Sunday, December 31, 2017

Educator Preparation Programs Need to Explicitly Develop Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Skills

Emotional intelligence has been linked to effective leadership (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2002, 2008).  Therefore, the curriculum for educator preparation and school leadership programs must explicitly address leadership skill development.  However, in many programs, the expectation is often for emotional intelligence behaviors to be implicitly developed rather than explicitly taught.  Without effective leadership, education reform cannot take place (Creighton & Jones, 2001).  Effective educational leadership programs result from program experiences as well as the quality of entering candidates (Creighton & Jones, 2001).  Unfortunately, preparation programs remain pressured to accept adequate numbers of candidates to justify the program’s cost and existence (Creighton & Jones, 2001).  This increases the need for optimal curriculum efficiency rather than effectiveness.

Accountability of teacher preparation and school leadership programs remain an ongoing process (CAEP, 2013).  ).  Typically, students’ evaluation of faculty, pre-admission compared to post-graduation surveys, and the annual state/accreditation council review of the program, produce the data used to ascertain each program’s success.  School leaders identify courses as ineffective because it takes years before graduates actually have a school leadership position.  This causes coursework to become either forgotten or outdated (Bottoms & O’Neill, 2001).  Implementation of processes that develop broader leadership skills in decision-making and problem solving must therefore serve a significant role within school leadership preparation programs (Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005; Short, 1997).

Sanders’ (2010) quantitative study examined the perceptions of professors that focus upon educational leadership in their work within institutes of higher education (IHE).  Specifically, Sanders sought to identify the professors’ understanding of competencies related to emotional intelligence and the extent to which these competencies were being included within their IHE teacher leadership programs.  Left unanswered was whether demonstrated emotional intelligence related to perceptions of an optimal school climate. Maulding et al. (2010) sought clarification of the correlation between the twenty-one leadership behaviors identified by Marzano et al. (2005) and student achievement.  In contrast to findings posited by the Marzano et al. (2005) meta-analysis, the Maulding et al., studies (2010, 2012) clearly indicated a lack of correlation between emotional intelligence of school leaders and student achievement as evidenced by the school’s performance level.

A study by Byron (2001) found educational programs that focus upon emotional intelligence behaviors produced successful outcomes.  Byron (2001) cited the benefits of attending to “the cultures of learning, to the individual's current abilities, propensities, and current conceptions, and to fundamental reorganizations of behavior, not just acceleration and fine-tuning" (Grotzer & Perkins, 2012, p. 510).  However, Mayer and Salovey (1997) cautioned against focusing solely upon one dimension or sub-skill of emotional intelligence.  Any program seeking to develop emotional intelligence skills “should be empirically defensible, measurable, and clear enough to serve as a basis for curriculum development" (Cobb & Mayer, 2000, p. 18).  

Teaching is considered one of the most stressful occupations (Palomera, Fernandez-Berrocal, & Brackett, 2008).  This increases the importance of emotional intelligence skills training because professional development or training in emotional intelligence skills can support teachers’ coping skills within a stressful environment.  Teacher burnout becomes more predictable in relation to stress.
By contrast, teachers exhibiting high emotional intelligence use more positive, well-adapted, coping strategies to deal with different sources of stress at school, thereby feeling greater job satisfaction (Palomera et al., 2008).  Surveyed teachers identified the ability to regulate emotions as indispensable for reaching reach academic goals (Palomera et al., 2008).  Emotional intelligence skills training become essential to mitigate teacher burnout, thereby affecting an educator’s professional longevity, personal satisfaction, and student learning.

Studies involving teaching and learning typically focus upon knowledge, cognition, and skill.  Studies involving teacher beliefs or practices allow researchers to make observable measurements.  Despite this propensity, Hargreaves (2001) emphasized the need to address emotional practices since emotions are embedded within the conditions and interactions of teaching.  Therefore, educator and leadership preparation programs will benefit from including  intentional invitations to increase competence in emotional awareness in the pursuit of realizing full human potential (Purkey & Novak, 2016).

For optimal emotional intelligence development among prospective teachers, Rojas (2012) advocated for three needs:
1.      Development of emotional intelligence begins with a commitment to change.
2.      Application of emotional intelligence learning within environments favorable to emotional intelligence development.
3.      Pursuit of an ideal allows interdependent application of all other emotional intelligence competencies.


Action research projects within capstone courses can assess each program’s measurable outcomes.  Results of program completion need to include competency development in subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and caring teacher leadership skills.  Course objectives need to align with these three competency areas (CAEP, 2013).  Capstone research courses require that the students identify research questions relevant to their program-based studies, review and analyze important research related to the topic, design an action-research study using qualitative or quantitative methodology, and reflect on the implications of this study to enhance the quality of teaching and leadership.  

Currently, explicit course work in both emotional intelligence behaviors within the workplace and development of school climate based on Invitational Education theory is missing from too many undergraduate teacher preparation and graduate teacher leadership programs.  A moderately strong correlation was found between the demonstration of a leader’s high emotional intelligence behaviors and the perception of a positive school climate (Anderson, 2016).  Therefore, course objectives throughout each undergraduate teacher preparation and graduate leadership program should intentionally invite skill development that advances emotional intelligence competencies to optimize school climate. 

To Cite:
Anderson, C.J. (December 31, 2017) Educator preparation programs need to explicitly develop 
                 emotional intelligence and leadership skills [Web log post] 
                 Retrieved from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/


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