the teacher seeking to reach a compromise as well as to cooperate with the pu pil (TABLE 2).Male teachers are prone to the solution where they insist on their own opinion while female teachers most often choose a cooperation strategy.

Teachers' consistency in resolving individual confl ict situations
Some questions in the survey questionnaire enquired about how consistent teachers are in selecting a strategy to resolve individual confl ict situations.
The number of those teachers who use the same con fl ict resolution approach is slightly higher than the number of inconsistent teachers (TABLE 3).This is true for both male and female teachers.Female teachers are   slightly more consistent than male teachers.Other authors have reported similar results with a Slovenian sample of physical education teachers (Bežek, 2000;Štihec et al., 2007).This inconsistency mainly stems from the adjustment of the confl ict resolution approach to individual pupils and also from exceptional, unforeseeable causes beyond our infl uence.Every pupil is unique and the use of diff erent approaches with diff erent pupils can be justifi able in terms of a fast and eff ectively resolved confl ict (Weitzman & Weitzman, 2000).However, such decisions may give rise to new confl icts due to their lack of correctness towards other pupils.

Confl ict resolution methods in physical education depending on a teacher's gender
We also analysed the confl ict resolution methods em ployed depending on a teacher's gender.
Of 17 questions in total, fi ve revealed statistically sig nifi cant gender related diff erences (TABLE 4).Those diff erences occurred at: dangerous situations in the pedagogical process, in situations when pupils don't follow the instructions, in situations when pupils have diff erent interests, in situations where a pupil refused to perform a specifi c exercise and when a pupil disturbed the lesson with talking or inappropriate commentary.
Statistically significant differences between male and female physical education teachers were identifi ed in terms of resolving a potentially dangerous situation (TABLE 4).The decision to resolve confl icts using the strategy of "insisting on one's own opinion" is applied by nearly the same percentage of male physical education teachers (46.4%) as female ones (53.6%).The "compromise" strategy to resolve dangerous situations is mainly chosen by male teachers (85.7%); female teachers choose it less often (14.3%).In terms of the most frequently chosen strategy among the four mentioned above, it was established (TABLE 1) that in dangerous situations both male and female teachers apply the method of "insisting on their own opinion" (71.79% of male and 73.75% of female teachers).Given that both male and female teachers are aware of the potential con-sequences of pupils' dangerous activity during physical education classes, it is not surprising that this strategy is applied the most frequently.
As regards the hypothetical situation of "one group of pupils is interested in your proposal (e.g. the game featured in the programme), another wants something else and yet another wants something else again", the gen der related differences in terms of selecting the con fl ict resolution strategy stem from the use of the "insisting on one's own opinion" strategy which is typical of male teachers.Interestingly, no female physical education teacher chose this strategy.They more often decided on the "compromise" (53.6%) or "cooperation" (52.6%) strategies.Male teachers choose "compromise" in 46.4% and "cooperation" in 47.4% of cases.
As regards the hypothetical situation of "the pupil refuses to perform a specifi c exercise", the gender related diff erences in terms of selecting confl ict resolution strategies stem from the use of the "yielding" strategy which is, surprisingly, more frequently used by male physical education teachers.The female physical education teachers most often choose the "compromise" strategy.
Statistically signifi cant gender related diff erences in terms of selecting a confl ict resolution strategy were also identifi ed within the hypothetical situation of "the pupil talks and comments during the explanation", where male teachers decide to adopt the strategy of "insisting on one's own opinion" (62.5%), whereas their female counterparts prefer to use the "compromise" strategy (72.7%).

Confl ict resolution methods in physical education
Based on the responses to all questions and hypothetical situations in the questionnaire (dangerous and disturbing situations) the most frequently used confl ict resolution methods were analysed (TABLE 5).
TABLE 5 shows the frequency of approaches to resolving confl ict in physical education.Both male and female teachers most often use the authoritarian approach i.e. "the teacher insists on their opinion".Similar results have also been obtained by other Slovenian authors (Bežek, 2000).

TABLE 4
Confl ict resolution methods in physical education depending on a teacher's gender

Hypothetical situation X 2 df p
The pupil intentionally moves to a place where other pupils can bump into them (provokes a dangerous situation) 8.190 2 0.017 The pupil does not follow the instructions 8.022 2 0.018 One group of pupils is interested in your proposal (e.g. the game featuring in the programme), another wants something else and yet another wants something else again 8.653 2 0.013 The pupil refuses to perform a specifi c exercise 10.761 3 0.013 The pupil talks and comments during the explanation 14.109 3 0.003 Legend: X 2 = Chi 2 coeffi cient, Df = degree of freedom, P = statistical signifi cance When choosing the most appropriate confl ict resolution strategy, teachers should consider the fact that they can (must) exploit the confl ict as a possible educational infl uence on a pupil (Brajša, 1993;Longaretti & Wilson, 2006) and a motivational power for personal development (Kržišnik, 2004) of both the teacher and the pupil.The most effi cient are those solutions which are not de trimental to any party in the confl ict (Horvat, 1998;Tolar & Katz Jameson, 2006;Lee, 2008;Narimani et al., 2008).

