공공형어린이집 성과 분석 및 발전방안 연구: 유보통합에 대비한 역할 정립 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to improve (re)designation and operating standards in accordance with policy changes such as the transfer of the public type childcare business to local governments in 2022 and the reorganization of the childcare evaluation system after June 2024, and to develop operating standards that reflect the characteristics of local governments. It is also to recommend the necessity and role of maintaining the system so that public type childcare centers can establish themselves as public childcare institutions after the integration of childcare centers and kindergartens in 2025. In order to achieve this goal, we collected and analyzed laws and systems related to public type childcare centers and related prior research, and developed and analyzed indicators that can measure the performance of public type childcare centers to strengthen their public nature and improve their quality. Moreover, we conducted surveys targeting the directors and childcare teachers who run the program, as well as parents who use the program, and conducted in-depth interviews with FGI, analysis of local government cases, and carried out advisory meetings, policy debates, and policy research and practical consultation requests. Of the childcare centers that participated in the survey, 37.6% were initially designated from 2011 to 2015, 18.6% from 2016 to 2018, 23.2% from 2019 to 2021, and 20.7% after 2022, and most were re-designated after 2022. The majority reason for participating in the designation of a public type childcare center was to promote financial stability by supporting operating costs, followed by the selection of a ‘public type’ to help improve the image of the childcare center. When designating a public type childcare center, all public type childcare centers received support from the local government for an increase in the salary of childcare teachers and costs for improving the educational environment, and received various supports such as cook labor costs, operation costs to vitalize public childcare, and nursery operation costs, showing the effect of transfer to local governments. Most childcare teachers were paid differently depending on their experience, and more than half were applying government labor cost payment standards. The average period for a childcare teacher's first salary promotion was 2.8 years, and the monthly salary increase was an average of 41,000 won, which shows that the treatment of childcare teachers has improved with the public type designation. It was confirmed that efforts are being made to improve the quality of childcare, as the nursery operating expenses and educational environment improvement expenses received from local governments are mainly used for teaching materials. Most people were dissatisfied with government-supported unit prices, and there were also strong demands for improvement in designation and operating standards. In order to manage the quality of public type childcare centers, they were participating in the quality control program of the Korea Childcare Promotion Agency, and the level of help was high and they requested continued support. Regarding the quality improvement after designation of public type childcare centers, the improvement rate was high in the following order: improvement in treatment of childcare teachers, transparency of childcare center financial operation, quality of childcare program, stability of childcare operation, quality of snacks, and physical environment of childcare center. The advantages of transfer to local governments were the establishment of selection criteria that reflected regional characteristics and the addition of operating costs in addition to the previous support expenses. However, the disadvantages were the creation of gaps between public type childcare centers due to differences in local government support, and different designation standards by local government. Childcare teachers cited changes after the designation of public type childcare centers in the following order: diversification and quality improvement in childcare programs, improvement in teacher expertise, and reduction in teacher turnover. Regarding improvements after designation as public childcare centers, they cited in the following order: the quality of the childcare program, the physical environment of the childcare center, the quality of school meals, and the safety of the childcare center's finances and operation. In a survey with parents, the reasons for moving to the childcare center their child currently attends were ranked in that order as there were no classes for that age due to the child's age advancement, wanting to move to a public childcare center, and long distance from home. The reasons for choosing the childcare center their child attends in the following order: excellence of childcare teachers, excellence of the childcare program, and because it was a public childcare center. Although more than half of the directors answered that there was no difference in public type childcare centers compared to national childcare centers, childcare teachers and parents thought there was a difference, and directors, childcare teachers, and parents all agreed that public type childcare centers were of higher quality than private childcare centers. Public type childcare directors, childcare teachers, and parents all showed a positive attitude toward the expansion of public type childcare