Abstract

In the context of fundamental and comprehensive educational reform, teachers are required not only to possess strong professional knowledge and pedagogical competence but also to develop emotional intelligence, understood as the capacity for psychological adaptability within educational settings. For students majoring in Early Childhood Education, emotional intelligence plays a particularly important role due to the nature of their future work, which involves direct interaction with young children in emotionally rich environments. Emotional intelligence directly affects the effectiveness of pedagogical interactions, children’s personality development, and teachers’ professional sustainability. This paper analyzes the theoretical foundations of emotional intelligence and emotional intelligence in the teaching profession, clarifies its manifestations, influencing factors, and role in early childhood teaching, and proposes directions for fostering emotional intelligence as an essential professional competence in contemporary early childhood teacher education.

Keywords: Early Childhood Education students, early childhood teachers, educational orientation, emotional intelligence, emotional intelligence in the teaching profession, professional competence.