Effects of Self-Efficacy, Emotional Intelligence, and Perceptions of Future Work Environment on Preservice Teacher Commitment

Source: The Teacher Educator, 49:116–132, 2014
(Reviewed by the Portal Team)

This study aims to examine the effects of expectations of future work environment, perceptions of satisfaction, self-efficacy, and emotional intelligence on preservice teacher (PSTs) commitment to the profession.

Methods
The participants were preservice teachers, who enrolled in an undergraduate educational psychology course in a college of education located in the Southwest United States. The majority of participants were female and Caucasian.

Data were collected through an online survey.

Discussion
The findings reveal that preservice teachers’ personal and environmental expectations play an important role in their motivation to continue in the teacher education program and enter the teaching profession.
The results also show that when PSTs perceived higher levels of collaboration with colleagues and higher levels of autonomy in the classroom, they also exhibited increased levels of satisfaction. However, when PSTs perceived their future work environment as less than ideal they exhibited lower levels of satisfaction.
Furthermore, the authors found that the perceptions of satisfaction influence their commitment to enter the profession.
It was also found that the most influential were satisfaction with expected levels of collaboration, workload, and salary.
The authors suggest that a strong relationship exists between an individual’s commitment to enter the teaching profession and the belief in his or her ability to be successful at student engagement, classroom management, and utilizing instructional strategies.
The authors also found that preservice teachers who are highly committed to the teaching profession exhibit high levels of emotional intelligence, especially in regards to self-appraisal and utilizing emotion in cognitive processing.

Implications
The authors recommend that it is important that teacher education programs ensure that students receive meaningful field experiences from the earliest stages of their program where they are able to assume the role of teacher, not just student observer, with the support of guided reflections that facilitate the development of and progression toward their future self.