The Relationship Between Professional Identity, Positive Leadership, and Professional Well-being of Early Childhood Teachers in China

Background and Aim: Early childhood teachers' professional status directly affects preschool education quality. This study aims to explore the relationship between professional identity, positive leadership, and the professional well-being of early childhood teachers, with a specific focus on examining the mediating role of positive leadership in this relationship. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted among 386 early childhood teachers recruited through a combination of convenience sampling and snowball sampling from various kindergartens across the country. Data were collected using the Professional Identity Scale, Positive Leadership Scale, and Professional Well-being Scale. Structural equation modeling and the Bootstrap method (5,000 resamples) were employed for data analysis. Results: Results showed that professional identity significantly correlated with professional well-being (r = .58, p < .01); positive leadership significantly correlated with professional well-being (r = .62, p < .01); and positive leadership played a partial mediating role between professional identity and professional well-being (mediating effect 0.21, 95%CI [0.15, 0.27]). Conclusion: This study confirms the positive relationship between early childhood teachers' professional identity and professional well-being, while revealing the partial mediating role of positive leadership in this relationship. Consistent with our research aim, these findings suggest that improving early childhood teachers' professional well-being requires a dual focus on enhancing their internal psychological resources (professional identity) and optimizing external environmental conditions (positive leadership), providing valuable references for early childhood teacher training programs and kindergarten management practices.