Emotional Intelligence and Self-efficacy of Iranian Teachers: A Research Study on University Degree and Teaching Experience

Abstract

This study evaluates the level of emotional intelligence, self-efficacy to investigate whether a relationship exists between these two attributes or not, also, the role of years of teaching experience and teachers’ university degrees in their emotional intelligence. To this end, 70 teachers were asked to complete The Assessing Emotions Scale Questionnaire (Salovey and Mayer, 1990) and Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), regardless of their English teaching experience. The aim of this study was to represent the importance of emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and in teachers for having an effective teaching. The results indicated a significant relationship between teachers’ EI and their self-efficacy. Moreover, the findings showed that there was a significant relationship between teachers’ EI with their years of teaching experience, in a way that more experienced teachers can benefit their low experienced colleagues with their emotional experiences. Meanwhile, no significant difference was found between teachers’ EI in terms of different university degrees. The research results also proved a positive relationship between EI and self-efficacy.