The Early Childhood Teachers' Curriclum Implementation and the Children's Learning-related Behavior: Mediating Effects of Teaching Efficacy.

1. Introduction  

  Currilucum refers to goals and standards regarding what to teach and how to teach(Taguma et al., 2012). Developmentally and culturally appropriate curriclum and its implementation are one of the crucial factors in determing the quality of early childhood education.  As early childhood teachers have been regarded as primary agents who deliver curriculum goals and standards directly to young children, they are under pressure to feel resposible for the interpretation and implementation of curriculum(Kim, 2016).  Keeping with this,  a stream of studies have illuminated teacher-related variables affecting qaulity of curriculum implementation in ECEC settings in relation to teachers' teaching efficacy(Kim & Kim, 2008; Kim, 2016; Seo, 2012).

  Grounded from Bandura's social learning theory, researchers have discussed that the notion of teaching efficacy should be considered for improvements in the quality of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) (Kim & Kim, 2010; Lai & Lo, 2007; Popa & Acedo, 2006; Seo, 2012). This argument is in line with the compelling research evidence which has been accumulated over the past decades to report that the teachers' beliefs about the their capability in teaching influnece students' motiviation in learning and outcomes in school. Intuitively, high and low efficacy teachers exhibit different patterns of teacher behavior, such as in the form of interpretating and implementing of curriculum and this proposition has been empirically supported by Western studies with samples of students in primary education settings.

Given that early childhood educators or teachers are potentially important as early intervention agents because young children ,as activie learners spend significant amounts of time in Early Childhood Educatino and Care(ECEC) settings(Kim & Seo, 2010). But to date, the very few but notable studies have investigated teacher-related variables including teaching efficacy as related to their quality of curiculum implementation, leading to the children's learning behavior, especially in the context of ECEC settings. Song and Sun (2014) found that teachers' teching efficacy had significant indirect effects on chidlren's social development through quality teacher-child interaction. Also, the evidence found by Seo (2018) that teachers' teaching efficacy mediated the effects of teachers' professionalism on the children's learning behavior in ECEC settings substantiated the contention that there may be the direct or indirect effects of teachers' teaching efficacy on the relation between the teachers' ECEC curriculum implementation and the children's learning behavior. Using this line of reasoning, the current study builds on this work to investigate plausible links among those variables of interest in this study.

2. Research Objectives

  The main objectives of this study were to examine the associations between early childhood teachers’  curriculum implementation and preschool children's learning-related behavior and to determine the combined effects of predictors on the children's learning-related behavior.  Furthermore, the mediational effects of the teacher's teaching efficacy in the relation between the teacher's curriculum implementation and the children's learning-related behavior.

1. Participants The study samples were 258 teacher -child pairs who attended Early Childhood Education and Care(ECEC) settings(N=51)in Seoul, Korea. The study sample of teachers had been recruited by researchers via government subsidized support centers for early childhood education and care(ECEC) settings and the teachers sampled were asked to choose randomly one child from the classroom where they were in charge of teaching as head teachers. 2. Instruments The instruments utilized in this study were in the following. 1) Teachers' Curriculum Implementation To assess levels of early childhood teachers’ curriculum performance, the current study employed the Korean version of Curriculum Implementation Inventory (CII) measuring levels of teachers’ curriculum implementation. The Korean version of CII which had been originally developed by Moore et al (1984) and was translated to Korean by Boo (1999) to assess levels of teachers’ curriculum implementation for preschool children in the Korean ECEC context. The validity and reliability of the K-CII reported by a series of studies (Seo, 2004; Sohn & Lee, 2013; Tae & Hwang, 2013; Choi, 2017) ranged from.76 to .91. The K-CII has 38 items in six factors including 1) educational philosophy and principle; 2) teaching goals; 3) contents; 4) teaching materials; 5) teaching methods, and 6) assessment and utilizes the 5-point Likert scales ranging from 1(never implement) to 5(comprehensively implement). To measure the levels of the teachers' curriculum implementation in the classroom, the K-CII was rated by the 51 directors whose teachers and children were sampled to participate in this study. The overall internal consistency was satisfactory(Cronbach's alpa=.91). 2) The Early Childhood Teacher Teaching Efficacy Scale(ECTES) The ECEC teachers' teaching efficacy was rated by the ECTES, which was developed and standardized by Kim & Seo(2010) with the six subscales(55 items): 1) provision of Environmental Stimulus to Child; 2) Routine Setting; 3) Classroom Management; 4) Teaching Strategies; 5) Care; 6) Interaction with Child. The overall internal consistency was 0.94(Cronbach's alpha). 3) The Korean Children's Learning-related Behavior(K-CLB) The children's learning-related behavior was assessed by the K-CLB, which had been originally developed by McDermott, Green, Francis & Stott(2000), and was translated into Korean by Cheong (2006). Recently the K-CLB was validated by Seo (2018) with the three subscales with 29 items including 1) Competence Motivation; 2) Attention/ Persistence, and 3) Attitude toward Learning. The overall internal consistency was satisfactory (Cronbach's alpha=.94).

A number of preliminary analyses were conducted to determine which, if any, the demographic variables were related to the primary study variables in this study. Teacher's education level was found to significant related to teacher's teaching efficacy(r=.34, p<.01), and those of teacher's curriculum implementation(r=.38**, p<.01) measures, it was introducted as a covariate of study variables in subsequent regression analyses. To determine the combined effects of the predictors on the children's learning-related behavior, multiple regression analyses were conducted. The teacher's education, some of the subscale of the teacher's curriculum implemenation and teaching efficacy were entered in the regression equations. The predictors were found to be significant at the .01 level, and they accounted for 51.3% of the variance in the children's learning-related behavior (F=36.57***, p<.001). To test the mediational effect of teacher's teaching efficacy in the relationship between the teacher's curriculum implementation and children's learning-related behavior, the criteria for mediation oulined by Baron and Kenny (1986) were used. The results of the three sets of mediational analyses did indicate evidence for mediation(teacher's teaching efficacy) in the relationship between the teacher's curriculum implemenation and the children's learning-related behavior.

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