Increasing emotional labour demands in the educational profession have negatively impacted teacher’s mental health resulting in high levels of stress, burnout, and subsequently leaving the profession altogether. The desire to improve the mental health well-being and retention rates in educators has given rise to research efforts examining individual factors that may assist in buffering the effects of an adverse occupational environment. Of particular research interest were the potential effects of self-perceived competence in emotional intelligence and individuals’ appraisal of their quality of life, on coping with occupational stressors. The current research was designed as a correlational descriptive field study to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence, quality of life, and experiences of burnout symptoms. Strong negative associations were observed between emotional intelligence and burnout as well as between quality of life and burnout. Positive appraisal of psychological health was found to be inversely related to burnout symptoms. These results indicate that it may be of benefit to consider directing professional development resources toward increasing emotional intelligence
