Teamwork is defined as a form of activity carried out by a group of two or more educational professionals who cooperate directly and equally with one another. In the Kindergarten Cur-riculum, the principle of team planning and the implementation of professional work is emphasized in greater detail. Each team is primarily formed with the aim of achieving common goals, which represents a long-term process of adjustment, collaboration, and mu-tual connection. The teamwork of educational staff encompasses three stages: team plan-ning, team implementation, and team evaluation. While team planning and team evaluation take place in indirect contact with children, team implementation occurs in direct interaction with them. An effective team requires collaborative skills, a clear division of roles, agree-ment on tasks, and regular analysis of both work and relationships within the team. One of the personality traits that not only influences the effectiveness of teamwork but also affects various other factors associated with it, is the emotional competency of team members, as a manifestation of emotional intelligence in practice. Emotional intelligence is defined as a set of emotional-social abilities that enable an individual to achieve their goals. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the emotional competency of preschool teachers in the context of teamwork in kindergartens. The research focuses on the demonstrated emotional compe-tency of educational professionals in teamwork within the kindergarten, the frequency of carrying out the different stages of teamwork, and the differences in emotional competency according to years of work experience and professional role. We also examined the relati-onship between demonstrated emotional competency in teamwork, the frequency of carrying out individual stages of teamwork, and self-perceived efficiency in one’s own teamwork. The sample included the responses of seventy preschool teachers and preschool teacher assi-stants employed in Slovenian kindergartens. For data collection, we used a questionnaire developed within the broader research project Interdisciplinary Teamwork in Education (IN-TERTIMDEVI, 2024–2025, project leader Dr. A. Polak) and the internal research project of the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Psychological Dimensions of Teamwork and Their Contribution to Team Effectiveness in Education (TIMDEVI, 2022–2023, project leader Dr. Alenka Polak). The unified questionnaire for the empirical study included several rating scales or specific questionnaires: the Emotional Competency in Teamwork Question-naire, the Teamwork Frequency Scale, and the Teamwork Self-Efficacy Scale. The results show that educational professionals in kindergartens most often carry out the stages of te-amwork on a monthly basis, and less frequently on a weekly or daily basis. Teamwork between preschool teachers and preschool teacher assistants occurs more frequently than in the reverse case. Kindergarten professionals demonstrate a high level of emotional compe-tency, particularly in the area of emotion self-regulation. No statistically significant diffe-rences were found in demonstrated emotional competency according to professional role in the kindergarten. However, statistically significant differences in emotional competency in the area of emotion self-regulation were confirmed among educational professionals with varying years of work experience. The findings indicate that the frequency of carrying out individual stages of teamwork is not related to the level of emotional competency, as no sta-tistically significant differences were identified. Furthermore, a higher level of emotional competency corresponds to a higher perception of teamwork effectiveness.
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