The study of teachers’ emotional competence and its development during training sessions

Introduction. The article examines the problem of teachers’ emotional competence as an obligatory component of their professional communicative competence. The purpose of the study is to assess the level of emotional competence among school teachers and determine the optimal conditions for its development. Materials and Methods. The study is based on the analysis of scholarly literature by Russian and foreign researchers devoted to emotional competence and emotional intelligence, its role in communicative interactions and successful professional activities. The sample included teachers and educational psychologists from comprehensive secondary schools in Irkutsk (N=70). Respondents' teaching experience ranged from 1 year to 40 years (M=28.50; SD=1.96). The study used V.V. Boyko’s inventory for diagnosing the level of empathic abilities and D. Lyusin’s emotional intelligence test. The Emotional Competence Training program was designed in order to develop teachers’ emotional competence. The program included mini-lectures and discussion lectures, exercises on verbal and non-verbal means of expressing emotions, ways of managing emotional states, role-playing games, art therapy classes, and reflection. Results. The results of the empirical research showed that the majority of teachers have an average level of emotional intelligence. During the implementation of the training program and after its completion, teachers' understanding of each other's emotional state and empathy increased. The results obtained are a resource for increasing the level of teachers’ emotional competence and reducing their emotional burnout. Conclusions. The authors conclude that the level of school teachers’ emotional competence is unacceptably low. Optimized work load and special training programs can be employed for its effective development.