Social Skills Instruction in Secondary Education

Abstract
While there is a growing body of research to support the use of social skills instruction in the schools, the extent to which teachers assume responsibility for activities in this domain is unclear. A model was developed for assessing teachers' engagement with social skills instruction, with activities scaled to reflect both proactive and reactive approaches to students' social skills needs. A questionnaire was used to assess teachers' current activities as well as their access to resources, perceived skills, and the values they attributed to social skills instruction. In the first school surveyed, teachers indicated that they would like to do more in this domain, but felt constrained by limited resources and training. Implications for teacher training programs and further research are discussed.