Development and Validation of an Instrument on Teacher's Emotional Intelligence (TEI) at Primary School Level

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to develop and validate a viable tool to assess teachers’ emotional intelligence (TEI) at the primary school level. A thorough review of related literature and thematic analysis of the qualitative data were used to initially construct the questionnaire items. Content validity was evaluated by an experienced panel of experts e.g. the doctoral-level specialists. 
Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and other quantitative statistical procedures were used to investigate the construct validity. Sixty (60) teachers served as a pilot group for the purpose of validation process. A final 27-item scale was produced from an original 40-item instrument after expert evaluation and statistical refining eliminated superfluous and unnecessary items. The validated tool gauges the five essential dimensions of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, selfregulation, empathy, motivation and social skills. The results show that the tool is a viable and trustworthy way to test primary school teachers’ emotional intelligence in five dimensions. It’s a systematic and scientifically supported assessment that may be used in educational research and 
practice.