Inteligência emocional e gestão de conflito na interação pedagógica

Abstract

Several studies show the relationship between emotional intelligence capacities and conflict management in personal relationships. However, there are few studies that investigate these constructs in teacher-student interaction. To fill this gap, this study aimed to investigate how the teacher's emotional intelligence capacities influence the strategies used to manage conflict in the classroom. Conflict management strategies are understood as the types of behaviours that are adopted to manage conflict. The sample included 431 teachers from Portuguese public schools. The Questionário de Inteligência Emocional do Professor and the Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory II - Portuguese Version in School Context was applied. Using the structural equation modeling technique, the results showed that teachers who tend to score higher on emotional capacities use more integration and compromise strategies to manage conflict. The results suggest that the teacher's emotional capacities promote the use of more adequate strategies for managing conflicts, which occur in the classroom context. In conclusion, developing teachers' emotional intelligence capacities is a priority, given their interactive role before and during the conflict. In this sense, an educational model that gives priority to emotional capacities in initial teacher training is advocated, and to promote intervention programs that work these capacities in in-service teachers, as a primary resource for conflict management in the pedagogical relationship.