RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SECONDARY EDUCATION

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study on the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Academic Performance, which can help guidance practitioners to provide expert advice on this issue to other professionals in schools. Specifically, the relationship between the dimensions of Emotional Intelligence and the grades obtained by students in the instrumental subjects of Mathematics and Spanish Language and Literature. A sample of 976 high school students from five different high schools where compulsory secondary education is taught, has participated in the study. In order to evaluate academic performance, average grades have been taken into account, distributed in two groups of students, those with low academic performance and those with normal academic performance. The grades obtained in the subjects of Mathematics, and Spanish Language and Literature and the average of all subjects of the school year have also been analyzed. The EQ-i: YV scale (Bar-On y Parker, 2000) has been used to measure emotional intelligence and its dimensions. The results confirm the existence of significant differences in both groups between academic performance and emotional intelligence and its dimensions. However, the correlation coefficient is very weak (ρ