Self-Assessment Tool for Teachers

The following is a self-assessment tool to verify teachers’ emotional intelligence (EI) competences in and out of the classroom. It focuses on EI from a strictly knowledge-skill-attitude perspective, and is in no way intended to be a psychological-behavioral evaluation. The estimated duration to complete the test is 20-25 minutes.
It is organised as 3 online multiple-choice questionnaires divided into:

• A first part devoted to the emotional intelligence (EI) skills of the teachers
• A second part focused on teachers’ personal use of EI competencies in class
• A third part focused on their competences on the developments of students’ EI

By taking Salovey and Mayer's definition of EI we based this self-assessment tool on the “Ability model” which defines emotional intelligence as the capacity to reason about emotions, and of emotions, to enhance thinking, perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth. This model allows us to measure EI as a competence as well as being able to identify areas of improvement.
More in-depth, this is what we mean when we make use of the “Ability model” to gather and interpret data concerning one’s EI:

Perceiving emotions
the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures, voices, and cultural artefacts—including the ability to identify one's own emotions. Perceiving emotions is a basic aspect of emotional intelligence, as it makes all other processing of emotional information possible.

Using emotions
the ability to harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive activities, such as thinking and problem-solving. The emotionally intelligent person can capitalize fully upon his or her changing moods in order to best fit the task at hand.

Understanding emotions
the ability to comprehend emotional language and to appreciate complicated relationships among emotions. For example, understanding emotions encompasses the ability to be sensitive to slight variations between emotions, and the ability to recognize and describe how emotions evolve over time.

Managing emotions
the ability to regulate emotions in both ourselves and in others. The emotionally intelligent person can harness emotions, even negative ones, and manage them to achieve intended goals.

When we speak of emotions we mean:
Emotions are conscious mental reactions (such as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feelings usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body, such as changes in breathing patterns, body temperature and/or feelings in specific parts of the body (for example “butterflies in the stomach”)..

When we speak of feelings we mean:
Feelings are an emotional state or reaction. According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology, a feeling is "a self-contained phenomenal experience"; feelings are "subjective, evaluative, and independent of the sensations, thoughts, or images evoking them".

In Part 3 when we mention healthy boundaries we mean:
Healthy boundaries are requests and agreements we make with others to respect our wants and needs in our relationships. They are based on respect and trust, and help us strengthen our connections as well as increase our self-esteem and personal and collective well-being. The following are some examples of healthy boundaries:

• Encourage autonomy and reduce codependent habits.
• Set objectives and limits of what we expect when interacting with others.
• Communicate clearly how you want others to interact with your body (for example saying hello only by waving, or shaking hands or hugging). This can ensure your physical and emotional comfort.
• Clarify individual responsibilities in a relationship.
• Separate your wants, needs, thoughts, and feelings from those of others.

In part 3 when we mention non formal methods and activities we mean:
Non-formal education refers to planned, structured programmes and processes of personal and social education for young people designed to improve a range of skills and competences, outside the formal educational curriculum - for example, to undertake projects together, play games, discuss, go camping, or make music and drama.

Formal, non-formal and informal education are complementary and mutually reinforcing elements of a lifelong learning process.

At the end of the questionnaire the user receives feedback indicating a specific score for each of the 4 competences (Perception of emotion/Use of emotions/Understanding emotions/Managing emotions) for all 3 parts of the test. Depending on the scores obtained teachers will be guided in using the appropriate training materials.