Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Teachers’ Practical Skills Performance in Radio, Television and Electronic Work

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and teachers’ practical skills performance in Radio, Television and Electronic Work (RTV). The study adopted a correlational research design. The population for the study was 42 subjects. This constituted all the RTV teachers from all the technical colleges offering RTV at National Technical Certificate (NTC) level in Katsina and Kaduna states. Three research questions guided the study. The instruments for data collection included a standardized Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) as well as a researcher developed Teachers’ Practical Skills Performance Questionnaire (TPSPQ). The EIS was validated by the developers and found to have a high face and content validity. The TPSPQ was validated by three electrical and electronics experts from the Department of Industrial and Technology Education, Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger state. The EIS with the TPSPQ were pilot tested at Government Technical College New Bussa and Federal Technical and Science College Shiroro-Kuta, all in Niger state. The reliability of the instruments was calculated using Cronbach alpha method. The alpha coefficients for the EIS and TPSPQ were found to be 0.81 and 0.84 respectively. SPSS statistical software (version 20.00) was used to analyse data in this study. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation, Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the research questions. The study found a positive correlation between EI and teachers’ practical skills performance in RTV. This implies that the higher the emotionally intelligent RTV teachers become the higher they perform in RTV practical skills. It was also found that the EI of RTV teachers slightly increases with increase in age and years of teaching experience. It was therefore recommended among others that: (1) Workshops and Seminars should be organized by Katsina and Kaduna States Science and Technical Education Boards (KSSTEB) to create awareness among RTV teachers on the importance of emotional intelligence as it has positive relationship with their practical skills performance in RTV; (2) Emotional intelligence development intervention programme should be initiated by KSSTEB for the existing RTV teachers as this will improve their practical skills performance in RTV; (3) EI courses should be included in the design and development of the curriculum for technical teacher training/development.