Socio-emotional Intelligence for Successful Higher Military Education. A Case Study Approach

AbstractSocio-emotional intelligence is a core competency in the field of higher military education. There is a growing interest in increasing socio-emotional skills in military professionals due to performance-related reasons. In this context, the training of the future operative officers is a topical issue, a challenge to the higher educational system. Socio-emotional intelligence is a reality that should be studied not only for psychological and educational considerations, but also for social and professional reasons. This paper aims at analyzing the socio-emotional competency in students attending bachelor courses to become operative officers. The first two sections of the paper state a conceptual framework to sustain socio-emotional intelligence assessment. A composite model articulating five factors of the socio-emotional competency is depicted. Socio-emotional skills represent a product of the emotional development and social learning, increasing subjects’ performances both in personal and professional activities. The persons who develop them have the advantage of successfully coping with personal and professional challenges. Starting from the third section of the paper, a research study is briefly described and discussed. The research focus was to assess the socio-emotional competency of the students in intelligence field in order to design a training program. In addition, the paper proposes a training program design to improve the socio-emotional competency of the students participating in the research. The training program is aimed at developing and improving dimensions of socio-emotional competency by using specific well targeted training strategies, methods and tools. The training program addresses the five dimensions of the socio-emotional competency in order to improve professional skills, but also social and individual life quality