Relationship between University Practicum Mentor Support and Professional Identity of Preschool Education Undergraduates : The Mediating Effects of Practicum Experience and Professional Efficacy = 대학 실습지도교수 지원과 유아교육 전공학생의 직업정체성의 관계 : 실습체험과 직업효능감의 매개효과를 중심으로

국문 초록 (Abstract)

교사의 직업정체성은 교사의 가르치려는 의지, 유지 및 직업적 헌신에 영향을 미치는 중요한 요소이며, 이는 미래 교사의 직업 선택에서 결정적인 역할을 한다. 현재 세계 많은 국가에서 유아교사 부족과 높은 이직률이 발생하고 있다. 또한 중국은 유아교사의 질이 낮고 유아교육 전공 학생의 교육 의지가 약한 문제에 직면하고 있다. 유아교육 전공 학생은 미래 유아교사의 주요 원천이며, 유아교사 부족 문제를 해결하기 위해 유아교육 전공 학생의 직업정체성을 향상시키는 것은 중요한 의미가 있다.
실습은 유아교사의 직업정체성에 영향을 미치는 중요한 요소이다. 유아교육 전공 학생이 실습 중에 받은 대학 실습지도교수의 지원, 실습체험 및 직업효능감은 모두 중요한 역할을 한다. 이는 유아 교사의 직업정체성을 다른 방향으로 바꿀 수 있다. 그러나 기존 연구를 살펴보면 유아교육 전공 학생들이 대학 실습지도교수의 지원과 실습체험 인식간에 어떤 관계가 있는지를 검증한 연구는 거의 없다. 따라서 본 연구는 중국 유아교육 전공 학생들이 실습 중에 받은 대학 실습지도교수의 지원, 실습체험, 직업효능감 및 직업정체성에 대한 현상 및 상호작용 메커니즘을 이해하는 것을 목적으로 하다.
본 연구는 중국 17개 성에서 유아교육 전공 학생 1,021명을 대상으로 온라인 설문조사를 실시하였으며, 주요 분석방법은 다음과 같다.
첫째, 분석을 위해 기술통계를 사용하였다. 중국 유아교육 전공 학생이 실습 중 인지하는 대학 실습지도교사의 지원, 실습체험, 직업효능감 및 직업정체성의 경향성을 파악하였다.
둘째, 독립표본 t-검정, 일원 분산분석 및 사후 다중비교를 사용하였다. 다양한 실습 상황에서 유아교육 전공 학생의 직업정체성 차이를 분석하였다. 기본 실습 정보에는 실습지역 및 학기, 실습 방법 및 형태, 실습 유치원의 성격 및 등급, 실습기간, 실습직무, 대학 교수의 실습지도 비율 등 9가지 측면이 포함된다.
셋째, 상관분석과 회귀분석을 사용하였다. 대학 실습지도교수 지원, 실습체험, 직업효능감 및 유아교육 전공학생의 직업정체성 간의 관계와 영향력을 분석하였다.
넷째, 구조 방정식 모델 및 경로 분석을 사용하였다. 대학 실습지도교수의 지원이 유아교육 전공학생의 직업정체성에 미치는 영향에 있어 실습체험과 직업효능감의 매개효과를 분석하였다.
본 연구의 주요 결과는 다음과 같다.
첫째, 현재 유아교육 전공 학생들이 실습에서 인지하고 있는 대학 실습 지도교사 지원, 실습체험, 직업효능감, 직업정체성은 모두 리커트척도의 중간값 이상 수준으로 나타났다.
둘째, 유아교육 전공 학생의 직업정체성은 실습지역, 실습학기, 실습방식, 실습형태, 실습유치원 등급, 실습기간, 실습직무, 실습지도 비율에 따라 유의미한 차이를 보였다. 경제가 발달한 동부지역 실습생, 대학 3학년 1학기 실습생, 온라인과 자율로 실습하는 학생, 시범형 유치원에서 실습하는 학생, 실습기간이 18주 이상인 학생, 실습 중 조교와 교사직을 담당하는 학생, 실습지도 비율이 1:10 이내인 학생집단이 다른 집단에 비해 직업정체성 점수가 유의하게 높은 것으로 나타났다.
셋째, 유아교육 전공 학생들이 인식하는 대학 실습지도교수 지원, 실습체험, 직업효능감, 직업정체성 사이에는 유의미한 양의 상관관계가 있다. 대학 실습지도교수 지원, 실습체험, 직업효능감은 유아교육 전공학생의 직업정체성을 긍정적으로 예측함을 알 수 있다.
