The impact of early childhood teachers' teaching competency on teacher-child interactions: The mediating effect of play expertise and the moderating effect of teaching creativity

Objectives The purpose of this study is to verify the mediating effect of play expertise on the influence of early childhood teachers' teaching competency on teacher-child interactions and to confirm whether teaching creativity moderates this relationship. Methods To this end, data on the teaching competencies of preschool teachers, teacher-child interactions, play expertise, and teaching creativity were collected from 220 preschool teachers located in Region G, and analysed using SPSS 25.0 for frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, reliability verification, correlation analysis, mediating effects, and moderating effects. Results The main findings of the study are as follows. First, the teaching competence, play expertise, and teaching creativity of early childhood teachers were all found to have a positive impact on teacher-child interactions. Second, an analysis of the mediating effect of play expertise in the relationship between teaching competence and teacher-child interactions showed that play expertise partially mediates this relationship. Third, it was confirmed that teaching creativity acts as a moderating variable in the impact of early childhood teachers' teaching competence on teacher-child interactions, moderating the relationship between teaching competence and teacher-child interactions. Conclusions This study confirmed that the instructional competence of early childhood educators positively affects teacher-child interactions, with play expertise acting as a mediating variable and teaching creativity as a moderating variable. The higher the instructional competence, the stronger the play expertise, which contributed to improving the quality of interactions. Additionally, the effect of instructional competence varied according to the level of teaching creativity, influencing the quality of interactions as a moderating variable. Therefore, systematic support and practical programs are required for the integrated improvement of instructional competence, play expertise, and teaching creativity.