Examining the Effect of Head Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence

Abstract

The current research addressed the impact of emotional intelligence of head teachers on the performance of schools in the primary level in District Gujrat. The study design was a quantitative, correlational research design where all the primary school heads in the district were the target population with 100 representatives chosen through purposive sampling. Two structured scales were used to collect the data; the Primary School Heads Emotional Intelligence Scale that measured five dimensions of emotional intelligence including; self-awareness, managing emotions, motivating oneself, empathy, and social skills and the Primary School Performance Observation Schedule that evaluated schools’ performance in terms of student admission, retention and dropout, co-curricular activities, school cleanliness, and classroom achievement. The levels of emotional intelligence and school performance were determined using descriptive statistics whereas the Pearson correlation analysis was applied to determine the relationship between the two. The results found out that primary school head teachers have moderate to high emotional intelligence with motivating oneself and social skills being the most powerful dimensions. The overall performance of the school was moderate with the comparatively better performance in student admission and classroom achievement as compared to the co-curricular activities and student retention. It was also shown in the results that there was a significant positive correlation between emotional intelligence of the head teachers and all school performance dimensions, and overall emotional intelligence was most correlated with overall school performance. The research paper finds that the emotional intelligence leadership style is very important in improving the academic and organizational outcomes of school performance. It is advisable that emotional intelligence should be incorporated in leadership training, evaluation and professional development programs to enhance effective reduced-schools.

Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Head Teachers, School Performance, Primary Schools, Educational Leadership