The Effect of Pre-service Early Childhood Teachers' Playfulness and Play Belief on Play Teaching Efficacy

The purpose of this study is to find out how playfulness and play beliefs of pre-service early childhood teachers affect play teaching efficacy. The subjects of the study were 267 students of K College located in D city. The collected data were subjected to frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, stepwise multiple regression analysis, and One-Way ANOVA using the SPSS 18.0 program. The main results of this study are as follows. First, the general tendencies of pre-service early childhood teachers' playfulness, play beliefs, and play teaching efficacy were higher than normal. Second, as a result of examining the differences in playability, play belief, and teaching efficacy of pre-service early childhood teachers by grade, third graders perceived playability and play belief the highest, and second graders perceived play teaching efficacy higher. There was a difference. Third, looking at the correlation between playfulness, play belief, and play teaching efficacy, it was found that there was a positive correlation between the rest of the variables except for spontaneity and spontaneity of playfulness. Fourth, as a result of examining the relative influence of playfulness and play belief on play teaching efficacy, it was found that cheerfulness among the sub-factors of playfulness and positive play belief among the sub-factors of play belief affect the sub-factors of play-teaching efficacy. These results suggest that it is necessary to operate a program to enhance playfulness and play belief in the teacher training process in order to enhance play teaching efficacy.