Emotional intelligence as a contributor to enhancing educators’ quality of life in the COVID-19 era

Abstract

The basic education fraternity is constantly evolving with various stressors among others, curricular changes, adaptation to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, poor educator development, excessive workload, and brain drain, thus negatively affecting educators’ quality of life. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has expedited the importance of emotional intelligence, as an essential resilience skill for enhancing the quality of life during adversity. The objective of the study is to ascertain the relationship between emotional intelligence and the quality of life of educators. A quantitative approach was utilized using simple random sampling. A sample of 108 educators from a population of 154 was drawn from six schools in the Reservoir Hills precinct of KwaZulu-Natal. The findings revealed a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and the quality of life of educators. A practical research model was advocated for key stakeholders in the South African basic education sector.