Primary and secondary school teacher burnout: a systematic review of the protective role of emotional intelligence / <i>Burnout en profesorado de educación primaria y secundaria: una revisión sistemática sobre el papel protector de la inteligencia em

Teachers are exposed to many workplace stressors, and the lack of resources hinders them from successfully coping with these demands, which increases the risk of suffering from burnout (BT) syndrome. Research indicates that emotional intelligence (EI) acts as a protective factor against BT. The goal of this systematic review is to examine the recent literature (2018–23) studying the relationship between EI and BT in teachers, bearing in mind the educational stage (primary and secondary), the mediating or moderating role of EI and other related variables and the conceptualization model of EI (skill, trait or mixed). A total of 16 articles were included after performing a bibliographic search in Web of Science, SCOPUS, ERIC and PsycINFO. The studies found significant negative correlations between EI and BT among teachers, in addition to mediating variables like perceived social support and affective balance. Likewise, EI seems to moderate the relationship between BT and work–family interference and job demands variables. Finally, similar results are found regardless of the conceptualization model of EI.