Social skills and academic achievement: secondary teacher expectations

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Understanding which Social Skills are considered very important by Secondary Education Teachers for the academic achievement of their students for the would provide proposals for effective actions to improve the responsiveness of the student to specific demands from educational contexts, decreasing their vulnerability in case they had to face with risky situations. In a sample of 198 teachers belonging from public, private and charter schools, Social Skills, which were considered as critical by the Social Skills Improvement System –Rating Scales (SSIS-RS) has been analyzed by performing statistical analysis as Test of Chi-Square, Medium, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney, as well as the significance of the relationship between teacher characteristics and those Social Skills. It is confirmed that in Secondary Education there is not any Social Skill which is considered as “not important” for academic achievement by teachers. Every Skill is significantly critical, resulting from the most to the least important, Cooperation, Responsibility, Engagement, Assertion, Communication, Self-Control and Empathy. Regarding other studies, it highlights to be higher estimated Assertion than Self-Control, probably for cultural reasons. And very low differences in Social Skills according with the teacher´s educational stage (E.S.O., Bachillerato, Formación Profesional) and years of teaching experience. There are some differences in accordance with their gender –female teachers give more value to Communication, Assertion, Self-Control and Engagement-. Implications, limitations of the study and future researches are discussed.