Research On The Current Situation And Influencing Factors Of Emotional Labor Of Kindergarten Teachers

Emotional labor refers to the process of individuals putting in effort to manage and express their emotions according to the requirements of work tasks.Specifically,the emotional labor of kindergarten teachers refers to the emotional state in which kindergarten teachers continuously put in effort in their work according to the regulations of the kindergarten and the requirements of various activities,in order to ensure that the emotions they ultimately express meet the organizational requirements,including emotional labor awareness and emotional labor behavior.Due to the meticulous and comprehensive daily work tasks of kindergarten teachers and the immature physical and mental development of young children,it is destined that their emotions fluctuate greatly and the emotional labor process becomes more complex.Therefore,this study combines questionnaire method with semi-structured interview method to investigate the current situation and influencing factors of emotional labor among 203 frontline kindergarten teachers.From the two dimensions of emotional labor awareness and emotional labor behavior,the conclusion is as follows:The current situation of emotional labor among kindergarten teachers is characterized by insufficient awareness of emotional labor and the need for improvement in emotional labor behavior.For example,novice teachers and low educated teachers tend to adopt superficial behaviors for emotional labor in their work.The reason for this is firstly due to the neglect of emotional labor skills training for teachers before employment,and the lack of reasonable emotional expression training for teachers after employment,resulting in a lack of emotional labor concepts.Secondly,both the professional identity and work environment of kindergarten teachers can affect their emotional labor behavior,which is manifested in the low level of professional identity and the difficulty in the work environment,leading to teachers’ tendency to adopt superficial behavior for emotional labor.In addition,the lack of work experience among novice teachers and the lack of correct educational concepts among low educated teachers are also reasons for the use of surface behaviors.To improve the emotional labor level of kindergarten teachers,this article proposes the following countermeasures and suggestions: firstly,pre employment training and assessmentshould pay attention to the mastery of teachers’ emotional labor skills,and continuously enrich teachers’ emotional labor knowledge and skill training after employment,guiding teachers to correctly understand and control their own emotions;Secondly,improve the welfare benefits of kindergarten teachers,enhance their professional identity,establish a "people-oriented" concept,optimize their work environment,and improve their emotional labor methods;Finally,encourage novice teachers to continuously accumulate work experience,guide low educated teachers to gradually build a lifelong learning concept,and enable them to better engage in emotional labor.