Incidence of social skills in the academic performance of sixth grade students

Abstract

In this work we evaluated the incidence of social skills: empathy, assertiveness, teamwork and self-esteem in the academic performance of students the sixth grade. The research is part of a mixed approach (Creswell, 2009) since it combines quantitative and qualitative research methods and techniques. 155 sixth grade students from two institutions of the municipality of Sincelejo formed the sample. The results show that the level of development of social work skills teamwork and assertiveness are by quite heterogeneous both intra as inter groups, i.e., their level of development is a clear trend in none of the two groups, while it self-esteem and empathy have a tendency from developed to well-developed. We found a statistically significant association between the performances achieved by the students in the areas of mathematics and natural sciences, with the institution where they came from, which means that the qualifications of students from each institution tended to gather around the same levels of performance, but differentiable among the group, slightly better for the private institution. In addition, the academic performance of students in the areas of mathematics and natural sciences, keep some relation with the State of development of self-esteem and empathy skills.

Keywords

• social skills
• academic performance
• assertiveness
• empathy
• self-esteem