The disparity in selected occupational psychology measures between local teachers and native English-speaking teachers in South Korean public schools.

The purpose of the study was to compare native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) with local teachers in Korean public schools on a variety of occupational psychology measures. The NEST group consisted of 127 respondents (81 female, 42 male, 4 non-binary/not stated), while the Korean teacher group had 86 respondents (58 female, 28 male). The results indicated that, as hypothesized, the NEST group was lower than the Korean group in occupational well-being, self-efficacy in teaching, continuance commitment to the profession, normative commitment to the profession and workplace, and affective commitment to the workplace, but was higher on turnover intentions to the profession and turnover intentions to the workplace. The study also confirmed a well-being gap between female and male NESTs, whereas no such gap was found with the Korean teacher group. The implications for the study indicate the need to understand and address the well-being gap between female and male NESTs. Also, in order to lessen the gap between NESTs and Korean teachers in well-being, self-efficacy, commitment, and turnover intentions, policy makers could consider recruiting and incentivizing more professionally minded NESTs with relevant qualifications for longer-term positions in Korean public schools in order to meet the aims of co-teaching programs for improving the quality and methods of public English education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]