BACKGROUND:Although many studies about confl ict handling and resolution have so far been conducted, only a limited number of them have delved into the sphere of physical education. The specifi c nature of work with physical education in certain situations intensifi es the occurrence of confl icts. The teacher as an expert in the educational process can, in such cases, provide a good example of how to handle a specifi c confl ict. OBJECTIVE:The study aimed to gather information about diff erences in the resolving of confl ict situations which arise during the physical education process between male and female physical education teachers in terms of which confl ict resolution strategy they selected and how consistently they applied them.METHODS: For this purpose 158 physical education teachers from randomly selected Slovenian primary schools were surveyed (78 men and 80 women, aged 28-60 years) in April 2010. Teachers at selected schools volunteered to take part in the study and their participation was anonymous. A questionnaire (Bežek, 2000;Štihec, Bežek, Videmšek, & Karpljuk, 2004) with 17 questions was used. 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 male and female physical education teachers in terms of selecting a confl ict resolution strategy.RESULTS: It was established that teachers use various approaches to resolving confl ict situations. Most often they take an authoritarian approach ("insisting on one's own opinion"). Statistically signifi cant diff erences were identifi ed between the results of the male and female physical education teachers in some pedagogical situations in terms of choosing a confl ict resolution strategy. CONCLUSIONS: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. In further research some other factors, such as the teacher's age, cultural environment, the teacher's target orientation, the teacher's emotional intelligence and leadership styles could be analysed.

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