Relationships among emotional intelligence, teacher professional identity, and critical thinking disposition in Chinese pre-service teachers

IntroductionCritical thinking disposition (CTD) reflects a motivational-cognitive tendency to approach complex problems with openness, reflective scepticism, and sensitivity to evidence. Although emotional intelligence (EI) and teacher professional identity (TPI) may be relevant to CTD, their direct and indirect associations, and whether they represent necessary rather than merely predictive conditions for higher CTD, remain unclear.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted with 1,283 pre-service teachers from three universities in southwest China using validated self-report measures of EI, TPI, and CTD. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) examined direct and indirect associations, while Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) assessed whether EI and TPI may represent necessary conditions for higher CTD scores.ResultsEI was positively associated with CTD (β = 0.259, p < 0.001) and TPI (β = 0.466, p < 0.001), while TPI was positively associated with CTD (β = 0.391, p < 0.001). The indirect association between EI and CTD through TPI was statistically significant [β = 0.182, 95% CI (0.154, 0.213)]. NCA results further indicated significant moderate necessity effects for EI (d = 0.124, p < 0.001) and TPI (d = 0.147, p < 0.001), suggesting that low levels of either condition may constrain higher CTD within the current sample.DiscussionInterpreted through Self-Determination Theory and viewed from both predictive and necessity-based perspectives, the findings clarify the direct, indirect, and necessity-based associations of EI and TPI with CTD among Chinese pre-service teachers. Efforts to support the development of CTD among pre-service teachers may therefore benefit from combining emotional competence development with opportunities to strengthen professional identity. However, these findings should be interpreted cautiously given the cross-sectional design and the culturally specific single-country sample.