The Mediating Effect of Teaching Flow in the Relationship Between Childcare Teacher’s Self-Esteem and Happiness

Objectives The purpose of this study is to find out the general trends of self-esteem, teaching flow, and happiness of childcare teachers, and to confirm the mediating effect of teaching flow in the relationship between self-esteem and happiness of childcare teachers. Methods A survey of childcare teachers in Seoul and Gyeonggi province, was conducted to measure self-esteem, teaching commitment, and happiness. Data were collected from April 1 to April 30, 2022, and 227 questionnaires were analyzed with the SPSS 25.0 program. The data analysis method was conducted with Pearson's correlation analysis, Baron and Kenny's mediating effect analysis, and Sobel test. Results It was found that the overall self-esteem, happiness, and teaching flow of childcare teachers were higher than that of the middle, and there was a positive correlation between all variables. When teaching flow was added in the explanatory power of self-esteem and happiness, it was found that teaching flow had a partial mediating effect in the relationship between self-esteem and happiness while having higher explanatory power. Conclusions The importance of self-esteem and teaching flow was confirmed to increase the happiness of childcare teachers. In order to improve the happiness of childcare teachers, it is necessary to develop and implement programs to improve self-esteem of pre-service childcare teachers and prepare measures to increase the experience of teaching flow.