넷째, 유아교육 전공 학생이 인지하는 대학 실습지도교수는 직업정체성을 직접 예측할 수 있도록 지원하며, 효과값은 0.15이다. 실습체험과 직업효능감은 대학 실습지도교수의 지원과 직업정체성 간의 관계에서 각각 독립적인 매개작용을 하며, 효과값은 0.21과 0.03이다. 또한 연쇄매개의 효과값은 0.04이다. 따라서 대학 실습지도교수의 지원 수준을 높이는 것은 유아교육 전공 학생의 직업정체성 향상에 도움이 되고, 실습체험과 직업효능감을 높이는 것 역시 이 과정의 전환에 도움이 된다고 할 수 있다.
연구 결과를 바탕으로 유아교육 전공 학생의 직업정체성 제고를 위한 제안을 하면 다음과 같다. 1) 기존 실습 프로그램을 개선하고 실습의 질을 향상시키며 적극적인 실습 경험을 촉진한다. 이를 위한 구체적 내용은 다음과 같다. 첫째, 실습 모델을 조정하고 다양한 학교 상황 및 업무 역할 요구 사항을 포함하는 체계적인 실습 계획을 설계한다. 둘째, 질 높은 실습기관을 선별한다. 셋째, 온라인 실습의 효율성을 높인다. 넷째, 실습 시간을 연장한다. 2) 유아교육 전공 학생의 직업효능감 향상을 촉진하기 위해 강점을 기반으로 한 대학 실습지도교수 지원체계를 구축한다. 3) 유아교육 전공 학생의 직업정체성 측정 메커니즘을 구축하고 직업정체성 향상을 위한 교육을 추진한다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The professional identity of preschool education (PE) undergraduates is an important factor influencing their willingness to teach, retention, and professional commitment, which play a decisive role in the career choice. Currently, many countries around the world face preschool teacher shortages and turnover problems. In China, it also faces the problems of low-quality of preschool teachers and low willingness of PE undergraduates to pursue a career as preschool teachers. As the main source of high-quality preschool teachers in the future, it is of great significance to improve the professional identity of PE undergraduates to solve the problems in the development of preschool education in China.
Practicum as an important factor that influences the professional identity of PE undergraduates. The university practicum mentor support, practicum experience, and professional efficacy of PE undergraduates all play an important role, which can make the professional identity of PE undergraduates shift in different directions. However, current studies have shown that there is almost no empirical research on the university practicum mentor support in the field of preschool education. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of the university practicum mentor support on the professional identity of PE undergraduates, and the mediating roles of practicum experience and professional efficacy in the process. This study has important theoretical and practical values.
This study used an online questionnaire method and recruited 1,021 PE undergraduates from 17 province in China as survey respondents. It is divided into four subordinate steps:
Step 1: It investigated the current situation of the university practicum mentor support, practicum experience, professional efficacy, and professional identity of PE undergraduates using descriptive statistics.
Step 2: It analyzed PE undergraduates’ professional identity in different practicum information variables, such as practicum regions, practicum semester, practicum forms, practicum arrangement, practicum kindergarten nature and level,　practicum duration, practicum guidance ratio, etc. Using an independent sample T-test, one-way ANOVA, and multiple comparisons.
Step 3: Regression analysis was used to examine the relative influences of the university practicum mentor support, practicum experience, and professional efficacy on the professional identity of PE undergraduates.
Step 4: It used structural equation modeling and the bootstrapping method to investigate the mediating effects of practicum experience, professional efficacy between the university practicum mentor support and the professional identity of PE undergraduates.
The main results of this study were as follows:
First, the university practicum mentor support, practicum experience, professional efficacy, and professional identity of PE undergraduates are all above middle level, and have not reached a good level.
Secondly, there is a significant differences among PE undergraduates’ professional identity in different practicum regions, practicum semester, practicum forms, practicum arrangement, practicum kindergarten level,　practicum duration, practicum positions, practicum guidance ratio. The PE undergraduates who had conducted a practicum in economically developed eastern region, in the demonstration kindergartens, at the 3 years 1 semester, personal arrangement the practicum placement and conduct practicum online, taking the role of teacher and assistant, with a duration of 18 weeks and above and a guidance ratio of 1:10, that can gain a higher sense of professional identity.
Thirdly, correlation analysis shows that the professional identity of PE undergraduates is positively correlated with the university practicum mentor support, practicum experience, and professional efficacy.
Fourthly, mediation modeling analysis showed that the university practicum mentor support have a direct effect on the professional identity of PE undergraduates, the effect value is 0.15. Moreover, practicum experience and professional efficacy played a separate mediating effect between the university practicum mentor support and professional identity, the mediating effect value is 0.21, and 0.03. Also played a chain mediating effect, the chain mediating effect value is 0.04. Therefore, it can be said that improving the university practicum mentor support helps to enhance the professional identity of PE undergraduates, and enhancing practicum experience and professional efficacy helps to the transformation of this process.
