Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between childcare teachers' teacher efficacy, teachers' professional perception, and role performance, and to examine the mediating effect of professional perception on teacher efficacy and role performance. Methods The study subjects used data collected from 212 nursery teachers from daycare centers located in Gyeonggi, Seoul. The structural equation model was analyzed to identify the structural relationships between the major variables, and the bootstrapping method was used to determine the mediating effect. Results First, the results of this study showed a significant static correlation between teacher efficacy, professionalism recognition, and teacher role performance of childcare teachers. Second, it was discovered that childcare teachers' perceptions of expertise had a direct impact on their ability to perform their roles. Third, there was a partial mediating effect of professionalism recognition in the relationship between teacher efficacy and role performance of childcare teachers. Conclusions It is important to raise teachers' awareness of efficacy and professionalism in order to increase the level of role performance of childcare teachers. Based on the results of this study, basic data were provided for the development of national policies and professional education programs be of significance to.