This study aims to investigate the social perception and meaning formation structure of violations of teachers' authority, focusing on early childhood educators, and to analyze the multifaceted impact of such violations on teachers' psychological and ...
This study aims to investigate the social perception and meaning formation structure of violations of teachers' authority, focusing on early childhood educators, and to analyze the multifaceted impact of such violations on teachers' psychological and organizational factors as well as their commitment to continuing in the profession. To this end, first, media reports related to violations of teachers' authority were analyzed using text mining techniques to derive the structure of social perception and key themes. Second, it analyzed the general trends and correlations perceived by early childhood educators regarding violations of teaching authority, job stress, dedication to teaching, and intentions to leave the profession. It then verified the direct impact of violations of teaching authority on intentions to leave the profession, as well as the mediating pathways through job stress and dedication to teaching, using a structural equation model. Third, we qualitatively explored cases of early childhood educators who experienced actual violations of professional authority, deeply examining the implications of such violations on teachers' emotional and psychological burdens, job attitudes, and willingness to continue teaching. Through this research, we aim to expand the academic understanding of violations of professional authority among early childhood educators and propose policy and practical alternatives to strengthen teachers' psychological resilience and create stable working conditions.
Research Questions 1. What are the core themes and semantic structures regarding violations of teachers' authority among early childhood educators as revealed in media reports?
1-1. When conducting frequency analysis (TF-IDF) on media reports related to violations of teachers' authority among early childhood educators, what are the core keywords with the highest frequency of occurrence?
1-2. When analyzing media reports on violations of early childhood educators' professional authority using network techniques, what characteristics do the connection strength and centrality between keywords exhibit?
1-3. Based on topic modeling analysis, what are the composition and meaning of the main topics derived from reports on violations of professional authority?
Research Question 2. What is the structural relationship among early childhood educators' perceived violations of professional authority, job stress, commitment to teaching, and intention to leave the profession?
2-1. What are the general trends in early childhood educators' perceived violations of professional authority, job stress, commitment to teaching, and intention to leave the profession?
2-2. What are the correlations among early childhood educators' perceptions of violations of professional authority, job stress, commitment to teaching, and intention to leave the profession?
2-3. What is the mediating effect of job stress and commitment to teaching on the influence of educators' perceived violations of professional authority on their intention to leave the profession?
Research Question 3. What are the cases of authority violations experienced by early childhood educators, and what significance do these experiences hold for job stress, commitment to teaching, and intention to leave the profession?
3-1. In what situations and relationships do authority violations against early childhood educators occur, and what contextual characteristics emerge during this process?
3-2. How are job stress, commitment to teaching, and intention to leave the profession related to violations of teachers' authority experienced by early childhood educators?
3-3. What is the process of restoring teachers' authority for early childhood educators?
This study applied a mixed-methods research design to collect data and analyze the results. The findings are as follows.
First, articles related to violations of teaching authority published in 12 major national daily newspapers from January 1, 2015, to June 30, 2025, were collected using BIG Kinds. From the initial 7,366 articles, 583 were selected for final analysis after excluding duplicates and articles unrelated to the topic. Subsequently, preprocessing steps—including standard language integration, stopword removal, and morphological analysis—were performed using TEXTOM and Python (Konlpy/Okt). Social perception structures and core themes were then derived through TF·TF-IDF, co-occurrence networks, centrality analysis, CONCOR, and LDA topic modeling. The collected data were utilized to elucidate the structure of social discourse on teacher authority violations and the relationships among key concepts.
Second, a survey was conducted from September 15 to September 26, 2025, targeting early childhood educators in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. A total of 422 responses were used for final analysis. The measurement tools employed were: teacher authority infringement (Kim, Eun-Joo, 2018 revised version), job stress (Shin, Hye-Young, 2004 revised version), and teaching commitment (Kim, Young-Hee, 2021; Becker, Billings, 1993), and Intent to Leave the Teaching Profession (Mobley, 1982; Choi, Tang, 2009 revised version). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 28.0 and AMOS 28.0 to conduct reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A structural equation model (SEM) was used to verify the direct and indirect pathways through which violations of teaching authority affect intention to leave the profession. Additionally, the mediating effects of job stress and teaching commitment were analyzed using bootstrapping techniques.
Third, eight early childhood educators who had experienced actual violations of teaching authority were selected as research participants. In-depth interviews and focus group interviews by institution type were conducted from September 1 to September 30, 2025. The collected interview data were analyzed using the constant comparative method after transcription. From a case study perspective, the context of teachers' emotional and cognitive changes, job attitudes, and willingness to remain in the profession was interpreted in depth.
The findings of this study are as follows.
First, media reports on early childhood educators and violations of teaching authority formed a multi-layered meaning structure centered on ‘early childhood educator-teaching authority-education-protection’. TF-IDF analysis revealed a tendency for teaching authority violations to be reported alongside educational activities, protective responsibilities, legal procedures, and grievance channels, confirming that the discourse on teaching authority violations encompasses the domains of teaching, administration, grievances, and systems simultaneously. Network analysis results showed high connection strengths between ‘authority-early childhood educators’, ‘education-early childhood educators’, and ‘protection-early childhood educators’, indicating that discussions on authority violations are closely linked to teachers' daily duties. Topic modeling yielded four themes: law and systems, childcare and safety/emotional well-being, parent conflicts, and teacher human rights and organizational activities. This indicates the media treats violations of teaching authority as a complex, multifaceted issue. These results suggest media coverage represents violations of teaching authority among early childhood educators not as isolated incidents but as a structural, multidimensional problem.
Second, regarding the relationship between violations of teaching authority, job stress, commitment to teaching, and intention to leave the profession, higher levels of violations of teaching authority were associated with a significant increase in job stress and a decrease in commitment to teaching. While the direct effect of authority violations on intention to leave the profession was not statistically significant, the indirect effect through increased job stress and weakened commitment to teaching was significantly verified. This demonstrates that authority violations accumulate teachers' emotional burdens, gradually weakening their immersion and commitment to teaching over the long term, thereby progressively increasing their intention to leave.
Third, qualitative case analysis revealed that excessive parental demands and distrust, hierarchical interference from administrators and colleagues, administrative intervention by institutions and external agencies, and negative media coverage simultaneously constricted teachers' educational rights, personal rights, and right to rest. Conversely, fair managerial leadership, a cooperative peer culture, and daily reflective activities grounded in child-centeredness, relationships, and play functioned as positive buffering factors in restoring teachers' professionalism and maintaining job dedication. These findings suggest that violations of teaching authority substantially impact teachers' psychological well-being and professional maintenance, indicating the need to foster trust-based cooperative environments among teachers and strengthen organizational-level protection systems.
This study is significant in that it empirically clarified the structural relationship between perceived violations of teaching authority and its effects on teachers' commitment to the profession, job stress, and intention to leave the profession. It provides foundational data for protecting teachers' rights and creating stable working conditions. It approached violations of teaching authority not as simple interpersonal conflicts but as a structural problem involving the complex interplay of institutional, organizational, and sociocultural factors. This approach was validated through an integrated methodology combining text mining, quantitative analysis, and qualitative case analysis. The results confirmed that violations of teaching authority are a key factor that intensifies teachers' job stress, weakens their commitment to the profession, and consequently increases their intention to leave the profession. Furthermore, the study proposed the necessity of establishing a multi-layered support system for protecting teachers' authority, fostering fair leadership among administrators, creating a collaborative organizational culture, and ensuring teacher autonomy. These findings are significant as they provide important implications for exploring policy directions aimed at strengthening the psychological resilience and enhancing the professionalism of early childhood educators, as well as creating a sustainable childcare environment.