Emotional Intelligence and Professional Development

Abstract

Teachers are exposed to a highly stressful job because of the dynamic organizational and societal changes experienced in the educational sector. To deal with these daily challenges, they need to develop high-level emotional competencies such as emotional intelligence (EI) to support their professional development (PD) for adequate teaching and schooling. Developing EI capitalizes upon the harmonious relationships among the various school aspects: student's academic achievement and effective instruction. To this point, it fosters in-class diversity and inclusion understanding. This chapter highlights the strong connection between emotional intelligence and teachers' professional development toward positive professional and organizational changes. It reports PD's correlation with teachers' self-direction, leadership skills, and teaching effectiveness. It also addresses some easy-to-follow pedagogical implications.