ABSTRACT:
This study aimed to: a) compare the repertoire of social skills of students from the Teaching Undergraduate Program in Special Education at the Federal University of São Carlos, who participated in the compulsory curricular internship and/or the Teaching Initiation Scholarship Institutional Program (known as PIBID) with students who did not have such experiences; b) compare the repertoire of social skills of students who worked with those who have never worked; c) correlate the repertoire of social skills and sociodemographic variables. The research took place in the University, with the participation of 75 students, aged between 18 and 50 years, with 66 being of the feminine gender and nine of the masculine. The students answered individually or in groups to the initial questionnaire, socioeconomic questionnaire and Social Skill Inventory. Three statistical tests were used, the t-Test to compare the social skills of the participants who had already worked with the students who never worked; ANOVA to compare the social skills among the groups; and the Pearson correlation to verify correlations among the sociodemographic variables and social skills. The study points out better results among the students who participated in the internship with a statistically significant difference for the ‘Self-exposure to strangers and new situations’ factor and a better evaluation of the ‘Self-control of aggressiveness’ factor among those who worked. Thus, it is inferred that practical internship and PIBID experiences have the potential to assist students in improving their repertoire of social skills. However, these contributions could be more robust if such skills were intentionally worked out in specific disciplines.
KEYWORDS:
Special Education; Social Skills; Teacher Education