Teacher Effectiveness in Relation to Emotional Intelligence Among Medical and Engineering Faculty Members

Abstract

Studies have revealed that emotional intelligence (EI) influences an individual's job performance in terms of organizational commitment and job satisfaction. But prior studies were limited mostly to the corporate sector. Therefore the present study was conducted to understand the correlation between EI and teaching performance in the case of faculty members at medical and engineering colleges, as courses related to these two fields are quite extensive and demanding which often leads to stress among students (Saipanish, 2003; Foster & Spencer, 2003; Schneider, 2007; Ray and Joseph, 2010). A total of 250 faculty members from three medical and four private engineering colleges of Uttar Pradesh, India, participated in the study. Emotional intelligence scale (EIS, 2007), Teacher Effectiveness Scale (TES, 2010) and Teacher Rating Scale (TRS, 2003) were administered to measure the emotional intelligence, self-reported teacher effectiveness and student rated teacher effectiveness of the faculty members respectively. All materials used in the study are constructed and standardized on Indian population. The study revealed a positive correlation between EI and teacher effectiveness, both self-reported and students rated. Among ten components of EI considered in the study; emotional stability, self-motivation, managing relations, self-awareness and integrity emerged as the best predictors of teacher effectiveness. Gender differences on the scores of EI and Teacher Effectiveness was insignificant. The EI and self-reported teacher effectiveness of engineering faculty members were relatively higher than those of medical faculty. However, according to students’ rating there was no significant difference in teacher effectiveness among the two groups. Implications of this research from the perspective of training faculty members are discussed.