Teacher personality and self-reported interpersonal communication and assessment for learning practices

Introduction Teachers use interpersonal communication across relationships with students, colleagues, parents, school specialists, and other stakeholders. This study examined associations between Big Five personality domains and self-perceived general interpersonal communicative competence, monitoring, and scaffolding-related instructional support. Methods This cross-sectional study included 217 Slovak primary- and secondary-school teachers. Personality was assessed using the Slovak BFI-2-S, general interpersonal communication using the Communicative Competence Scale, and assessment-for-learning practices using an adapted TAFL-Q. Simultaneous multiple regression analyses used HC3 standard errors and Holm adjustment across the 15 personality coefficients in the three models. Results The five personality domains jointly accounted for 51.0%, 44.5%, and 43.7% of the observed variance in communication, monitoring, and scaffolding-related support scores, respectively. Agreeableness, open-mindedness, and extraversion showed positive conditional associations with communication. Agreeableness, conscientiousness, and open-mindedness were positively associated with both monitoring and scaffolding-related instructional support. Discussion These findings highlight associations between teacher personality and self-perceived interpersonal and assessment-related aspects of professional competence, providing a basis for further research on their relevance to teachers' professional development.