Effects of Teaching Efficacy of Early Childhood Teachers on the Peer Play Interactions of Young Children: Mediating Effects of Teacher-Child Interactions

Abstract

Objectives This study aimed to examine the effects of teaching efficacy of early childhood teachers on the peer play interactions of young children, and verify the mediating effects of teacher-child interactions on this relation. Methods The study participants were 403 six-year-old children and 403 teachers in charge of young children in daycare centers in the 7th-year data of the Panel Study of Korea Children (PSKC). This study conducted descriptive statistics and correlation analysis using SPSS 25.0 for data analysis, and verified the mediating effects by using SPSS PROCESS macro. Results Teacher-child interactions completely mediated the relationship between the teaching efficacy of early childhood teachers and the play disconnection of young children. Conclusion The results of this study suggest the necessity of experiences that could connect the continuous provision of opportunities to support the interaction of early childhood teachers. This is achieved through the education of teachers, the early childhood teachers’ active attempts of efficient interactions with young children, and the peer play interaction of young children. Especially, this emphasizes the role of early childhood teachers as an interactor who leads young children by instructing and scaffolding their play. However, this study verified that within the play-centered curriculum, the roles of teachers should be as a peer who learns with children, a play medium of daily life, and a play leader with young children as a play peer, which is more important. Keywords: teaching efficacy, peer play interaction, teacher-child interaction, panel study of Korean children