centers, and responded that the public type childcare business should be maintained even if kindergartens are integrated. Four dimensions of business adequacy, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability were selected as performance indicators for public type childcare centers. Appropriateness was measured by the ratio of public type childcare centers to private family childcare centers and the ratio of children using public type childcare centers to the total number of children using private family childcare centers. For effectiveness, the expenditure on snacks per child, expenditure on teaching materials and aids per child, vulnerable child care operation rate, and quota capacity were four indicators. For efficiency, the size of the input budget and the benefits compared to the input budget were calculated. For sustainability, we examined the re-designation rate and the difference in redesignation scores compared to new designations. In terms of adequacy, the ratio of public, private, and home childcare centers was 14.4% of general private childcare centers and 12.8% of home childcare centers were designated as public childcare centers, and this accounted for 15.9% of public childcare centers and 12.4% of home childcare centers among the children using these facilities. In terms of effectiveness, the cost of snacks and teaching materials per child was 72,780.5 won per child in public type childcare centers, which is lower than the monthly average of 79,907.1 won in national and public type childcare centers, but is higher than that of general private childcare centers or home childcare centers, and the monthly average cost of teaching materials per child at public type childcare centers was 10,065.7 won, which was lower than the monthly average of 18,599.8 won at national and public childcare centers, but it was two to three times higher than the monthly average cost of 6,981.8 won at private childcare centers and 8,094.2 won at home childcare centers. Public type childcare centers that specialize in infants and children with disabilities have lower operating rates than general private or home childcare centers, but integrated childcare for disabled children, other extended care, holiday care, and part-time care had high operating rates, and the capacity satisfaction rate of public childcare centers was 85.6% as of the end of December 2023, which was higher than the 82.4% of national childcare centers. In terms of efficiency, the public type childcare business budget increased by 36.4% from KRW90,059 million in 2021 to KRW 122,824 million in 2022, and increased by 2.3% from the previous year to KRW 125,643 million in 2023. The total cost per public type childcare center(private) and public type childcare (home) is about 1.22 billion won on average, and the total benefit is 2.75 billion won and 23.87 billion won, respectively. As such, among public type childcare centers, the benefit ratio for private is 2.25 times than for home type. The benefit ratio of home childcare centers was relatively higher at 19.56 times. Regarding sustainability, after the new designation of public type childcare centers, the re-designation rate increased from 37.0% in 2021 to 41.9% in 2022, and decreased significantly to 22.5% in 2023, and as for the degree to which the score at the time of new designation as a public childcare center was maintained upon re-designation, the score difference between the score passing the new designation screening in 2021 and the score passing the re-designation screening was 2.03 points and showed a gradual upward trend to 2.61 points in 2022 and 6.1 points in 2023. The rate of cancellation or abandonment of public type childcare centers after new or redesignated designation was 8.1% of all public type childcare centers in 2020, 8.9% in 2021, and 8.0% in 2022, maintaining an increase of 8% over the past three years. Based on the research results, the following policy recommendations were proposed. First, the basic direction for improving public type childcare centers was established. In plan 1, the current level of support for public childcare centers was maintained, but designation and operation standards were relaxed, and in plan 2, the unit price of support was proposed to be current so that public childcare centers can fulfill their role as public childcare. It may seem better to adopt plan 2 in order to fulfill the government's national tasks and achieve the goal of strengthening the foundation public childcare, but since the public type childcare support project was converted to a local government project in 2022, we recommended that whilst maintaining at the current level of the support unit price that is applied nationwide, but to relax the designation and operating standards, and allow local governments to autonomously apply designation and operating standards and provide additional support, taking regional characteristics and financial conditions into account. It was suggested that there is a need to diversify support for the Korea Childcare Promotion Agency to develop and supply an operating model that reflects regional characteristics, and to develop and supply regional specialized models. Lastly, since the public type childcare center was promoted as a financial support project rather than a type of childcare center after the integration of kindergartens, it was proposed that the local office of education provide the budget and promote it as a regional specialization project.