ASSESSMENT OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS' SELF-CONCEPT AND SOCIAL SKILLS

Nowadays, it is necessary for all teachers to develop adequate social and personal competences. Therefore, initial teacher training should incorporate them throughout the curriculum and assess their level of acquisition. The aims of this article are to describe the level of self-concept and social skills acquired by students in the second year of the Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood and Primary Education at the Jaume I University (Castellon, Spain) and to identify differences according to socio-educational factors. The evaluation of these skills will contribute to offer a series of improvements for the initial training program. For this purpose, a non-experimental, quantitative, descriptive, and comparative research was designed by means of the administration of two instruments. The questionnaires used were the Form-5 Self-Concept (AF-5), made up of 30 items, and the Social Skills Scale (EHS), which comprises 33 items. The sample consisted of 165 and 162 respondents, respectively. The main results reveal that the male group has a significantly higher self-concept than the female group. Likewise, significant limitations in social skills are detected. This research has provided pedagogical guidelines to improve the social and personal competences of pre-service teachers during the program.