The purpose of this study is to discuss professionalism in early childhood education and care, as seen in classroom practice related to three-year-old students, with the examination focusing on the following points : (1) we clarify emotional labor as the early childhood teaching strategy ; and (2) we compare the elementary school teacher and the early childhood teacher in terms of the emotional labor strategy.

For the methodology, we used a video camera to collect episodes of the emotional labor strategy being used in early childhood teaching, and then examined each one.

The results of the study are as follows : (1) the main classroom teacher smiled and intentionally expressed emotions during "circle time," controlling the young children through proper emotional expression ; (2) the sub-classroom teacher developed a relationship with each child by not expressing her intentions directly ; and (3) while each other's opinions made a difference, the school nurse and the sub-classroom teacher expressed their emotions as an educational performance.