Abstract Student academic engagement is a key indicator of academic adjustment and motivation. Based on the Prosocial Classroom Model, teachers might play a crucial role in sustaining students’ engagement, not only through instructional practices but also through their emotional competencies. The present study examined how teachers’ emotionally intelligent behaviors (TEIB), as perceived by students, relate to students’ academic engagement, and whether this association is mediated by perceived teacher support. An initial sample of 718 adolescents participated in a two-wave study. Five months later, 518 adolescents participated at the second wave. Students completed measures of TEIB, teacher support, emotional intelligence (EI), and academic engagement. Structural equation modeling revealed that TEIB were positively associated with both teacher support and academic engagement. Moreover, teacher support partially mediated this relationship, suggesting that emotionally intelligent teachers foster engagement both directly, by creating emotionally positive learning environments, and indirectly, by being perceived as more supportive. Students’ own EI also predicted higher engagement, underscoring its role as a personal resource that complements contextual influences. These findings provide empirical support for the Prosocial Classroom Model, highlighting the central role of teachers’ emotional competencies in promoting students’ engagement. Initiatives aimed at strengthening both teachers’ and students’ emotional skills may help educators model emotionally intelligent behaviors, enhance teacher support, and cultivate classroom climates that sustain students’ engagement throughout adolescence.
Gómez‐Hombrados et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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