Exploring the Gap Between Research and Practice for Preservice Teacher Emotional Intelligence Training
This phenomenological study focused on uncovering any contributing factors to the apparent research practice gap between the implementation of preservice teacher (PST) emotional intelligence (EI) training and any potential obstacles and implementing explicit EI training for PSTs. Twenty-five years of literature validate the impact of teacher EI on all aspects of the classroom: teacher self-efficacy, burnout, classroom management, student–teacher relationships, student EI, and student academic outcomes and call for inclusion of EI training in the teacher education curricula (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). However, explicit EI training has not become common practice in schools of education. This was accomplished by examining the experiences of leaders in schools of education in Virginia with the need for EI. The main obstacle uncovered was the lack of exposure to the research. Other obstacles surfaced and awareness of the research provided the solutions. Awareness led to the formulation of an action plan to incorporate PST EI training and an outline of the key elements to include based of their experiences.