CAN WE DEVELOP EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ABILITIES IN INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION

We live in a world where IQ does not make the difference any longer between professionals in any field. The ones that manage to stand out as leaders employ other abilities than the cognitive ones. In education, mastering content and directing learning have become obsolete practices. Literature has been widely concerned with defining best teachers and best practices and the road to success in education. Recent studies suggest that the premises for leadership in education are laid early and emotional intelligence abilities are considered the key to the teaching profession. In this context, they need to be part of the training student teachers receive during their ITE. Encouraged by the results of previous research on reflexivity in teacher learning, we came to study the effect of different reflective methods on student teachers' performance. This paper presents an approach that educators could adopt in order to develop in their students better self- awareness, self-control, self-motivation or empathy, which in turn affect the way they approach their further professional development. It involves a pattern of asking questions in a certain order that encourages in depth reflection, making implicit beliefs explicit and available for exploration in the process of learning to teach Analysis of reflective writings from three consecutive years of research with different study groups of student teachers determined us to believe that this is a flexible approach that could be used in any learning context for a variety of professions. (C) 2019 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UK