Communication Skills and Self-Compassion Levels of Teacher Candidates

The purpose of this study is to examine the communication skillsand self-compassion levels of teacher candidates and to makesuggestions in view of the obtained data. Accordingly, it was aimed toexamine the subject matter deeply by using together the qualitative andquantitative methods. The population of the research is composed of theteacher candidates studying at Buca Faculty of Education, Dokuz EylülUniversity, İzmir, Turkey. The sampling of the quantitative dimension ofthe research is composed of 498 teacher candidates who are studying atsenior classes of 14 different under-graduate programs of Faculty ofEducation, Dokuz Eylül University and who have been chosen throughstratified sampling. The study group of the qualitative dimension of theresearch is composed of a total of 42 students (n=23 female, n=21male). According to the findings obtained at the end of the study, thecommunication skills of teacher candidates were observed to differ inaccordance with their departments; on the other hand, both theircommunication skills and their self-compassion levels were observed todiffer according to their perceived personality types. Accordingly, theself compassion scale’ score averages of those perceiving themselves tobe timid and assertive are observed to be higher than those whoperceive themselves as aggressive. Depending on this finding, it isunderstood that the ones who have the lowest communication skillslevel are those teacher candidates perceiving themselves to beaggressive. Qualitative results support quantitative results. Besides, inthe consequence of the study, it was observed that there is a positivecorrelation between “self-kindness”, “common humanity” and“mindfulness” dimensions of “self-compassion” scale and all dimensionsof communication skills; and there is a negative correlation between“self-judgment”, “isolation” and “over-identification” dimensions of “selfcompassion scale” and all dimensions of communication skills.