Emotional and Social Competencies and Their Relationship to the Professional Competencies of Future Preschool and Early Childhood Education Teachers

Research objectives and problem: Preparing to become a preschool and early childhood education teacher requires five years of academic training and many years of self-education. Success in the profession is not only ensured by strong academic performance and achievement of educational goals, but also by the development of emotional and social competencies, which are closely tied to professional competence. The goal of the study was to identify the relationships between emotional intelligence, social competence, and the self-assessment of professional competence among future preschool and early childhood education teachers. Research methods: The study utilized the Popular Questionnaire of Emotional Intelligence (PKIE) by Jaworowska, Matczak, Ciechanowicz, Stańczak, and Zalewska, the PROKOS questionnaire by Matczak and Martowska, and an in-house modified version of the Self-Assessment of Teacher Competence survey. Fifty-seven women aged 23 to 48 (mean age: 28) participated in the study. Research findings and their impact on the development of educational sciences: The findings confirmed a significant relationship between the studied variables. Higher levels of emotional intelligence and social competence correlated with higher self-assessments of professional competence. Conclusions and recommendations: Emotional and social competencies are strongly associated with readiness for the teaching profession in preschool and early childhood education. These results point out the need for incorporating courses on emotional and social competencies into academic training programs for pedagogical faculties.