Examining the relationship between teachers' emotional intelligence and their openness to change

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to reveal the relationship between teachers' emotional intelligence and their openness to change. A literature review was conducted regarding the topic, and the concepts of openness to change and emotional intelligence were examined. Attempts were made to explain the importance and causes of openness to change, plus variables and personal characteristics related to this concept. In this context, individuals with high emotional intelligence were considered to be more open to change. In order to determine this, a correlational survey model was used in the study. The study population consists of teachers working in public preschools, primary schools, secondary schools, and high schools in the central districts of Mersin Province in the 2021–2022 school years.The study sample consists of 474 (MEB, 2021) teachers working in central districts of Mersin who were selected through disproportionate sampling by including all teachers present at schools during the data collection. The research data were collected using the Openness to Change Scale developed by Dunham et al., (1989) and adapted into Turkish by Bingül (2006), and the Rotterdam Emotional Intelligence Scale developed by Linden and Born (2018) and adapted into Turkish by Tanrıöğen and Türker (2019). As a result of the study, the gender and education level variables caused significant differences in teachers' levels of emotional intelligence and openness to change. In addition, there was a significant relationship between teachers' emotional intelligence and their openness to change, and teachers' emotional intelligence scores significantly predicted their level of openness to change.