Understanding K-12 Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence: Theory, Measurement, And Validation

Teacher emotional intelligence (EI) plays an important role in teachers’ professional lives. After surveying the topic and the gaps in the relevant literature, I conducted three studies to advance our current understanding of teachers’ EI. The first study involved a meta-analysis review that examined the relationship between K-12 teachers’ EI, self-efficacy, and burnout. It found that there is a significant positive relationship between K-12 teachers’ EI and teacher self-efficacy as well as a significant negative relationship between teachers’ EI and teacher burnout. The second study involved developing and testing the Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence Scale (TEIS), which measures teachers’ EI in their professional settings through self-perspectives. Among a sample of 328 K-12 in-service teachers, results showed that TEIS had a 4-factor model for teacher self-dimension and a 5-factor model for teacher-student interaction dimension. Both dimensions appear to exhibit reasonable levels of convergent and discriminant validity and Cronbach alpha estimates appear adequate for general research purposes. The third study, a mixed-methods study, aimed to examine teachers’ EI in a Chinese context and validate TEIS. The qualitative findings not only indicated the importance of teachers’ EI, but also supported the second study’s teachers’ EI conceptualization in China. For the quantitative study, data from factor analyses provided evidence for the 5-factor model and two dimensions solution. High internal consistency estimated as well as preliminary evidence of convergent and discriminant validity of TEIS scores show its promise as a reliable and potentially valid measure for teachers’ EI. Implications for practice and research are discussed