Abstract: 

Social-emotional skills (SEMS) have been acknowledged the past decades as critical for students to deal with challenges of the 21^st century. Although there has been emerging consensus on the kind of skills that should be fostered in students, less work has considered SEMS of teachers, presumed to be primary agents to affect SEMS of students. In this study, we examine the structure of a specific set of items describing teacher skills administered to a sample of 207 teachers-in-training enrolled in Belgian professional teacher training programs. Student-teachers also described their personality using the Big Five inventory (BFI-2) and a general set of social-emotional and behavioral skill labels. Several student-teachers were also rated by one or two peers (N=220) on the BFI-2 and the general skill set. Psychometric analyses showed a complex structure with distinct relationships with the Big Five. This study forms the first part of a longitudinal study on the development of teacher skills vis-a-vis personality during their training trajectory. Results will help to develop a conceptual teacher SEMS framework, guide future research and development of teaching skills.