Social competences in pre-service education: what do future secondary teachers think?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Coexistence, participation and collaborative culture are part of the social competence of teachers and are values that cannot be renounced in the educational contexts of today and tomorrow. Teacher education must therefore become an ideal space for developing these competences in future teachers. This study aims to investigate the importance that future secondary teachers give to social competences and analyse whether there are significant differences between students and graduates in initial teacher education. The methodology used is based on a quantitative analysis, in particular a survey study, with a sample of 233 participants. Main findings indicate that pre-service teachers give high importance to social competences. There are significant differences between the two groups: graduates value these competences more than students (in particular, a collaborative attitude, teamwork and the centre’s relationship with its community). These data show the importance of the master’s degree and the need to continue developing these competences both in this brief period and along the career continuum.