Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Work Engagement Among Preschool Teachers

Objective To examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and work engagement among preschool teachers.

Methods A total of 306 preschool teachers in 15 kindergartens were selected by stratified random sampling from three cities of Henan Province and asked to complete the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale(WLEIS) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale(UWES). Structural equation modeling was applied to validate whether emotional intelligence was associated with work engagement.

Results The preschool teachers in public kindergartens had higher scores of appraising other's emotions and regulation of emotion than those in private kindergartens(4.68±1.48 vs 4.18±1.14, 4.42±1.28 vs 3.83±1.70, both Ps < 0.05). In addition, the preschool teachers in public kindergartens were higher in the scores of vigor and absorption dimensions of work engagement than those in private kindergartens(3.84±1.78 vs 3.34±1.54, 3.34±1.45 vs 2.73±1.58, both Ps < 0.05). All scores of dimensions of emotional intelligence were positively correlated with the score of work engagement among the preschool teachers Pearson correlation coefficients(r) were between 0.15 and 0.47, all Ps < 0.05. The overall emotional intelligence and all its dimensions were associated with work engagement positively(the values of b were between 0.17 and 0.26, P < 0.01).

Conclusion Preschool teachers' emotional intelligence influences significantly their work engagement, so to cultivate their emotional intelligence is an important way to improve their work engagement, especially for those in private kindergartens.