Being an emotionally intelligent teacher: Implications for the teachers’ social role

Abstract

Recently there has been a growing interest in the establishment of broader educational agendas that not only addresses academic skills but also seeks to improve students’ social and emotional skills (Metlife, 2004). Students, as citizens of the future society, need to develop competencies that would allow them to interact in socially skilled and emotionally intelligent ways. Students are not only expected to master knowledge and cognitive skills but also emotional and social skills that could become the foundation for meaningful and effective employment and engaged citizenship (Elias, 2003). In this context, a relatively new notion has been gaining constant acceptance and growing popularity: Emotional Intelligence.