Exploring the Self Efficacy and Emotional Intelligence of Aspiring Teachers in Special Education

Abstract

Education provided to the children with specific needs is termed as Special Education. This educational provision is provided to those children who differ from the average children socially, mentally and physically. The major requirement of these children with special needs is modifications in the usual practices termed as adaptations. Children with special needs whose disability level is mild or moderate can usually be taught and trained by teachers who could meet the needs of these children. This could be done in an inclusive setup. But those children with disability level as severe sometimes are remaining unidentified in the classrooms. These children with severe level of disability need to be taught and trained by teachers who are trained and specialized with different skills required to handle a child with special need. Hence teacher education in special education develops such teachers with special skills to deal the children with severe disabilities. Self-Efficacy and Emotional Intelligence in any individual has impact on every walk of their life. Institutions that maximize the Self-Efficacy and Emotional Intelligence of an individual will always reap rich benefits. Special education teachers need to boldly face the challenges of working with children with special needs and the opportunity to establish positive relationships with them. The investigator has thus made an attempt in her research to find the “Self- Efficacy and Emotional Intelligence of the Aspiring Teachers in Special Education”. The methodology adopted by the investigator for the present study is normative survey method. Data was collected from the samples in 12 Special Education Teacher Training Colleges and institutes from the seven districts in Tamil Nadu which included Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Trichy, Sivagangai, and Dindigul. Self-Efficacy questionnaire by Sorensen (1989) and Emotional Intelligence Inventory by Cyberia Shrink (2010) was adopted to gather the data from the above said sample. 350 special education student teachers in 12 special education teacher education Colleges and institutes in Tamil Nadu were taken for the present study. The major findings reveal that there is a significant interrelationship between all the dimensions of Self-Efficacy and also between all the dimensions of Emotional Intelligence of the Special Education Student Teachers. The findings also revealed that the Self-Efficacy and Emotional Intelligence of the Aspiring Teachers in Special Education significantly correlated. This study is best suited for Tamil Nadu since according to the census 2001 it is the state where there is higher women population with special needs.