This study aimed to investigate whether child care teachers'' job satisfaction and perception of job professionalism differ according to internal/external individual variables. This study also aimed to analyze relations between child care teachers'' job satisfaction and their perception of job professionalism. To this end, this study developed following research questions.

1. Does child care teachers'' job satisfaction differ according to their individual variables?
1-1. Does child care teachers'' job satisfaction differ according to their internal
individual variables (job experiences, ages, marital status)?
1-2. Does child care teachers'' job satisfaction differ according to their external
individual variables (levels of certificate, levels of salaries, types of child care
center, ages of children)?

2. Does child care teachers'' perception of job professionalism differ according to their individual variables?
1-1. Does child care teachers'' perception of job professionalism differ according to their internal individual variables (job experiences, ages, marital status)?
1-2. Does child care teachers'' perception of job professionalism differ according to
their external individual variables (levels of certificate, levels of salaries, types of
child care center, ages of children)?

3. Is there any correlation between teachers'' job satisfaction and their perception of job professionalism?

Participants for this study were 274 teachers of child care centers in two cities (K and G), who are in charge of 0~2 year aged children. Levels of job experiences were classified into five categories by Katz''s classification, that is, survival stage (less than 1 year of job experiences), consolidation stage (2~3 years), renewal stage (3~5 years), and maturity stage (more than 5 years). Teachers'' ages were divided into five categories by the 5 years. Levels of salaries were determined according to both the minimum wages for child care employees by payment standards from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and the first class salary by governmental funded and/or corporate facilities.

For the measurement of child care teachers'' job satisfaction, modified versions of Jorde-Bloom''s survey tools were used, while modified version of Lindsay and Lindsay''s tools for teachers'' perception of job professionalism.

All the data collected from the above procedures were statistically analyzed by independent two sample t-tests and one-way ANOVAs for teachers'' job satisfaction, and by Pearson Correlation Coefficients for teachers'' perception of job professionalism.

The findings of the present study are as follows:

First, in terms of teachers'' job satisfaction by individual variables, teachers with more than 5 years of job experiences showed higher job satisfaction than those with 2~3 years and those with less than 1 year of job experiences. Teachers with first level of child care certificate displayed greater job satisfaction than those with second or third level of certificate, while teachers earning more than 1400,000 Korean won per month showed higher job satisfaction than those with 1200,000~1400,000 and with less than 1200,000 won per month. With regard to ages of children, teachers for 2-year-old children showed the highest job satisfaction, followed by teachers for 1-year olds, and 0-year olds. No statistical significances were found between teachers'' job satisfaction and the three variables, teachers'' ages, marital status, and types of child care center, respectively.

Second, in terms of teachers'' perception of job professionalism, teachers with more than 5 years of job experiences showed higher perception of job professionalism than those with 2~3 years and those with less than 1 year of job experiences, while teachers with first level of child care certificate showed the greatest perception, followed by those with second and third level. Teachers with more than 1400,000 and 1200,000~1400,000 won monthly salary displayed higher perception of job professionalism than those with less than 1200,000 won per month. However, no statistical significances were found between teachers'' perception of job professionalism and the four variables, teachers'' ages, marital status, ages of children, and types of child care center, respectively.

Third, teachers'' job satisfaction and their perception of job professionalism displayed a positive correlation. This implies that providing higher job satisfaction inspiring working environments could be needed in improving child care teachers'' job professionalism.