Teachers' perceptions of the influence of assertiveness and empathy on the academic achievement of special needs students

Social skills are important for individuals to cope effectively with social situations, to integrate socially and to maintain a good quality of life. Special needs students often face specific deficits which can cause or exacerbate difficulties in their social skills. The main aim of the master's thesis was to investigate what, according to teachers of integrated primary and lower secondary education, are the social skills of special needs students. The main focus of the research was on assertiveness and empathy. The aim was also to investigate what impact teachers think assertiveness and empathy have on the academic performance of special needs students. The research used descriptive and causal non-experimental empirical research methods and a quantitative research approach. We used an opportunity sampling method. 47 teachers who work in public basic schools participated in the study. The results show that there are no statistically significant differences between teachers of integrated primary and lower secondary education in assessing the impact of assertiveness and empathy of special needs students on the latter’s academic achievements. Similarly, no statistically significant differences were found in teachers' ratings of the impact of assertiveness and empathy on academic achievements when the ratings were sorted according to the teacher's years of experience. No statistically significant differences were found in the teacher's assessment of the impact of assertiveness and empathy on the academic achievements of special needs students when the assessments were sorted by special needs groups into which the selected students were classified. It was found that the participating teachers attributed a slightly higher impact to empathy than to assertiveness in regard to the academic achievements of special needs students