Emotional Intelligence of Secondary School headteachers and school achievement: A Case Study of Kasenengwa District

Abstract

This paper is anchored on findings of a study which investigated the role of Emotional Intelligence in education leadership and its relationship with school achievement of secondary school head teachers in Kasenengwa District. The study was anti-positivistic and adopted the mixed methods research. Targeting Kasenengwa District, 50 respondents: 8 head teachers of all the 8 secondary schools in the District and 42 heads of departments were sampled conveniently. Data collected was analyzed descriptively and thematically. Daniel Goleman’s theory of Emotional Intelligence guided this study. The major findings of this study show that secondary school head teachers on the average were poorer in Emotional awareness (EA) than in Emotional Management (EM), Social Emotional Awareness (ESA) and Relationship Management (RM). Nevertheless, the competences of EM, SEA and RM were effectively functioning but only needed further strengthening. Cooperatively and comparatively, the younger head teachers were better in EI than the older ones. Being older did not play advantage on the EI of the secondary school head teachers in Kasenengwa District. Head teachers who served more than 5 in administration irrespective of their ages were better in EI skills than those who had less experience (less than 5 years in administration). The EI of the female was better than the average scores of all the males and superior in academic achievement, fiscal responsibility and teacher well-being. EI had influence on school achievement (academic, fiscal responsibility and teacher well-being). The higher the EI, the better the school achievement. It recommends that MoGE deliberately embark on introducing emotional intelligence in tertiary education integrated in courses of education studies.