Case Study of Central Ohio Head Start Teachers’ Perceptions of Social-Emotional Intelligence

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how Head Start teachers perceive and describe their social-emotional intelligence and how it affects experiences for children in meeting the social-emotional school readiness skills necessary for school success. It is not known how Head Start teachers explore their perceptions about social-emotional intelligence and teaching practices that meet the School Readiness Initiative for social-emotional skill development of children transitioning into kindergarten. There are two theoretical models used to inform this study: Bar-On model and Serrat model on emotional-social intelligence. Three research questions were posed to guide the study regarding how Head Start teachers perceive and describe their own social-emotional intelligence, the affects social-emotional intelligence has on teaching practices of social-emotional skills, and what is perceived to help strengthen social-emotional intelligence. Extreme case purposeful sampling was used to select 17 study participants from a Head Start program in Central Ohio. The study design used individual semi-structured interviews, journals, and archived anecdotal notes as sources of data. The qualitative study uses an analytical approach. The findings indicate that social-emotional intelligent teachers perceive each day as a new beginning and believe that when they have a positive emotional state, teacher-student interactions increase. In addition, there is a need for training to improve teacher social-emotional skill development