Developing Personality Competence among Novice Teachers through Self Reflection, Emotional Intelligence, and Humanistic Pedagogical Practices

Abstract

Novice teachers may experience reality shock when pedagogical expectations encounter the practical demands of classroom management, student diversity, and school environments. This conceptual literature review examines how self-reflection can support the development of personality competence and positive teacher–student relationships during the transition into professional practice. The review integrates humanistic theory, emotional intelligence, transformative learning, and reflective practice to conceptualize personality competence as a developing professional capacity. The synthesis identifies empathy, patience, fairness, authenticity, and emotional stability as qualities that support constructive classroom interactions and supportive learning environments. Challenges encountered by novice teachers can provide opportunities for professional learning when accompanied by critical reflection and appropriate support. Self-reflection can help teachers examine their assumptions, emotional responses, interpersonal behaviors, and classroom decisions to identify areas for improvement. Its contribution to professional development depends on critical analysis, openness to reconsidering existing assumptions, and the application of reflective insights in classroom practice. The integrated framework highlights reflective activities, mentoring, peer feedback, and emotional competence development as priorities for teacher education and continuing professional development. The review concludes that developing personality competence involves sustained engagement with the emotional, interpersonal, and reflective dimensions of teaching. It contributes a conceptual framework connecting these dimensions with humanistic pedagogical practice, while the proposed integration remains empirically unvalidated within this review.