코로나19 이후 영유아 발달 및 학습 격차 해소방안 연구(Ⅰ)

Abstract

This study collected and analyzed empirical data on the developmental gap of young children based on domestic and foreign studies conducted in this regard, driven by social concerns about the developmental gap of young children amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study will be conducted for two years from 2022 to 2023, planning for 2021, when COVID-19 pandemic was a serious situation. The purpose of this study is to find out if there is a gap in early childhood development and learning, if so, what the cause is, and to suggest ways to mitigate the factors that caused the gap. According to the purpose of the study, domestic and foreign preceding studies related to young children’s development and learning after the COVID-19 pandemic were analyzed. In addition, to reflect the voices of field experts who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic, we visited kindergartens and daycare centers to collect opinions from directors, teachers, and parents. Based on this, background variables that may have affected development due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic were investigated. Developmental tests(K-WPPSI-IV, K-Vineland-2) were conducted for 2-year-old class and 5-year-old class(100 each, 200 total) in kindergartens and daycare centers. In addition, the overall developmental status of young children was analyzed based on the survey results of parents(100 each, total 200) and teachers(40 total) in charge (40 total) of young children who performed developmental testing. Based on the results, the discussion is as follows. First, as a result of analyzing the cognitive abilities (K-WPPSI-IV) of young children, both the 2-year-old class and the 5-year-old class showed an average level. This is because the proportion of households with a college degree or higher and the proportion of dual-income households are high due to the characteristics of the households participating in this study. In other words, considering the high socioeconomic status of households participating in this study, the results of this study can be said to be similar to those of standardization studies. Second, the combined score of the adaptive behavior(K-Vineland-2) of children in 2-year-old class and children in 5-year-old class also showed an average level. Specifically, children in the 5-year-old class received high scores in the sub-domain of sociality and interpersonal relations. However, children in the 2-year-old class scored higher in the motor domain. Further studies to elucidate these differences are required. Third, the difference according to gender, which is an individual variable of young children, in cognitive development did not show any difference between 2 and 5 years old. On the other hand, in the 2-year-old class, children from dual-income families showed higher scores in the vocabulary acquisition index than children from single-income families, and the adaptive behavior of children from dual-income families was higher than those from single-income families. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis of the specific reasons why young children from dual-income families show a higher level. Fourth, there was no difference in cognitive ability according to the income level of the 2-year-old class children. However, in the 5-year-old class, children from high-income families showed high performance levels in the language comprehension index and flow reasoning index. In addition, there was no overall difference in adaptive behavior according to household income, but children from families with low household income showed higher levels of adaptive behavior in the fine motor category of 2-year-old class children. Therefore, follow-up studies related to this are needed. This study began with the assumption that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted throughout childhood. Since this study was conducted for a short period of time, it is necessary to be cautious in interpretation, but the development of children in the 2-year-old class and the 5-year-old class was found to be at a similar level to the standardized test results before the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, there was no difference in the development of children from upper-middle and lower-middle families. Therefore, the results of this study can be said to suggest that customized support for those who are likely to experience the educational gap discussed in the polarization study conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic may be more actively needed.