The contribution of Internship toward soft skill competencies of pre-service teachers

Abstract

Teaching is a diverse performance and requires a variety of knowledge and several skills including soft skills. But soft skills are more difficult to do and to teach. Therefore, the internship is an alternative way to practice these skills to physics students in teacher training and education faculty. Thus, this study aims to identify the contribution of internship value to students’ soft skills competencies. The study applied a descriptive survey method. A total of 36 students from a public university in Banda Aceh were selected using a purposive sampling method. Instruments used for data collection were multiple-choice test questions related to students’ soft skill competencies and apprenticeship data. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS through product-moment correlation test and correlation coefficient formula. The results showed that the contribution of apprenticeship value to students’ soft skills competencies is 0.48% with a correlation coefficient of 0.022 (very weak). Hence, it is suggested that the learning process should be emphasized in direct practice so that more competencies can be developed by students graduating from physics education department.