A Study on the Relationship Between Pre-service Early Childhood Teachers’ Motivation for Choosing A Teaching Career, Career Resilience: Mediating Effect of Career Decision Self-Efficacy

The purpose of this study is to examine the correlations between pre-service early childhood teachers’ motivation for choosing a teaching career, their career decision self-efficacy, and their career resilience and to comprehend the relationships between these variables. Three hundred early childhood education majors attending four-year Universities A and B in city Daejeon in South Korea participated. Data were collected through questionnaires, and Pearson’s correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were applied using AMOS 27 software. We found significant correlation between pre-service early childhood teachers’ motivation for choosing a teaching career, their career decision self-efficacy, and their career resilience. Moreover, we found that career decision-making self-efficacy had a mediating effect on the relationship between motivation for choosing a teaching career and career resilience. The results indicate the need to develop strategies in early childhood education programs that will enhance pre-service teachers’ career decision self-efficacy.