The role of teachers’ emotional intelligence and social competences with special educational needs students

There is a lack of research on the relationship between emotional intelligence and social competences, and the difficulties experienced by teachers in the process of educating students, especially those with special educational needs, which is why the aim of this research was to discover if the difficulties experienced by teachers in working with students with different types of special educational needs are related to the differences in the respondents’ level of emotional intelligence as well as social competences. The study sample consisted of 225 teachers from Polish schools. Data sources included the Two-dimension Emotional Intelligence Inventory and the Social Competences Questionnaire. Results showed differences in emotional intelligence and social competences only in the case of working with children with moderate and severe intellectual disability and chronic illness and mental illnesses. The findings suggested that the difficulties declared by teachers working with certain types of special educational needs students may be related to their level of emotional intelligence or social competences. These novel findings suggest the need for equipping teachers with highly developed soft skills that can be crucial at work, regardless of professional qualifications and workplace.