Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy of Special Education Teacher

Being a sustainable teacher in a special education classroom requires good interpersonal skills. Emotional intelligence is seen as capable of becoming an internal guidance system that can help teachers face classroom challenges as well as self-confidence in quality teaching. While self-efficacy is seen to form a positive perspective to teachers' self-confidence to deliver effective teaching. A survey study was conducted to find out the relationship between emotional intelligence and teacher self-efficacy. This study involved a total of 84 special education teachers serving in the rural areas of Sabah. The questionnaire is the main instrument that has been adapted from Goleman's model of emotional intelligence as well as Tschannen-Moran, Hoy and Hoy. The research data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential analysis. The results of the Spearman Rho correlation analysis show that there is a positive and significant relationship between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy, r=.833, p<. 001, N=84. The analysis also shows that the strength of the relationship is in a very strong range which is between 0.80-0.99. The findings of the study suggest the professional development of special education teachers with more specific emphasis on knowledge and skills regarding the MBPK classroom. In addition, stakeholders also need to take into account the development of teacher quality in the current era of the need for a balance between interpersonal skills and intellectual knowledge.