The Effectiveness of an Emotional Intelligence Training Program and its Components on the Creativity and Academic Achievement of High School Students

Abstract

Background: Creativity and academic progress are main issues of the educational system. Objectives: For improving student achievement and increasing creativity and innovation, various methods have been proposed. Materials and Methods: This study enrolled 48 first year high school students. Participants were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. After a description of the research objectives and obtaining participant consent, we used a researcher-generated questionnaire to collect data. Before any intervention we retrieved participants' grade point averages (GPA) from the first semester in order to verify academic progress of both groups. At baselines, both groups were assessed with an Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (Bar-On) and Abebi’s creativity test. The experimental group received a three-month training program on emotional intelligence that was conducted in 10 sessions, for an average of 30 minutes per session. The control group did not receive any special training. At the end of the training program we administered the same questionnaires in both groups as a post-test. For data analysis, analysis of variance, correlation and regression analysis, and the t-test were used. Results: This method significantly increased students' academic progress and creativity. The emotional intelligence factor alone predicted 32% (R2 = 0.32) of variance related to creativity and 18% (R2 = 0.18) of variance related to students' educational progress. Conclusions: The results of this study can be used as a method for increasing and improving student achievement and increasing creativity in high school students. For improving student achievement and increasing creativity and innovation, various methods have been proposed.