Teamwork in education is defined by various authors as an activity carried out by at least two pedagogical experts with the aim of achieving jointly set goals in students. Because caring for children with special needs is professionally interdisciplinary and demanding, competencies in the area of reflective and responsible collaboration with other pedagogical experts are crucial for the work of special and rehabilitation pedagogues. Emotional competence is an important factor in an individual's success in the workplace, especially in their teamwork, as it contributes to the effectiveness of team work. The effectiveness of teamwork depends on various factors and interpersonal influences among team members. Teamwork involves individuals with different personality traits and character strengths, which guide their behaviour and actions. Character strengths represent positive personality traits that are highly important in the context of education, as recognizing one's own character strengths and acting in line with them positively influences an individual's self-acceptance, positive subjective experiences, a sense of competence, self-esteem, mental and physical health, task mastery, good social relationships, and job satisfaction. By researching the relationship between the level of emotional competence in teamwork and the expression of character strengths, we aim to highlight the importance of understanding these two concepts, explore their interplay, and their impact on the effectiveness of teamwork. In the empirical part of the study, we used a descriptive and non-experimental causal method based on a quantitative approach. The sample consisted of 52 special and rehabilitation pedagogues. The findings of our research indicate that special and rehabilitation pedagogues statistically significantly exhibit higher emotional self-regulation in teamwork compared to the scales of emotion recognition and understanding, as well as emotion expression and naming. We also found that the respondents had the highest expressions of character strengths in authenticity, honesty, kindness, teamwork, gratitude, and love, while the lowest expressions were in zest, humour, creativity, courage, and leadership. One of the findings of our research is that respondents with higher level of emotional competence in teamwork express all 24 character strengths to a higher extent than those with lower emotional competence in teamwork. We found a high positive statistical correlation in the relationship between character strengths and emotional competence in teamwork.
Similarly, a high statistical correlation was found between emotional competence in teamwork and self-perception of the effectiveness of teamwork, as well as between character strengths and self-perception of the effectiveness of teamwork. Our research also showed that both emotional competence in teamwork and character strengths do not differ significantly among respondents with different years of work experience. In further research, it would be interesting to determine potential differences in character strengths, emotional competence in teamwork, and the effectiveness of teamwork based on different work positions within the field of special and rehabilitation pedagogy.
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