Objective To understand experiences in the development of communication skills and the teacher’s role in this teaching-learning process under the perspective of undergraduate nursing students by considering two types of curriculum organization. Method Descriptive study with a qualitative approach conducted in two public schools located in São Paulo state, Brazil. Data were collected by means of self-completed forms from 81 students in the second and fourth years of the undergraduate program. Results were analyzed in light of Content Analysis. Results Results showed that the development of such skills is related to: students’ individual characteristics, patients’ characteristics, those of the health-disease process, the health-care team’s profile and the theoretical knowledge acquired on communication in health-care provision and nursing. The teacher’s role was perceived as one that supports and encourages interactions with patients and health-care teams by teaching and providing orientation about interpersonal communication. Conclusions Students identify and value the importance of their teachers’ performance in the development and acquisition of communication skills. Additionally, students who experience active teaching-learning methodologies acknowledge the teacher as essential to provide opportunities for students to express their knowledge and thoughts.

Objective: to understand, from the perspective of professors, which are the facilities and difficulties in the development of communication skills in nursing undergraduates who experiment different teaching-learning methodologies. Method: qualitative research performed with 30 nursing professors from two public education institutions. The data was collected by semi-structured individual interview with guiding questions. We used Bardin's content analysis for the data processing and analysis. Results: the development of communication skills is influenced by factors such as the experience of practical activities, students' individual characteristics, use of active methodologies, access to the mass media, relationship of proximity between student and professor, and knowledge of theoretical concepts of communication and nursing. Final considerations: there is similarity between the influential factors, however, the use of active methodologies seems to favor the development of communication skills.