Kosovo laborer children: their affective and cognitive traits vs. Academic performance

Abstract

Socio-economic problems in Kosova inevitably influence the education system. Thestudy investigates child labor (cl) phenomena, which is known as a poverty consequence.It mainly aimed to find how labor factor affects affective-cognitive traits and academic performance of children. Two groups of school children were compared, laborer and nonlaborer children. A range of tools were applied to properly investigate their socio-economic status (both groups live in poverty), emotional disturbances, school performance, social support and the level of some cognitive traits such as self-evaluation, self-esteem etc.The research results show that affective and cognitive traits of laborer children are being negatively affected by their experiences when compared to the children who do notwork but live in poverty. The study didn't show any difference in academic performancebetween the two groups, but there is enough evidence within the study which brings to aconclusion that the laborer children are being positively discriminated within the school system. The study investigates child labor phenomena though a psycho-social perspective and it came with a range of recommendations that were being piloted through a direct intervention project which resulted to be helpful for children and school curricula ingeneral.