Analysis of the Structural Relationship between Early Childhood Teachers' Teaching Creativity, Teaching Competencies, and Early Childhood Creativity

Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the structural relationship between early childhood teachers' teaching creativity, teaching competencies, and early childhood creativity. Methods To this end, a questionnaire was used to test the teaching creativity, teaching competencies, and early childhood creativity of early childhood teachers, targeting 79 early childhood teachers and 487 5-year-old children in S City and K City. The collected data were analyzed using AMOS 24.0. The research model was analyzed using structural equation modeling to reveal the mediating effect of teaching competencies. Results The results of the study are as follows: First, the correlations between variables such as early childhood teachers' teaching creativity, teaching competencies, and early childhood creativity were confirmed to be all positively significant. Second, the influence of early childhood teachers’ teaching creativity on early childhood creativity was greater indirectly than directly when teaching competencies mediated the influence, and the influence of teaching creativity on teaching competencies, which is a mediating variable, only had a direct effect. And the influence of teaching competencies on early childhood creativity only had a direct effect. Conclusions Through this study, we attempt to provide implications that can help improve early childhood teachers’ teaching creativity, teaching competencies, and the development of early childhood creativity. In addition, it is suggested that various methods should be sought, such as workshops that can encourage teachers’ internal motivation and reflective thinking, and various small group activities that can support creative teaching activities, in order to improve teaching competencies and teaching creativity.