Communication skills training in trainee primary school teachers in Spain

Abstract

Research on teacher training often focuses on learnersí perceptions of that training. The focus of this paper, which uses a research-to-practice approach, is instead on the views of the trainers. It evaluates the perceptions of university lecturers teaching classes as part of primary teachersí training degrees and assesses their views of the communication skills developed by their students to be used in their future careers. The study uses a 17-item ad-hoc questionnaire, completed by 152 lecturers from the University of Granada. Descriptive and inferential analyses are then carried out on the data collected using SPSS. The analysis results show how important lecturers believe it is for trainee teachers to develop communication skills, which they often lack. Although lecturers believe communication skills are very important, they also think that they are not developed as much as they should be in their classes, so trainee teachers cannot communicate as effectively as they should.