A STUDY OF EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE AS A PREDICTOR OF TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS AMONG PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

Abstract

The design of this study was descriptive survey with quantitative data analysis in which the variables studied were emotional competence as the predicting variable in the effectiveness of teachers in primary and secondary schools. The main aims were to examine the correlation between the dimensions of emotional competence and teacher effectiveness indicators and to determine the contribution and significance of emotional competence dimension in predicting teaching quality controlling for demographic variables. It was hypothesized that more emotionally competent teachers would be more effective in classroom management, student engagement and instructional quality than teachers who were less emotionally competent. Using the stratified random sampling technique, 485 teachers from government and private schools were sampled and data gathered from them using validated questionnaires. Results showed that there was a significant positive correlation between emotional competence and teacher effectiveness (r = 0.71 p < 0.001) and adaptive emotional regulation explained 52% of the variance in teacher effectiveness. Emotional competence was a significant predictor of classroom management efficacy (β = 0.58, p < 0.001) and student engagement (β = 0.64, p < 0.001). Those teachers who were highly emotionally competent had fewer burnout symptoms and more professional well-being. All of these results make emotional competence a key factor for evaluating teacher effectiveness and emphasize the need to include emotional intelligence training in teacher professional development to improve educational outcomes.

Keywords: Emotional competence, teacher effectiveness, emotional intelligence, classroom management, teacher burnout.