The disparity in selected occupational psychology measures between local teachers and native English-speaking teachers in South Korean public schools

The purposeof the study was to compare native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) with local teachersin Korean public schools on a variety of occupational psychology measures. The NESTgroup consisted of 127 respondents (81 female, 42 male, 4 non-binary/not stated), whilethe Korean teacher group had 86 respondents (58 female, 28 male). The results indicatedthat, as hypothesized, the NEST group was lower than the Korean group in occupationalwell-being, self-efficacy in teaching, continuance commitment to the profession,normative commitment to the profession and workplace, and affective commitment tothe workplace, but was higher on turnover intentions to the profession and turnoverintentions to the workplace. The study also confirmed a well-being gap between femaleand male NESTs, whereas no such gap was found with the Korean teacher group. Theimplications for the study indicate the need to understand and address the well-beinggap between female and male NESTs. Also, in order to lessen the gap between NESTsand Korean teachers in well-being, self-efficacy, commitment, and turnover intentions,policy makers could consider recruiting and incentivizing more professionally mindedNESTs with relevant qualifications for longer-term positions in Korean public schoolsin order to meet the aims of co-teaching programs for improving the quality andmethods of public English education.