Finally, based on the research findings, this study offers the following specific approaches to improving the professional identity of PE undergraduates: 1) Improve the quality of practicum program,　and promote a positive practicum experience.　Such as, adjust and design a systematic practicum plan that involves different practicum semester, institutions, and positions; choose high-quality practicum institutions; improve the effective of offline practicum; extend the duration of the practicum. 2) Establish an advantage-based university practicum mentor support system to improvement the professional efficacy of PE undergraduates. 3) Establish a measuring mechanism for the professional identity of PE undergraduates, and introduce professional emotional education.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• I. Introduction 1
• 1. Research Background 1
• 2. Research Purpose and Research Questions 13
• 3. Definition 14
• 3.1 University Practicum Mentor Support 14
• 3.2 Practicum Experience 15
• 3.3 Professional Efficacy of PE Undergraduates 15
• 3.4 Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates 15
• Ⅱ. Literature Review 17
• 1. Theoretical Basis 17
• 2. Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates 22
• 2.1 The Concept and Influencing Factors of PE Undergraduates’ Professional Identity 22
• 2.2 The Contents of PE Undergraduates’ Professional Identity 25
• 3. University Practicum Mentor Support 29
• 3.1 The Concept and Significance of University Practicum Mentor Support 29
• 3.2 The Contents of University Practicum Mentor Support 32
• 4. Practicum Experience 34
• 4.1 The Concept and Significance of Practicum Experience 34
• 4.2 The Contents of Practicum Experience 39
• 4.3 The Current Situation of PE Undergraduates’ Practicum 41
• 5. Professional Efficacy of PE Undergraduates 43
• 5.1 The Concept of Teacher Efficacy 43
• 5.2 The Contents of Teacher Efficacy 46
• 6. Relationship between University Practicum Mentors Support, Practicum Experience and Professional Efficacy of PE undergraduates 48
• 6.1 Relationship between University Practicum Mentors Support and Practicum Experience of PE undergraduates 48
• 6.2 Relationship between University Practicum Mentors Support and Professional Efficacy of PE undergraduates 50
• 7. Relationship between University Practicum Mentors Support Practicum Experience, Professional Efficacy, and Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates 52
• Ⅲ. Research Method 56
• 1. Research Model 56
• 2. Participants 57
• 3. Measurements 62
• 3.1 Faculty Support Scale 62
• 3.2 University Students Practice and Training Experience Scale 63
• 3.3 Teacher Efficacy Short Scale 64
• 3.4 The Pre-service Teachers’ Professional Identity Scale 65
• 4. Procedures 66
• 4.1 Pre-testing 66
• 4.2 Formal Survey 67
• 5. Data Analysis 68
• Ⅳ. Research Results 70
• 1. Descriptive Statistics 70
• 1.1 Descriptive Statistics of PE Undergraduates’ Professional Identity 70
• 1.2 Descriptive Statistics of University Practicum Mentor Support, Practicum Experience, and Professional Efficacy 71
• 2. The Differences in the Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates in Practicum Information Variables 74
• 2.1 The Differences in the Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates in Practicum Region 74
• 2.2 The Differences in the Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates in Practicum Semester 76
• 2.3 The Differences in the Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates in Practicum Form 78
• 2.4 The Differences in the Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates in Practicum Arrangement 80
• 2.5 The Differences in the Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates in Practicum Duration 82
• 2.6 The Differences in the Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates in Practicum Kindergarten’s Nature 84
• 2.7 The Differences in the Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates in Practicum kindergarten Level 86
• 2.8 The Differences in the Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates in Practicum Position 89
• 2.9 The Differences in the Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates in Practicum Guidance ratio 91
• 3.The Effect of University Practicum Mentor Support, Practicum Experience, Professional Efficacy on PE undergraduates' Professional Identity 93
• 3.1 The Multivariate Normality Verification among Variables 93
• 3.2 The Correlations Analysis among Variables 94
• 3.3 The Multicollinearity Verification 96
• 4. The Test of Theoretical Model 97
• 4.1 The Test of Measurement Model 97
• 4.2 Path Coefficient 100
• 4.3 The Test of Structural Model 102
• 4.4 The Direct, Indirect and Total Effects of Structural Model 103
• Ⅴ. Discussion and Conclusions 107
• 1. Summary and Discussion 107
• 1.1 Current Situations of the main variables 108
• 1.2 Differences in the Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates in Practicum Information Variables 115
• 1.3 Relationship between University Practicum Mentor Support, Practicum Experience, Professional Efficacy, and Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates 126
• 2. Conclusions and Suggestions 134
• 2.1 Improve the Quality of Practicum Program, and Promote a Positive Practicum Experience 135
• 2.2 Establish an Advantage-based University Practicum Mentor Support System to Improve the Professional Efficacy of PE Undergraduates 141
• 2.3 Establish Evaluation Mechanism for Professional Identity of PE Undergraduates, and Introduce Professional Identity Education 143
• References 146
• Appendix 171

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