Explaining the Role of Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence in Enhancing Classroom Psychological Safety and Improving Students’ Interpersonal Relationships
Keywords:
Teachers’ emotional intelligence, classroom psychological safety, students’ interpersonal relationships, educational empathy, thematic analysis, Tehran schoolsAbstract
This study aimed to explain the role of teachers’ emotional intelligence in enhancing classroom psychological safety and improving students’ interpersonal relationships based on the lived experiences of teachers, students, and school counselors in Tehran. This qualitative study was conducted using thematic analysis. The research population included teachers, secondary school students, and school counselors in Tehran. Participants were selected through purposive sampling, considering diversity in gender, teaching experience, educational level, and school type. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and continued until theoretical saturation was reached. A total of 24 participants, including 12 teachers, 8 students, and 4 school counselors, took part in the study. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using NVivo software through open, axial, and selective coding. To enhance trustworthiness, member checking, peer debriefing, prolonged engagement with the data, and an audit trail were used. The analysis yielded five main categories: “teachers’ perception and regulation of emotions in classroom situations,” “creating a safe space for expression and mistakes,” “educational empathy and fair responsiveness,” “conflict management and relational repair,” and “modeling social-emotional skills for students.” The findings indicated that emotionally intelligent teachers respond more calmly, reflectively, and supportively to classroom errors, tension, silence, aggression, and peer exclusion. Such responses strengthen students’ trust, participation, sense of respect, willingness to express themselves, and the quality of peer interactions. The findings suggest that teachers’ emotional intelligence is not merely an individual trait but a professional capacity for managing the emotional climate of the classroom, strengthening psychological safety, reducing interpersonal conflicts, and cultivating healthy relationships among students. Therefore, emotional intelligence training, self-regulation, educational empathy, and restorative dialogue should be integrated into teacher professional development and school mental health policies.
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