Eric Bern's states of "I" and the att itude of teachers towards pupils

Abstract

Purpose of research. The purpose of this article is to present and analyze author’s own research on the status of Self in teachers working in kindergartens, primary, middle and high schools. Ego states presented by teachers have a big impact on their actions and how they communicate.
Research method. The group of respondents consisted of 397 teachers: 112 pedagogue pre-school, 98 teaching in primary schools, 94 middle school teachers and 102who work in high school. The study is based on the concept of transactional analysis by Eric Berne, which distinguishes three states of Self - Adult, Child and Parent and two subtypes for the state Parent - Nurturing Parent, Critical Parent and for Children
- Free Child and Adaptive Child. One has to keep in mind that each posture has both wanted and unwanted features. The questionnaire used in the research is used to examine the state of Ego, according to the theory of transactional analysis.

Results. It turns out that the state of Ego presented by teachers depends, to some extent, on a type of educational institutions in which they work. Most of the teachers working in kindergarten s assume the state of Parent, and those working in primary schools – of an Adult. In higher levels of education the situation changes. In both middle and high schools most of the teachers identifi ed with the att itude of the Child.
Research also show the distribution of results for the subtypes of the state of Ego Parent (Critical Parent and Nurturing Parent) and Child (Free Child and Adaptive Child).
Conclusions. Depending on the various levels of education, teachers represent diff erent states of ego. They have a great infl uence on the communication between the three main actors involved in education, namely students, parents and educators. They influence not only measurable students’ achievements but also development of their self-esteem and self-confidence.