The purpose of this study is to examine the religious life of faithful teachers who work in Catholic early childhood education institutions, to examine the relationship between faith maturity, happiness, ego-resiliency, and job satisfaction, and to in...
The purpose of this study is to examine the religious life of faithful teachers who work in Catholic early childhood education institutions, to examine the relationship between faith maturity, happiness, ego-resiliency, and job satisfaction, and to investigate the effect of faith maturity on happiness, ego-resiliency, and job satisfaction. Through this examination, the study aims to present the importance of faith maturity in faithful teachers working in Catholic early childhood education institutions, and to suggest directions for various forms of religious education centered on each Catholic diocese.
According to such research purpose, the following research questions were set.
1. How is the religious life of teachers in Catholic early childhood education institutions?
2. Is the faith maturity of teachers in Catholic early childhood education institutions related to their happiness, ego-resiliency, and job satisfaction?
3. What is the effect of faith maturity of teachers in Catholic early childhood education institutions on their happiness, ego-resiliency, and job satisfaction?
This study was performed on 364 teachers of Catholic faith who work in 63 Catholic kindergartens and childcare centers in the Seoul and Gyeonggi area.
The faith maturity scale developed by Malony(1995) and supplemented by Seok Chang-hun(2001) and Kang Hye-soon(2005) was modified and used as a questionnaire, and to measure the teachers’ happiness, the psychological stability scale developed by Ryff (1989) and translated into Korean by Kim Myung-so, Kim Hye-won, and Cha Gyeong-ho(2001) was modified and used. For self-flexibility, the scale developed by Atsuchi, Hitoshi, Shinji, and Motoyuki(2002) and translated and modified by Min Dong-il(2007) was used. To measure job satisfaction, the scale developed by Huang(2001) and translated, modified, and verified to be suitable for our country by Park Geun-hee(2003) was modified and used.
The SPSS 18.0 program was used to calculate Cronbach’s α of the collected data for credibility analysis of the examination tool; the frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were calculated to find the general characteristics of the research subjects, and a Pearson Correlation and Regression Analysis was performed.
The results of the research are as follows. First, the results of analyzing the religious life of Catholic teachers who work in Catholic early childhood education institutions showed that in many cases they had entered the faith at the suggestion of others. The results also revealed that there were many Catholic teachers who had received christening, and that response of ‘other’ was the highest for sacrament of confirmation. There were many teachers of Catholic faith who participated in mass once a week, and had not joined any church activity groups.
Second, the results showed a highly positive relationship between the faith maturity of teachers who work in Catholic early childhood education institutions and their happiness, self-flexibility, and job satisfaction.
Third, the results of analyzing the effect of faith maturity of teachers working in Catholic early childhood education institutions on their happiness, self-flexibility, and job satisfaction showed that the teachers’ faith maturity had a significant effect on their happiness, self-flexibility, and job satisfaction.
In conclusion, the faith maturity of Catholic teachers working in Catholic early childhood education institutions can be a factor in increasing their happiness, self-flexibility, and job satisfaction. Therefore, the necessity of faith maturity of teachers working in Catholic early childhood education institutions should be emphasized, and methods that can improve their work environment should be studied and developed by the dioceses in an effort to achieve the purpose of education and research, and endeavor to increase the quality of Catholic early childhood education.
Also, there should be continual research on the factors that affect the faith maturity, happiness, self-flexibility, and job satisfaction of teachers in Catholic early childhood education institutions, so various programs and information for teachers’ qualitative growth in Catholic early childhood education institutions can be developed and utilized.