Date of Conferral

6-17-2024

Date of Award

June 2024

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Richard Hammett

Abstract

Although research has suggested that emotional intelligence (EI) is an important factor in career and life success, teacher preparation programs often fail to include topics for developing EI. The college of education that participated in this study sought to explore EI development in its teacher preparation program. This multimodal descriptive qualitative study explored the EI experiences of final-year preservice teachers to determine the extent to which their teacher preparation program developed EI from the participants’ perspectives. The conceptual framework combined transformative emotional intelligence (TEI), the emotional learning system (ELS), and an EI self-assessment of TEI skills. A normed EI profile of the teacher candidates (N = 20) was developed to address RQ1. From this group, 10 participants were selected for semistructured interviews to (a) explore participant experiences related to previous EI learning, (b) understand their experience with the EI assessment, (c) identify strengths and opportunities for EI skill growth, and (d) explore their understanding of EI skills. Axial coding and thematic analysis of interview transcripts revealed the four themes of (a) anecdotal EI learning unrelated to the program; (b) empathy, open-mindedness, and self-awareness are principal components of EI; (c) assessment results require guided interpretation to increase EI with fidelity, and (d) EI is important for healthy, productive inter- and intra-personal relationships. To promote positive social change, a nine-week TEI curriculum was developed to offer prospective K–12 teachers the opportunity to learn and practice EI in ways that will allow them to model EI skills as they enter the teaching profession.

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