Relationship between Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence and Professionalism: An Empirical Study at the Secondary Level

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between teachers’ emotional intelligence and professionalism. Emotional intelligence represents the capability to observe internal feelings along with recognizing emotions in others before deciding on activities and display behaviors. Professionalism stands as an open declaration which verifies that someone will support their assigned duties through dedication to the position. The correlational design was adopted to conduct the study. A multistage sampling method was used to randomly select 395 teachers from public secondary schools in the Lahore district. The research data collection relied on Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (α=.82) alongside Teaching Professionalism Questionnaire (α=.92). The correlation analysis showed that teachers’ emotional intelligence had strong and positive correlation with professionalism. The study’s result indicated that there was a positive significant effect of teachers’ emotional intelligence on professionalism. Furthermore, teachers were having significant difference with regard to gender. Educational institutions should train teachers through ongoing professional development programs by adding emotional intelligence courses which develop teachers’ self-reflective abilities and empathetic capacities alongside emotional control competencies. These results underscore the importance of enhancing all dimensions of professional behavior, including classroom management and interpersonal interactions, and highlight the need for strategies that foster effective teaching environments.