Emotional intelligence and leadership styles: a case study of school heads in Pakistan

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the contemporary education system, school effectiveness anticipates teacher dedication, a sense of responsibility, and team spirit. Such a soft shift in perspectives urges school leaders to reshape their administrative roles to architects of a conducive environment for ensuring the fulfilment of school goals and the promotion of teacher well-being. Arguably, this shift stipulates extended competencies of leadership, namely interpersonal and intrapersonal, which are the essential traits and competencies of Emotional Intelligence (EI). Therefore, this paper presents school heads’ perceived levels of emotional intelligence and the influence of EI on practiced leadership styles. A phenomenological case study was employed with representative cases of five schools. The sample comprised both school heads (n = 5) and teachers (n = 10). Data were collected using four methods, namely semi-structured interviews with teachers and school heads; shadowing of school heads’ to observe their behaviours; a web-based emotional intelligence test to assess school head’ perceived EI; and a self-assessment questionnaire of leadership styles. The findings highlight weak levels of emotional intelligence among school heads. The frequently preferred leadership styles include authoritarian and transactional which underscores a notably weak emotional intelligence integration in leadership practices. However, the sentiments of school heads and teachers varied, because the former considered leadership as their right to rule the team, while the latter found a disconnection between school heads and teachers and a concern for teacher well-being. The findings imply the urgent need to improve the EI of school heads to ensure teacher well-being.