The Role of Special Educators’ Emotional Intelligence in Self-Efficacy and Social Inclusion of Students With Disability

Abstract

The present study explores the correlation between the special educator’s emotional literacy/ emotional intelligence and their self-efficacy regarding the empowerment and social inclusion of students with disability. The study examines a main sample of 114 special educators working in the Greek education system. The main research hypothesis is centered around the interrelationship between the two key notions while incorporating copious variables such as age, gender, education and teaching experience to thoroughly examine all aspects. The academic tools utilized within this research include the Schutte (1999) Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test and the Teaching Students with Disabilities Efficacy Scale-TSDES (Dawson and Scott, 2013). The SPSS statistical package has been used to process the data regarding the descriptive and inductive statistical procedures that have been applied. In the end, it appears that emotional intelligence and the sense of self-efficacy of the special education teachers are inextricably linked as the increase in Emotional Intelligence also implies an increase in Self-Efficacy. In addition, with regard to the relations among the variables, it is noted that education is directly related to the level of Emotional Intelligence as PhD holders performed higher than holders of a Master's or Bachelor’s degree. With regard to the participants’ years of Experience, participants with 6-10 years of service had statistically significant superiority over other groups in terms of Emotional Intelligence. Overall, no statistically significant differences between the genders were found with the exception of the Professionalism and Instruction indicators in Self-Efficacy.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0922/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

The Influence of Emotional Intelligence in Physical Education Teachers’ Self-Efficacy for the Inclusion of Students With Disabilities

“…The high levels of an educator's emotional intelligence are connected with not only high self-efficacy but also higher working satisfaction (Sokmen & Sarikaya, 2022). Katsora et al (2022) support the belief that educators with high emotional intelligence present powerful convictions about their self-efficacy, they develop more effective teaching strategies, demonstrate behaviors of empathy, enhance the socialization of students with or without disabilities, promote social cohesion, and become a crucial and decisive factor of inclusion and social integration.…”

“…According to researchers (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009;Katsora et al, 2022), emotionally adequate teachers create the appropriate learning conditions within the classroom functioning encouragingly and supportively towards their students, adjusting their teaching to their needs, and encouraging co-operation between students. They can effectively respond to negatively charged situations while at the same time becoming appropriate behavioral role models for their students.…”

“…Many researchers have focused on the self-efficacy of educators since the educators' beliefs regarding their efficiency play a prominent role in the school climate of a classroom (Bandura, 1993). Educators with higher perceptions of self-efficacy show a greater tendency to support and help students with disabilities or special educational needs (Caprara et al, 2006;Katsora et al, 2022;Poulou & Norwich, 2002) and treat them with more tenderness and empathy (Pendergast et al, 2011;Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2007).…”

“…At the same time, a reduced sense of self-efficacy becomes a key inhibitor to inclusive practices (Anderson et al, 2007). After all, the profession of the educator is considered one of the most emotional occupations because of the multitude of varying relationships developing within the school environment (Dolev & Leshem, 2017;Katsora et al, 2022). The educators' emotional state has an immediate impact on the thoughts and behaviors of themselves and their students (Poulou & Norwich, 2000).…”

“…The educators' emotional state has an immediate impact on the thoughts and behaviors of themselves and their students (Poulou & Norwich, 2000). Emotionally adequate educators create the appropriate learning conditions within the classroom functioning in an encouraging and supportive manner towards their students adapting teaching to their needs and encouraging student cooperation (Katsora et al, 2022). In addition, the high levels of emotional intelligence of educators seem to make them more capable to teach students with severe and less severe disabilities compared to educators with lower levels of emotional intelligence (Skura & Swiderska, 2021).…”