Beyond Emotional Intelligence: Validation of a Model of Emotional Competence Applied to Teachers

Is there an approach that goes beyond the debate between models that argue that emotional intelligence is a skill and those that maintain this construct is a personality trait? This study aims to validate a theoretical model of competent ‘emocreativity’ and to study the psychometric properties of the instrument that measures the emotional competencies included in this model. The participants were 177 teaching professionals and 370 students enrolled in university teacher training programs, who completed two instruments: the Self-Assessment Questionnaire of Emotional Competencies (CACE) and the TMMS24 using a Google form. The results indicate that the CACE has robust psychometric properties, given that the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is confirmed by the confirmatory factor analysis, and the model’s components show internal consistency. In addition, its convergent validity has been compared with another Emotional Intelligence questionnaire (TMMS24). The conclusion is that the CACE responds to the factorial structure of the initial theoretical model, organized into four factors: emotional awareness, emotional change, emotional bonding, and emotional creativity, thus offering empirical validation of an instrument that can complement traditional approaches to the study of emotional intelligence.