Emotional intelligence and occupational stress levels of secondary teachers

Abstract

One-third of teachers report their profession as "stressful" or "very stressful". The most common stressors reported are students' misbehavior, lack of administrative support, workload, and time constraints. Moderate doses of stress are a motivational challenge and, innate talent or experience provide resilience and allow the effective use of coping mechanisms. However, chronic exposure to stress results in multiple health or psychological implications such as the development of the burnout syndrome. Ultimately, academic goals are hindered. Emotional intelligence appears as a prerequisite of teachers to deal with stress and manage negative emotions, along with motivation and commitment. The purpose of this study was to examine whether emotional intelligence negatively correlates with occupational stress in a Greek teacher's sample. A sample of 48 secondary teachers from three private schools in Greece participated by completing a self-report, online questionnaire, consisting of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short Form (TEIQue -SF), measuring perceived emotional intelligence and the Teacher's Stress Inventory (TSI), measuring occupational stress. The findings of this study showed that low occupational stress levels correlate negatively with emotional intelligence levels of the sample. Study implications include directing professional development resources toward increasing emotional intelligence.