The Structural Relationships among Teacher Creativity, Teaching Expertise and Creative Teaching Behaviors of Pre-Service Elementary Teachers in Korea

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the structural relationships among teacher creativity, teaching expertise and creative teaching behaviors. Survey data were analyzed for 304 pre-service elementary teachers in Korea. The findings showed that teacher creativity and teaching expertise had a meaningful impact on creative teaching behaviors. Also, teaching expertise had a greater influence on creative teaching behaviors than teacher creativity. In addition, teacher creativity and teaching expertise had a significant effect on creative teaching behaviors regardless of gender and grade. It is important to note that, in order to improve creative teaching behaviors, the curriculum for pre-service teachers should focus on the development of pre-service teachers’ own creativity and teaching expertise. This study also verified that the curriculum to improve creative teaching behaviors does not need to consider gender and grade differences. In a follow-up study, the effect that other variables had on creative teaching behaviors needs to be investigated through structure equation analysis and multi-group analysis. Moreover, the question of whether the structural model among the variances for in-service teachers is the same as that for pre-service teachers needs to be explored.