Teachers’ personality traits and students’ motivation: study of social outcomes in Serbia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The subject matter of the research was to determine whether Serbian teachers encouraged the development of social competences in their students adequately and sufficiently as regards social outcomes. The hypotheses postulated were the following: ethics, empathy and loyalty are expected to be desirable character traits of importance in the development of students’ social competences; teachers are expected to develop prosocial behaviour and communication skills among their students; teachers are expected to initiate and stimulate team work with the purpose of developing prosocial behaviour among their students; teachers are expected to initiate discussions and debates with the purpose of developing their students’ communication skills; teachers are expected to be exemplary models in developing altruism and empathy among their students. The sample was comprised of 555 primary and secondary school teachers in Serbia. The results showed that: Ethics, empathy and loyalty are seen to be desirable character traits of importance in the development of students’ social competences. Moreover, the findings proved that teachers were expected to develop prosocial behaviour and communication skills among their students, as well as to initiate and stimulate team work with the purpose of developing prosocial behaviour among their students.