THE IMPACT OF RECESS BREAKS IN THE LEARNING PROCESS ON PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ CONCENTRATION SKILLS

Abstract

Nowadays one of the major problems in education is the lack of a specific strategy for the implementation of breaks (recess policy) in an educational institution. The development of such a strategy in the majority of cases is different for every school, as evaluating several factors is required, e.g., the age of students, interests, learning needs and progress, the location and specialization of the school, etc. However, students` awareness of the necessity for individual recess strategy gains importance as well. The research aim is to investigate and clarify the possibilities and necessity of recess breaks in primary school. There are theoretical research methods and empirical research methods (students’, teachers’ and parents’ surveys), data processing and analysis methods (quantitative, graphical representation of data, data analysis using IBM SPSS v.22 predictive analytics and statistical analysis software package) used in the research. The analysis of students’ survey emphasized that students more often prefer listening to music or socializing during breaks. While parents’ questionnaire highlighted the necessity for their offsprings to spend more time outside in fresh air. They mean it would help their children to better concentrate in lessons. While teachers` survey analysis revealed that students concentration is better if students are more interested in a particular subject.