A Qualitative Study on the Workplace Spirituality of Early Childhood Teachers: Focusing on interviews with the director and infant teachers

Objectives This study attempted to find out what is the workplace spirituality of infant teachers required in the field of childcare and education for infants and toddlers. Methods To this end, 11 research participants, including directors, infant teachers, and early childhood teachers, who work at infant care and education sites in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do were selected, and in-depth one-on-one interviews were conducted to analyze the reality of their experience and interpretation in the workplace to find out what the workplace spirituality of infant teachers requires and what it means and is worth to infant teachers. Results First, it was found that the workplace spirituality of infant teachers required in the field of infant education is more important than professional knowledge or ability, and is closely related to personal growth. Second, the quality of individual life of infants and toddlers is determined by the workplace spirituality of infants and toddlers, and the quality of infant education sites is also determined, so it is important to understand and interpret workplace spirituality correctly and promote it in a desirable direction. Conclusions Infant teachers should be aware of and new awareness of workplace spirituality, and efforts should be made to lead individual growth and improve the quality of the infant education field by training to strengthen the ability to perform various roles by raising workplace spirituality. This suggests that it is necessary to develop and implement practical spirituality promotion programs along with new awareness education on workplace spirituality of infant and toddler teachers.