• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.169-187
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• 2016

Objective: This study aimed to identify profiles based on early childhood and elementary school teachers' goal orientations and to examine differences in teacher efficacy, psychological wellbeing, and job satisfaction among these profile groups. Methods: Data were collected through a teacher questionnaire. The teacher goal-orientation scale consisted of six sub-dimensions: growth, leisure, wealth, relationship, promotion, and social contribution. Data were analyzed using latent profile analyses. Results: Latent profile analyses revealed three distinct profile groups: one group characterized by higher scores across all six dimensions (balanced-goal-orientation group); another characterized by lower scores on all six dimensions, with a relatively higher score on the relationship dimension (relationship-goal-oriented group); another one characterized by lower scores on all dimensions except the leisure goal (leisure-goal-oriented group). MANOVA showed that the balanced-goalorientation group was significantly higher in total years of teaching, educational attainment, and age, compared to the leisure-goal-oriented group. In regression analyses, when controlling for educational attainment, teacher types (kindergarten vs. elementary school) did not significantly predict each of the dummy-coded profile groups (0 = no, 1 = yes). When taking into account teachers' age and educational attainment, belonging to the balanced-goal-orientation group was consistently associated with higher levels of teacher efficacy, job satisfaction, and psychological well-being, whereas the opposite pattern was observed in leisure-goal-oriented group. Conclusion: These findings imply that it is crucial to help pre- and in-service kindergarten and elementary school teachers foster a balance between different types of goals, which would ultimately strengthen and stabilize the supply of a teaching force and the provision of a better education.