Building Emotional Competence in Educators

The importance of emotion in the process of learning interpersonal communication in educational settings has been well documented. We administered the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (Schutte et.al., 1998), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980), and the Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (Kirk et al., 2008) to 50 undergraduate education students who were enrolled in an elective course on emotional intelligence in education, at commencement and at the end of the course. Results showed an increase in emotional self-efficacy and emotional intelligence, but no increase in empathy. These results support the view that social emotional competence can be enhanced within an academic learning environment, thus providing students of education and perhaps other people-oriented professions with valuable preparation for future careers.