Effects of Self-Compassion of Early Childhood Teachers on the Play Teaching Efficacy: Mediating Effects of Positive Play Beliefs

Objectives: This study examines how early childhood teachers’ self-compassion influences their play teaching efficacy and seeks to verify the mediating role of positive play beliefs in this relationship. Through this exploration, the study aims to understand how teachers’ self-compassion affects their perception of positive play beliefs and to identify the pathway enhances play teaching efficacy.Methods: The subjects of this study were 208 early childhood teachers employed at childcare centers in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. For data analysis, we conducted descriptive statistics and correlation analysis using SPSS 23.0. We applied PROCESS macro version 3.4 to verify the mediating effect.Results: First, the self-compassion of early childhood teachers positively affect their play teaching efficacy. Second, positive play beliefs mediated the relationship between self-compassion and play teaching efficacy. These results suggest that enhancing positive play beliefs and play-based teaching efficacy requires, teachers to connect with children through play, fostering their acceptance of others, beginning with self-compassion.Conclusion: The findings demonstrates that teachers who engage in play with children, exhibit self-acceptance and positive emotions, and hold positive beliefs about children’s play, demonstrate higher play teaching efficacy. Notably, positive play beliefs mediate the relationship between self-compassion and play-based teaching efficacy. This suggests a need for continuous opportunities to develop positive play beliefs through pre-service and in-service teacher education programs. Additionally, the data indicate that teachers should not only engage in play frequently with children but also enhance interaction quality by participating actively and joyfully, positioning themselves as healthy, self-accepting play partners.