ABSTRACT

Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers encounter demanding duties, emotional strain, inadequate compensation, and minimal public recognition. Despite these obstacles, a strong “calling” inspires specific individuals to achieve professional excellence. The sense of calling in ECE environments has not been adequately investigated. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Early Childhood Teacher Calling Scale (ECTCS). A cross-sectional, non-experimental design was adopted, and content validity was assessed using five expert judgments (n=5). The construct validity and reliability were assessed by 358 Indonesian ECE teachers aged 19 to 60, with a mean and standard deviation of 39.04 and 9.55, respectively. The measurement model was validated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which identifed three dimensions: challenge, determination, and meaningfulness. The results indicated a strong construct validity on ECTCS with Cronbach's alpha coefficients of .74, .77, and .73 for each dimension. The model exhibited a better second-order structure compared to the first. Therefore, the score was interpreted using the total score of the measuring instrument with a reliability of ꙍ = .84 (M = 76.24, SD = 8.31). This study suggested the need to enhance instruments to assess teachers' sense of calling, increase the sample size, and implement a more comprehensive and organized sampling method.

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