This study aims to reveal the relationship of kindergarten teachers' teaching efficacy, job stress, and the interaction between the teachers and children, and to find out how the teaching efficacy of the kindergarten teachers and job stress affect tea...
This study aims to reveal the relationship of kindergarten teachers' teaching efficacy, job stress, and the interaction between the teachers and children, and to find out how the teaching efficacy of the kindergarten teachers and job stress affect teacher-child interaction. For this purpose of the study, the following research topics are set.
First, what is the difference between teaching efficacy, job stress, and teacher-child interactions based on background variables (age, career, academic background, workplace type, and marital status) of kindergarten teachers?
Second, what is the relationship between teaching efficacy of kindergarten teachers, job stress, and teacher-child interaction?
Third, what is the effect of teaching efficacy of kindergarten teachers and job stress on teacher-child interactions?
In order to find out these topics, a survey was conducted on 323 kindergarten teachers in Incheon Metropolitan City and Gyeonggi Province. Based on Enochs and Riggs’(1990) Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instruction(STEBI), I used the teaching efficacy scales produced by Lee, Bun-Rye(1998) to measure teaching effectiveness. I also adopted the job stress scale developed by Shin, Hye-Young(2004) and later revised by Kim, Min-Sun(2015) to measure job stress. In addition, Assessment Profile for Early-Childhood Programs Manual(APECP, 1987), the standard of The National Association for the Education of Young Children(NAEYC, 1998) and the teacher-child interaction scale of Lee, Jeong-Sook(2003), which extracted and corrected the measurements based on Lee, Eun-Hae and Lee, Ki-Sook's(1996) teacher-child interaction scale were used. In the study, I used the SPSS 22.0 program to examine the effect of teaching efficacy of kindergarten teachers and job stress on the interaction between teachers and children. Pearson's correlation analysis was conducted to identify the correlation between each variable, and a hierarchical analysis was done to confirm the relative influence.
Here are some of the results of the study. First, I looked into the differences in teaching efficacy, job stress, and teacher-child interactions based on background variables of kindergarten teachers (age, career, education, workplace type, and marital status), and found that there were significant differences in teaching efficacy and teacher-child interactions depending on the age of kindergarten teachers, and that there was a major difference in teaching efficacy, job stress, and teacher-child interaction depending on the career and academic background of kindergarten teachers. In addition, there was a difference in teaching efficacy, job stress, and teacher-child interaction according to the type of institution and marital status of kindergarten teachers.
Second, it has been shown that there is a significant correlation between the teaching efficacy of kindergarten teachers, job stress, and teacher-child interaction. The overall and subfactors of teaching efficacy were found to have a static relation with those of teacher-child interaction, and the overall and subfactors of job stress have a negative relation with those of teaching efficacy and those of teacher-child interaction.
Third, in order to examine the effect of teaching efficacy and job stress on teacher-child interactions of kindergarten teachers, regression analysis was carried out by step-by-step input of teaching efficacy in the first stage and then teaching efficacy & job stress in the second stage. Examining the results of the subfactors of teacher-child interactions, the factors affecting the 'emotional interaction' among the teacher-child interactions are the personal teaching efficacy and general teaching efficacy in the category of teaching efficacy, and 'the lack of director’s leadership and administrative support' in the category of job stress. The factors affecting the ‘language interaction’ between teacher and child were the individual teaching efficacy and the general teaching efficacy in the category of teaching efficacy, and the lack of director’s leadership and administrative support in the category of job stress. On the other hand, the factors that affect the behavioral interactions between teacher-child interactions were in the order of 'personal teaching efficacy' and 'general teaching efficacy' in the category of teaching efficacy and 'lack of director’s leadership and administrative support' in the category of job stress. The factors affecting the whole teacher-child interaction were the individual teaching efficacy and the general teaching efficacy in the category of teaching efficacy, and the lack of director’s leadership and administrative support in the category of job stresses.
As we have seen in the study, the teaching efficacy and job stress of kindergarten teachers are related to teacher-child interactions, and each factor has shown to affect interactions between kindergarten teacher and child with mutual relevance. In particular, the personal teaching efficacy and general teaching efficacy in the category of teaching efficacy, and leadership and administrative support of the director in the category of job stress were the main factors affecting teacher-child interaction. This suggests that in order to improve the level of teacher-child interaction, it is necessary to enhance the awareness of teaching efficacy and to study ways to alleviate job stress caused by lack of director’s leadership and administrative support recognized by kindergarten teachers.