Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been viewed as a critical factor influencing students' academic achievement, ability to work, and potential to succeed. Previous research has shown that students with high EI perform better academically than those with low EI, as well as being better equipped for their professional careers. However, despite the acknowledged importance of EI, little work has explored the construct within the context of built environment education and relatively little is known about how built environment curricula should be designed to enhance EI. This research explores the EI levels of built environment undergraduates and its relationship to their specific programmes, and investigates the types of pedagogic interventions which appear to influence EI in a positive way. This research adopts a multimethodological research design and a mixed methods approach, involving a combination of both quantitative and qualitative datasets to explore students' experiences and learning enhancements. These include a questionnaire survey of 420 respondents, a secondary examination of built environment programmes, interviews with construction professionals and 45 in-depth interviews with placement students and other undergraduates. The results reveal that the existing built environment education inhibits students' EI development, but that EI is shown to increase during industrial placements. The results also reveal that EI development differs by the types of programme taken, with students studying on Civil Engineering and Architectural Engineering & Design Management programmes showing a propensity for higher EI scores in comparison with those studying on a Commercial Management & Quantity Surveying programme. An analysis of the modular content of programmes, together with the mode of teaching, learning and assessment used, reveals the types of pedagogic intervention which can enhance EI development. Group work and student-centred learning in particular were found to have a positive effect on EI development. These findings form the basis of recommendations for how current built environment education can be enhanced in a way to develop students' EI. It is suggested that a better understanding of students' EI levels and the ability of such programmes to influence students' EI may help to produce graduates better able to meet the future requirements of the construction industry.

Il est couramment admis aujourd’hui que le stage en entreprise est essentiel à la formation, fut-elle universitaire. Peu de travaux pourtant se sont intéressés à la manière dont le stage contribue à la professionnalisation et au développement et à la formation des élèves et étudiants. La thèse réalisée dans le cadre de l’Ecole des Mines de St Etienne cherche à explorer en quoi le stage en entreprise pour des élèves en formation d’ingénieurs pouvait être facteur de développement Appuyé sur une perspective socio-constructiviste, et sur la théorie de l’activité issue des approches vygotskienne la thèse s’intéresse à la manière dont les instruments langagiers structurent la pratique du stage, permettent la réflexivité et la mise en visibilité des contradictions des systèmes d’activité entre l’entreprise et l’Ecole et à l’intérieur même de l’Ecole.L’approche théorique permet de définir les hypothèses suivantes :- Le stage est intégré à un dispositif de formation, organisé en lien avec les règles de la communauté constituée par les instances qui valident la formation. Ce dispositif s’imprègne de l’histoire du métier dans laquelle il s’inscrit. - Le stage est un élément de socialisation par les instruments parce qu’il permet à l’élève de s’inscrire dans un genre partagé, avec une acceptation de règles du jeu autour de la construction de son identité professionnelle, vers le métier d’ingénieur. Le dispositif de formation propose à l’élève un appareil de conversation qui lui permet de modifier et de reconstruire la réalité subjective et lui fournit une nouvelle identité professionnelle. Le rapport et la soutenance sont des instances proposées à l’élève pour discuter du genre découvert pendant le stage.- L’élève, lorsqu’il restitue son expérience en entreprise, se situe à l’intersection de plusieurs systèmes d’activité : le sien, celui de l’entreprise qui l’a accueilli en stage et celui du tuteur enseignant qui va valider cette expérience pour sa formation. Nous caractérisons donc en quoi le dispositif proposé par la formation permet la réflexivité avec la mise en visibilité des contradictions vécues et éventuellement leur dépassement. Nous regardons ensuite comment le rapport et la soutenance portent les traces de cette réflexion.A partir d’une analyse de l’historique des formations des ingénieurs nous cherchons à comprendre les logiques de formation et l’évolution de la place laissée aux stages. Une analyse du prescrit des stages est réalisé à travers les documents de l’Ecole d’ingénieurs. Questionnaires et entretiens permettent de saisir les représentations du stage par le Directeur et une promotion d’élèves. Puis deux études de cas appuyées sur l’étude des rapports et des soutenances de deux élèves et d’entretiens avec leurs tuteurs sont réalisées. L’analyse des données recueillies a montré que le stage en entreprise, pour fonctionner, se situe dans différents systèmes d’activité. Le système de formation qui prescrit le stage est pris dans des logiques dépendantes de celles des instances prescriptives du métier d’ingénieurs : les entreprises et leurs évolutions, les politiques d’enseignement, la CTI, le CEFI… A une autre échelle, dans la formation d’ingénieurs observée, les systèmes d’activité interpellés pour ce stage sont notamment ceux de l’Ecole, de l’entreprise, de l’élève, de l’enseignement, de la recherche. Enfin à l’échelle de deux élèves, nous avons pointé les convergences et les contradictions qui existent entre le système d’activité d’un élève, celui de son tuteur-enseignant, celui de l’entreprise, et celui de la recherche. / It is widely acknowledged today that the industrial placement is essential to academic study, even at university. However, few works have focused on the way in which the placement contributes to professional experience, the development and training of the students. The thesis undertaken at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines in Saint-Etienne (Graduate School of engineering) investigates to what extent the industrial placement could be a factor in the development of engineering students. Based on a socio-constructivist perspective and on the activity theory developed by Vygotsky’s approach, the thesis looks at the way in which the linguistic instruments structure the industrial placement itself, allowing a degree of reflexiveness and bringing to light contradictions in the activity systems between the company and the School as well as within the School itself.The theoretical approach allows us to establish the following hypotheses:- The industrial placement is integrated into a method of training that is set up in line with the rules of the community consisting of the authorities who validate the training. This methodology is embedded in the history of the profession. - The industrial placement is a way of socialising using the instruments because it allows the student to join a shared environment and to accept a set of rules around building a professional identity towards the engineering profession. The industrial placement gives the student a mechanism for conversation which allows him to modify and reconstruct the subjective reality, giving him a new professional identity. The written report and the viva voice are opportunities for the student to discuss the learning from the placement.- When the student presents his experience within the company, he is situated at the intersection of several activity systems: his own, that of the company at which he worked and that of the teacher who is going to validate this experience for his training, the engineering curriculum. We therefore characterise how the method proposed by the curriculum allows a level of reflexiveness and increased visibility of the contradictions experienced and how they can be overcome. We then look at to what extent these reflexions are contained within the written report and the viva voice..From an analysis of the history of engineering studies, we aim to understand the educational logic and the evolution of the industrial placement. An analysis of prescribed training courses is undertaken through the documents from the Engineering school. Questionnaires and interviews allow information about the placement to be recorded by the director of studies and of the students of the class of 2006 have on the placement. Then two case studies are undertaken based on the analysis of two students’ written reports and viva voices as well as interviews with their teachers.The data analysis showed that in order to work, a placement must be located in a variety of activity systems. The academic system which prescribes the placement is taken from the logic dependent on that of the authorities prescriptive to the engineering profession: companies and how they evolve, the politics of education, the CTI, the CEFI … On another scale, in the engineering curriculum that was observed, the activity systems questioned for this training course are those of the School, the company, the student, education and research. Finally, for the two students, we pointed out the convergences and the contradictions which exist between the activity system of a student, that of his teacher, that of the company, and that of the research.