Six Thinking Hats and digital platforms to support reflective leadership and emotional competence in early childhood educators

De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats method, a parallel thinking strategy, has been associated with improvements in reflective thinking and emotional intelligence among educators. Despite mandatory digital training initiatives, teachers often remain reluctant to integrate digital tools into educational practice. This study investigated whether combining the Six Thinking Hats method with digital platforms could enhance emotional intelligence and reflective leadership among early childhood educators in Greece. A quantitative exploratory pre–post intervention design was employed using three instruments administered before and after the intervention: the Reflective Practice Questionnaire (RPQ), the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire–Short Form (TEIQue-SF), and a scale assessing attitudes toward digital technologies. Twenty-five educators completed both assessments. No statistically significant differences were observed across the RPQ subscales. However, patterns of change suggested increased reflective awareness, with slightly higher post-intervention uncertainty and stress scores potentially indicating early stages of transformative professional reflection. Sixteen of the 25 participants (64%) demonstrated an increase in overall emotional intelligence, and a trend toward improvement was observed in the Emotionality subscale ( p = 0.057). Although all participants reported using digital tools at baseline, reduced daily Padlet use following the intervention may reflect a more critical self-assessment of technology use. While statistically significant improvements were not identified, subtle gains in emotional awareness, reflective leadership, and consistency in reflective thinking, together with sustained positive attitudes toward digital technologies, suggest that the Six Thinking Hats method may support cognitive-emotional development and foster meaningful digital engagement in teacher professional development.