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EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND IMPROVED PROFESSIONALISM OF TEACHERS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0       BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The teaching profession, unlike others, has to do with the moulding of children with different traits to become good citizens. The proper education of the youths of a nation cannot be overemphasized, as it is the only way in preparing them to fare better and bring innovations into their life and to the society. Proper education is not only instruction in school subjects and cannot take place in isolation from the emotions of the child. Teachers deal with extroverts, introverts, very intelligent and upcoming, hardworking and lazy, and a whole lot of different behaviours. Yet a professional teacher is not to hate anyone and should not show love for one above the other. In other words, the teacher should not be partial. Many students do not perform well in some subjects because of the teacher handling the subject. A teacher’s success depend largely on the success of his or her students. A teacher needs to show good mastery of the subject matter he or she is teaching but more than that, he needs to be emotionally intelligent to have superior performance.

For teachers to be able to excel at their jobs, they need to be emotionally intelligent. Emotional intelligence can be defined as the ability to monitor one's emotion and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior (Goleman, 1995). Emotional intelligence also reflects abilities to join intelligence, empathy and emotions to enhance thought and understanding of interpersonal dynamics (Mayer, 1997).

Goleman (1995) said there is an old fashioned word for the body of skills that emotional intelligence represents, which he called Character. Who will take the responsibility of creating a nation whose foundation is character? Teachers play the central role in cultivating character by inculcating self-discipline and empathy. The teachers who will be imparting these skills in schools also need to practice them. In putting this to practice, at the first place, teachers need to be trained to be Emotionally Intelligent. For this, teacher educators should be aware of the importance of Emotional Intelligence in Education. In fact, most educators know about the importance of imparting Emotional Intelligence training to the students but little effort is putin to implement this.

Our emotional intelligence determines our potential for learning the practical skills that are based on its five elements: Self-awareness, Motivation, Self-regulation, Empathy and Adeptness in relationships. Our emotional competence shows how much of that potential we have exhibited in the way we do our job as teachers.

Boyatzis (2008) found in his study that Emotional Intelligence competencies can be developed in students. Singh (2003) found that different professionals need different levels of Emotional Intelligence for success. Teachers need to be highly Emotionally Intelligent to be successful.

The present study is conducted with a view to assess the Emotional Intelligence of teachers through its components; Self Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness and Social Skills in relation to how well they manage their classroom, plan and deliver lesson and its impact in improving them professionally.

1.1       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Various research works have been conducted and concluded in the past on the topic emotional intelligence as its use translate to better performance on a job. One common observation from the researchers’ works is that they try to narrow down emotional intelligence as one of the survival skill and needed quality in the 21st century job market. The need to carry out a research on the emotional intelligence and improved professionalism of teachers is paramount as this research intends to fill this lacuna by integrating teachers and the students as well in the study.

Students tend to excel at subjects that an empathic teacher is teaching. The behavior or attitude of teachers have sent some children away from school. No parent wants a teacher who treats his or her child badly or disciplines for no reason. Parents of children who are not doing well want teachers that are patient, kind, tolerant and will encourage their children.

Students having challenges need teachers to confide in but then not just any teacher. If they cannot get any, they confide in friends who sometimes lead them astray.

1.2       PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose is to investigate how emotional intelligence will bring about improved professionalism of teachers.

1.3       OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to examine the effect of emotional intelligence and how it can improve teachers’ professionalism. In order to achieve this objective, other specific objectives are to:

i.          Evaluate the level of awareness of teachers about emotional intelligence

ii.         Ascertain the impact of emotional intelligence on classroom management.

iii.        Establish the link between emotional intelligence and teaching methodology

iv.        Relate the influence of teachers’ emotional intelligence and its effects on the academic performance of the students.

1.4       RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The understanding of this research work shall be geared towards generating necessary information to the question below:

1.         What is the level of awareness of teachers about emotional intelligence?

2.         What is the impact of emotional intelligence on classroom management?

3.         How can emotional intelligence influence the teaching methodology adopted by a teacher?

4.         How does the teachers’ emotional intelligence affect the academic performance of the students?

1.5       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The relevance of this study is the usefulness of the conclusion and recommendations that would be derived at the end of the research work. This research work will provide the practicing teachers and the new teachers with the requisite elements of emotional intelligence which will get them better prepared to handle the teaching learning exercise of the 21st Century and also make them exhibit skills which will make them more professional in the way they carry out their job.

It will enable government and school administrators to better understand this thematic topic to be able to train current and would-be teachers.

Secondly, the outcome of this research would inform government, policy makers and teacher education institutions to include emotional intelligence as one of the qualities teachers should possess thereby looking out for it during observation and inspection process.

Also, the outcome of the work will serve as a reference and tool for further research and study by prospective researchers on the thematic topic.

1.6       SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study will cover four secondary schools in Lagos State. Two schools would be selected from the government owned schools and privately owned schools.

The study will aim at Literacy and Numeracy teachers in the selected schools as these are some of the core subjects needed for the pupils assessment.

1.7       OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: It is the ability of individuals to recognize their own and other people’s emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT: It is the term used by teachers to describe the process of ensuring that classroom lessons run smoothly despite disruptive behaviors by students.

PROFESSIONALISM: this is defined as the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or professional person. It involves the set of skills, good judgement, and polite behavior that is expected from a person who is trained to do a job well.

TEACHING METHODOLOGY: This comprise the principles and methods used for classroom instruction to be implemented by teachers to achieve the desired learning in students. These strategies are determined partly on subject matter to be taught and partly by the nature of the learner.

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