Shaping Preservice Teacher Identity in South Africa: The Impact of a Brief Growth Mindset and Emotional Intelligence Intervention

This study employed a quasi-experimental, mixed methods design to evaluate the impact of a brief intervention grounded in growth mindset and emotional intelligence. This study included an intervention group (n=86) and a comparison group (n=82). Self-report questionnaires were used to measure the intervention group across four time points (4 weeks before the intervention started, immediately before the intervention started, immediately after the intervention and follow-up or 4 weeks after the intervention), and the comparison group was measured across two time points (4 weeks before the intervention started and during follow-up). Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyse the findings. The findings demonstrated an increase in self-emotion appraisal scores of the intervention group compared to the comparison group. Repeated measures revealed an increase in self-emotion appraisal and others’ emotion appraisal scores for the intervention group. These findings were corroborated by qualitative findings, which highlighted that the participants found the intervention relevant to the education field. Although participants expressed that the intervention was too short, they asserted that it provided a space for them to share their experiences, an element which is fundamental to the negotiation of identity. Policymakers can strengthen PSTs’ identities by institutionalising interventions with emotional intelligence and growth mindset elements. Such interventions must be integrated into the teacher education curriculum to develop teachers, specifically in resource-constrained South African education contexts. Future research should further contextualise EI and growth mindset interventions by applying them at scale, using robust methodologies.