어린이집·유치원 교사의 고용 추이 및 처우개선 방안

Abstract

This study identifies the entire career development process of child care and kindergarten teachers and provides appropriate support plan according to their experience. This study examined related laws, systems and prior researches and derived implications in order to prepare measures and improve working environment and treatment, and also examined support programs for child care and kindergarten teachers promoted by the central government and local offices of education. Furthermore, the study explored employment trends for child care and kindergarten teachers over the past 10 years (2013-2022), together with the employment status and dynamic changes in quantitative and qualitative aspects of child care centers and kindergarten teachers, and identified improvements and needs related to teacher working environment and treatment, and presented measures to improve teachers at child care centers and kindergartens workplace and their employment environment.

To achieve this purpose, this study examined and collected laws and systems related to child care centers and kindergarten teachers, data such as national treasury budget, local government special childcare policy, local education office labor cost support project, conducted surveys targeting teachers working as homeroom teachers or assistant/non-homeroom teachers currently in child care centers and kindergartens, and conducted in-depth FGI interviews with teachers who are currently working in or have moved to similar jobs. Finally, an advisory meeting consisting of law-related experts and government officials in charge of ministries was held to determine research directions, research methods, survey questions, survey methods, and policy recommendations, and a round-table meeting was held to increase the reliability of empirical research such as surveys and to explore policy measures.

In a survey of child care center teachers, the number of turnover times from the time each teacher obtained their qualifications as a child care center or kindergarten teacher to their current employment was 2.5 times on average, and most of them were first employed at child care centers, and they mainly moved to child care centers. It took an average of 10.2 months to get a job after obtaining teacher qualifications, and as the number turnover increased, the preparation period for turnover became shorter. When leaving their jobs, teachers mainly obtained employment information through Support Centers for Childcare, and when leaving their work, distance from home, salary, type of institution, and education and childcare philosophy of the director/vice-director were taken into consideration. The average working period was between 20 and 30 months, and as the number of turnover increased, the working period became shorter. The main reason for the turnover was work pressure, and many other factors including conflict with the director, distance from home due to moving, and marriage. At their current workplace, teachers worked an average of 9.2 hours per day, or 45.8 hours per week, and more than half of them were working overtime.

Most teachers were using annual/monthly leave, and teachers usually planned in advance and used their leave sequentially or freely when necessary. Satisfaction with the institution they were currently working for was above average in terms of working hours, protection of rights and interests as a teacher, and workload, all ranging between 3 and 4 points. However, about half of the teachers had plans to leave their school. In addition, the determining factor for child care teachers' turnover was that the probability of turnover increased by 1.41 times as teacher experience increased, and as weekly working hours increased, the probability of turnover increased by 0.31 times.

Meanwhile, in a survey of kindergarten teachers, the turnover occurred on average of 1.6 times, and the first institution they were employed at was a kindergarten, and they changed jobs not only to kindergartens but also to child care centers. It took an average of 8.5 months to get a job after obtaining teacher qualifications, and as the number of turnover increased, the preparation period for turnover became shorter. Changes were mainly made through recommendations from educational institutions, and workload and salary were mainly considered when changing job. The average working period was 22.3 months, and the relationship between the number of turnovers and working hours was not clear. The main reasons for turnover were issues with distance from home due to moving and marriage, work burden, and salary dissatisfaction. During the current work period, teachers worked an average of 9.7 hours per day and 48.6 hours per week, and about half were working overtime. Only about 30-40% of teachers were using annual leave, and it was mainly used in bulk during vacations. Satisfaction with the institution they are currently working at was average at 3 points for working hours, protection of rights and interests as teachers, and workload, and more than 70% of teachers were planning to change jobs or resign.

Policy measures are as follows: improve the teacher-to-child ratio for child-centered and play-centered childcare and education to boost the working environment of child care and kindergarten teachers, guarantee working hours and vacations for work-life balance and fair wages for labor and expand support staffs so that teachers can focus on childcare and education. Furthermore, to lay the foundation for protecting the rights and interests of teachers at child care centers and kindergartens, a counseling center should be established to protect the rights and interests of teachers, and a rights relief system should be established. Also, in order to improve the organizational culture of child care centers and kindergartens, it is necessary to strengthen the leadership training of directors as well as establishing and revitalizing the child care center and kindergarten teacher history management system and establishing an employment information support system to strengthen the professionalism management system for child care center and kindergarten teachers.