어린이집·유치원의 맞춤형 돌봄서비스 내실화 방안

Abstract

The objective of this study is to seek measures to expand and reinforce customized child care services for infants and toddlers and after-class child care services by identifying the operation status and the usage status and difficulties and needs arising from operating time-extended and hourly child care services such as the time-extended child care and the 24-hour child care serviced by child care centers, and after-school programs, full day child care class and etc. serviced by kindergartens, and develop a monitoring index accordingly. To this end, this study examined preceding studies, collected and analyzed related laws, systems and statistical data, and analyzed existing data such as the National Child Care Actual Conditions Survey (2009, 2012), the Employment Survey, and the Economically Active Population Survey. Furthermore, we have conducted a questionnaire survey with directors of childcare centers and kindergartens, directors of central support centers for childcare, and respective class teachers, and developed a monitoring index for the time-extended child care serviced by childcare centers and the after-school program serviced by kindergartens.

Our proposal according to the research result is as follows:

First, we need to set-up an eligibility criteria on assistance for the time-extended child care service to be provided only for infants and toddlers requiring a care service that exceeds the standard child care time, raise the hourly wage for the hourly childcare sendee to 4,000 won per hour level and gradually adjust the rate to a realistic level that reflects the rise in price. When developing the project to support substitute teacher, the government also needs to expand its support on time-extended child care substitute teachers by setting-up separate support centers for time-extended child care teachers. Furthermore, these support centers should serve as the hub of operation to ensure a systematic management of the time-extended child care service and to maximize the efficiency in the use of the government's fund, and support the labor cost by extending the work time of hourly child care teachers to six hours which is an appropriate time to operate the time-extended child care service. Moreover, it is necessary to require mandatory consulting and monitoring on time-extended child care services because blind spots often exist for the quality management since the time-extended child care service is exempt from the accreditation system, and although inspections are held, the area of inspection is limited to matters such as nutrition, safety, accounting and etc. Lastly, we suggest to newly establish an 'in-service training course for time-extended child care' in the special in-service training course program for child care teachers to maintain and develop knowledge and skills required to perform time-extended childcare activities.

Second, we propose to increase the number of institutions providing hourly child care services centered on areas with demand, then reassign these institutions following an assessment on its accessibility, the child care environment, the service quality and etc. More than two hourly child care classes should be assigned per institution. Furthermore, we should conduct more active trainings and monitoring related to the hourly child care, reinforce the requirement of hourly child care teachers to complete their in-service trainings on infants and toddlers' child care, expand support on substitute teachers to substitute hourly child care teachers and actively hold promotions on the hourly child care service at the community level. Lastly, in the mid to long term, we propose to expand operation days and hours of the hourly child care service.

Third, we should set-up an eligibility criteria to qualify for the after-school program, and enforce a mandatory submission of supporting evidences, and reinforce inspections on after-school programs to prevent the program from being centered on specialized educational programs. Furthermore, trainings for teachers in charge of the after-school program should bo held on a regular basis, and the working condition and staffs' working satisfaction should be improved by recognizing the experience for the teacher in charge of the after-school program in proportion to the level of experience of teachers in charge of the basic curriculum class if the after-schoolteacher works for more than 8 hours a day, and by assigning tasks centered on tasks that arc directly related to the after-school program. Furthermore, it is necessary to provide a differentiated support for infants and toddlers who must receive additional educational activities other than the basic education activity or a child care service to receive priority support, flexibly adjust the operation hour according to the circumstance of kindergartens, and set-up an eligibility criteria to qualify for the child care class and enforce a mandatory submission of supporting evidences. Lastly, it is necessary to implement mandatory trainings for teachers in charge of the child care class, and supervise and provide consulting for child care classes on a regular basis.