농어촌 지역 육아지원 방안 연구

Abstract

This project investigated the current state of kindergartens and child-care centers in rural areas in Korea and attempted to suggest future directions for client-oriented governmental support of early childhood services. By taking familial needs and regional features into full account, a number of models were developed in order to support young children and their families in these areas.

The research methods employed in this project were 1) a literature review, 2) surveys and interviews with rural families and ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) providers, and 3) consultations with experts in this field. The major findings of this research were as follows:

1. Features of rural families with young children:

- diminishing numbers of typical rural farmers and fishermen, alongside an increase in the numbers of salary earners

- increasing numbers of international marriages and grandparent-child families

- an increasing number of families planning to move to a city area for the purposes of their children"s education

2. Present state and demands of families regarding ECEC services

- rate of using ECEC services: 69% of 1,000 families

(age 3 and above: 97.2%, below age 3: 32.4%)

- average age of infants who start using ECEC services: 24.6 month old

- average monthly cost of ECEC for a family: 90,000 for age below 3,

28,000(kindergarten)~63,000(child-care center) for age 3 and above

- rate of those receiving financial support from the government: 63.8%

- proportion of families satisfied with the ECEC service for their children: 71.3%

- types of ECEC service most requested: temporary child care(23.6%),

babysitter(18.4%), high-quality/high-cost education

program(14.2%), night care(12.4%), etc.

3. Present state and demands of ECEC service providers

- rate of public kindergartens running more than 8 hours a day: 54.7%

rate of public kindergartens running during school breaks: 22.3%

- average running time of child care centers: 11hours 13minutes

- the proportion of kindergartens not having school buses: 35.5%

the proportion of child-car centers not having school buses: 5.2%.

- barriers in managing ECEC service in rural areas: recruiting children in kindergartens, while employing staff in child-care centers(84.7%)

This project suggested a number of concrete plans for rural ECEC policies based on these findings, as follows:

1. Enhancing accessibility by making existing ECEC services more active

- establishing a hub system among given public kindergartens including an integrated principal system, cooperation in extended running time, and co-managing school buses

- increasing the numbers of public child-care centers only for newborns and infants and establishing temporary child-care centers within the territory of public buildings or elementary schools

- supporting shuttle buses of kindergartens and child-care centers

2. Increasing financial support in order to improve and indeed, maximize the quality of ECEC services

- support to lower-level income children who live only with their grandparent(s)

- a low-interest loan system for rural families during non-harvest seasons

- an extra allowance for care-givers in rural child-care centers

- subsidies for child-care centers preparing for Quality Accreditation

3. Improving the environment for raising children in a rural area

- developing the public roles of multi-functioning centers such as "Female Farmers" Center", managed by the government

- using a "Rural Home Assistant" system, especially for international marriage