Emotional Competence among Future Teachers: A Study on Emotional Intelligence and Empathy Levels

Initial and continuing education for teachers is an essential means for achieving quality teaching. Teacher training must include development of social-emotional competences that can be applied throughout their future teaching career. This study aims to assess how first and fourth year Education Majors perceive their own level of Emotional Intelligence (EI) ad Empathy and explore if there are any differences among other college majors. The sample used included 569 first- and fourth-year college students majoring in Preschool Education, Primary School Education, Medicine and Chemistry, who completed the Trait Meta-Mood Scale-24 (TMMS-24) Scale for IE assessment and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) to assess empathy. A correlation and covariance analysis were undertaken. The main results regarding perceived levels of EI, reveal that Education Majors had higher levels of emotional attention upon entering college and that fourth year Education and Medical students had higher levels of emotional clarity and repair compared to first-year students. Education and Medical students showed higher levels of perceived empathic concern both upon entering college as well as at the end of their college careers. Yet, students majoring in Education, unlike students majoring in Medicine, did not show a higher level of perspective taking or empathic concern upon finishing their studies compared to first year students. In addition, personal distress levels were higher among Education and Chemistry majors. These results reflect the importance of changing Education Major curriculums to foster the development of empathic skills.