The purpose of this study is to find out whether there are differences in the distance and personal/institutional variables of early childhood teachers in the whole, area and target of their emotional geographies. The research questions are set up as ...
The purpose of this study is to find out whether there are differences in the distance and personal/institutional variables of early childhood teachers in the whole, area and target of their emotional geographies. The research questions are set up as follows.
1. How is the distance in the emotional geographies of early childhood teachers?
2. Are there any differences in the distance of emotional geographies according to early childhood teachers’ variables?
2-1. Are there any differences in the distance of emotional geographies according to early childhood teachers’ personal variables(age, teaching career, educational background, marital status)?
2-2. Are there any differences in the distance of emotional geographies according to early childhood teachers’ institutional variables(institution type, institutional size, presence of assistant teachers, age of children in the homeroom class, number of children in the homeroom class, monthly pay, working hours)?
The study was conducted on 229 teachers of kindergartens and daycare centers in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The researcher developed a questionnaire based on previous research about teachers’emotional geographies. For data analysis, frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were calculated. Also independent sample t test and one-way ANOVA were performed, and Scheffé posterior test was performed if there were significant differences.
First, early childhood teachers’ distance of the whole, area and target in the emotional geographies were all below average, so it appeared that they felt less distance overall. Early childhood teachers felt the most distance in moral geography among the emotional geographies area, and they felt the most distance in parents among the emotional geographies target.
Second, according to the personal variables, the differences in emotional geographies appeared as follows. There were significant differences in age and educational background among personal variables. The lower the age, the more distance teachers felt in the whole emotional geographies, moral geography among the area, and children among the target. The more educated teachers felt more distance in moral, physical geography among the area, children and parents among the target.
According to institutional variables, there were significant differences in the whole emotional geographies, area and target depending on the institution type, age of children in the homeroom class, number of children in the homeroom class and working hours. Compared to daycare center teachers, kindergarten teachers felt more distance in moral, physical geography among the area, and among the target, they felt more distance in children, parents, and principal. Compared to the teachers of toddlers, teachers of infants felt more distance in the whole emotional geographies, sociocultural, moral geography among the area, and among the target, they felt more distance in children and parents. The more children in the homeroom class, the more distance the teachers felt in the whole emotional geographies, moral geography among the area, and among the target, they felt more distance in children and parents. The longer the working hours are, early childhood teachers felt more distance in the whole emotional geographies, sociocultural, moral, professional, political geography among the area, and among the target, they felt more distance in parents, peer teachers and principal.
In summary, the most variable that affected distance on the emotional geographies was working hours, followed by institution type, age of children in the homeroom class, number of children in the homeroom class, educational background, and age which means that distance on the emotional geographies was affected by institutional variables more than personal variables. And among the area of emotional geographies, moral geography was most affected by the variables, and among the target, children and parents were most affected, so the result showed that there was a significant difference in the distance.