Which emotional skills should a teacher develop to last in the long run ? Relations between well-being, burnout and emotional intelligence in a sample of 202 primary school teachers

Abstract

Teachers experience a wide range of emotions in response to their students' behaviours and outcomes, including frustration, worry, disappointment, hope, enthusiasm and pride (Hargreaves, 2000; Sutton, 2007).

The present study specifies different elements of the relations highlighted in previous studies (Mérida-López & Extremera, 2017) by showing that overall (1) intrapersonal emotional competences seem to be more correlated to burnout than interpersonal skills; and (2) most emotional skills are more specifically positively correlated with a lower reduction in personal achievement, then with less depersonalization and finally with less emotional exhaustion.

Teacher education offers a particularly interesting opportunity to develop emotional skills training, to show a higher degree of well-being, both in private and professional lives. Specific strategies can be proposed derived from evidence-based research (e.g., Nelis et al., 2011). Tailored to the teachers’ needs, such interventions should enable them to develop strategies. Thus, they would be better armed against the many stressors to which they are subject to in their professional activity.