Abstract:
Adolescents (age 13 to 17 yrs.) who are able to understand and control their emotions
have better chances towards succeeding in life and career. The development of
understanding one’s existence in a social context begins in the period of adolescence.
This understanding and regulation of emotions set ground for trait emotional
intelligence. Similarly, belief in one’s capabilities to perform functions deepens roots of
self-efficacy. However, a very precise research has been conducted on improvement of
emotional intelligence and self-efficacy among adolescents, particularly in schools. The
reason for this is the education system in Pakistan whose privileging practices are more
towards banking model of education. As positive emotional intellectual enhances the
academic performance of a student and brings higher academic achievement, similarly,
a negative emotional intelligence (EI) results in negative emotional reaction including
suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, and poor academic performance. Therefore,
Critical Pedagogy, an approach opposite to banking model of education, is offered in
this study to improve trait emotional intelligence, Academic achievement, and Self Efficacy of adolescent students. Indeed, trait EI is such a skill that can be worked upon
to develop over time. Thus, it is necessary to consider how interventions can cause an
effect on improvement of trait EI. A quasi-experimental design was used with 130
adolescent students who went through a four-week training. EI and Self-Efficacy tests
for measuring level of EI and Self-Efficacy were employed before EI training. Result of
baseline (A pre-survey on EI and Self-efficacy) was compared with their recent
previous academic result using independent sample t-test. In the intervention stage,
Critical Pedagogy based lesson plans were instructed to the experimental group. In postintervention stage, students were given again same EI and Self-Efficacy tests and the
data was compared to their academic results after intervention using MANCOVA. The
results indicate that a CPEI approach is effective to improve trait EI, self-efficacy and
academic achievement of students.