DISCUSSION
Confl ict management requires the cooperation and coexistence of those who have found themselves in a con fl ict situation; therefore, it is necessary to know how to distinguish between dealing with a confl ict and managing a confl ict.Dealing with a confl ict namely sig nifi cantly aff ects its management (Brajša, 1993).If we learn how to successfully manage confl icts, we will have new opportunities for getting to know ourselves, other people and the world.The confl ict management process itself enables more intense cooperation and strengt hens relationships and at the same time brings with it new solutions, which are acceptable for all of the people involved.In the forefront of confl ict management are the so called cooperative styles, which are related to positive results, while non-cooperative styles aff ect the negative results of the confl ict, which has also been proven by numerous other studies (Bežek, 2000;Rahim, Magner, & Shapiro, 2000;Štihec et al., 2009).The before mentioned non-cooperative styles include avoiding and dominating.Confl ict resolution and the fi nal solution depend on whether the relationships between the teacher and their pupils are good or bad, democratic or authoritarian.A key element of confl ict resolution and consequences is the respective behaviour of the teacher and pupils in a given situation.
There are situations in physical education when pu-pilsʼ behaviour can put them and other pupils in danger.In such situations, the teacher who is responsible for safety in the gym is therefore forced to employ domination in solving the confl ict.Gordon (1992) believes that, when a fast and decisive reaction is required or when a large group of people is involved, the "power" method (whereby the teacher insists on their own opinion) is the only effi cient one.Our results confi rm this: in situations which could be dangerous the teachers mainly resort to resolving confl icts using the "insisting on one's own opinion" approach.There are no diff erences in between male and female teachers in such situations.Statistically signifi cant diff erences between male and female physical education teachers were found in their choosing other strategies than "insisting on one's own opinion".More male teachers have chosen the "compromise" strategy.It is possible that male physical education teachers are more inclined to compromise solutions for resolving dan gerous situations because they assess the same pedagogical situation diff erently (as being less dangerous) than their female counterparts.
In situations disturbing the pedagogical process the use of an authoritarian approach (whereby the teacher insists on their own opinion) probably saves time during a lesson, but the undesired behaviour may be repeated as the confl ict may not necessarily be resolved (Bežek, 2000;Štihec et al., 2007).The authoritarian approach may also be effi cient in such cases because, in principle, children are aware of the fact that their behaviour was unacceptable.The boisterous atmosphere and the nature of the physical education process characterised by a far more relaxed relationship between the teacher and the pupil can mislead pupils for a moment (Štihec, 1994).In such situations, a warning is enough to awaken the pupil and make them cooperate again.In this case, there is no deeper confl ict at all.If the confl ict lin gers or becomes serious, the more successful method is usually where the teacher cooperates with the pupil (Horvat, 1998;Narimani, Agamohammadian, & Ghaffari, 2008).This method saves more time in the long run.It also increases the probability that the confl ict will be resolved in a quality way and the educational aspects of the democratic approach will be exploited (Gordon, 1992;Brajša, 1993;Longaretti & Wilson, 2006).Our results showed that male teachers more often choose the domination strategy while female teachers choose the cooperation strategy when pupils disturbed lessons.Related to consistency/inconsistency in the method chosen, the following should be considered.None of the surveyed teachers uses just one confl ict resolution method.This does not translate into inconsistency since we anticipated that the choice of the approach also depends on the type of confl ict behaviour (dangerous situation, disturbing the pedagogical process, diff erent interests).Inconsistency in such a case is only involved when the teacher fails to take the same approach in similar situations.An example is when, in order to pre vent a confl ict behaviour, the teacher reacts in one way and the next time in a diff erent way, depending on their mood.Based on our results we can say that female teachers in our survey are slightly more consistent than male tea chers.Other authors have reported similar results with a Slovenian sample of physical education teachers (Bežek, 2000;Štihec et al., 2007).
Based on our results we can say that there are different pedagogical situations where statistically significant gender related diff erences in choosing a confl ict resolution strategy have been found.Other authors have reported diff erences in choosing confl ict resolutions as well.The chosen strategy can (as in our case) stem from gender (Havenga, 2008), the cultural environment (Hammer, 2005) or the teacher's target orientation (Somech, 2008).They are conditioned by our experience, emotional intelligence (Kajtna, 2006), leadership styles (Zabukovec & Boben, 2000), etc.

CONCLUSIONS
The study aimed to establish which approaches to confl ict resolution are used by physical education teachers in primary schools.
The results show that effi cient confl ict resolution in physical education requires the teacher to employ different approaches.The teachers mainly approach the resolving of confl ict situations by "insisting on their own opinion".In the course of resolving a confl ict, inconsistencies often occur but are mainly the consequence of the desire to ensure an effi cient and the fastest possible elimination of the confl ict behaviour.
It was also established that in some cases the male physical education teachers diff ered from their female counterparts in terms of which confl ict resolution strategies they selected.People are diff erent and react differently in various situations.
The teacher as an expert in the educational process can play a model role in a specifi c confl ict.The teacher uses the situation as a useful educational means and affects the pupil with quality behaviour.This way pupils face and learn how to manage problems and confl icts and through them prepare themselves for future life, in which they will defi nitely encounter them.Of course, we should not forget that teachers are only human beings and that even they sometimes face a certain confl ict si tuation for the fi rst time, for which they cannot fi nd a constructive and suitable manner of management at that very moment.
There are many factors involved in confl ict resolution.In further research, some other factors, such as a teacher's age, cultural environment, a teacher's target orientation, a teacher's emotional intelligence, and leadership styles should be analysed.

TABLE 1
Confl ict resolution in dangerous situations

reaction to dangerous situations Number of responses % of responses Number of responses % of responses The teacher insists on his/her own opinion
Legend: Number of male teachers -78, Number of female teachers -80, Number of analysed questions in this category -4

TABLE 2
Confl ict resolution in situations disturbing the pedagogical process

TABLE 3
Teachers' consistency in using confl ict resolution methods Legend: Number of male teachers -78, Number of female teachers -80, Number of analysed questions in this category -5

TABLE 5
Frequency of selecting individual confl ict resolution styles