Educational Social Skills and Leadership Styles:

Conception, training and performance of teachers from 1st to 5th years of Elementary Education

Abstract

The development of a good teacher-student relationship can be understood as a protective factor for child development. In the early years of elementary school, such a relationship is of utmost importance, since it favors the student's adaptation to the school environment and its academic demands. Thus, this research aimed to identify the conception, training and performance of teachers from the 1st to 5th grade of elementary school regarding teacher-student interaction, focusing on educational social skills and teacher leadership style. Ten teachers participated in the research, who answered two questionnaires, the first with questions about their training, and the second about coercive control practices. The participants also engaged in a semi-structured interview, with questions that sought to understand aspects of teacher-student interaction, also investigating the dimensions of responsiveness, demandingness and coercive control. The data obtained showed: regarding training, all participants stated that they had access to the theme of teacher-student interaction in undergraduate and specialization courses; the participants stated that they use behaviors associated with responsiveness, in addition to understanding its importance; In behaviors related to demandingness, the data indicated that the importance of this dimension is not well understood and is often confused with coercive control; and coercive practices are understood as negative and little used by the participants. It is concluded that the participants understand and have practices related to responsiveness, but have difficulty in understanding and applying practices related to demandingness. Finally, they understand the implications of coercive practices and generally do not apply them.