2011 유아교육정책의 성과와 과제

Abstract

Recently, the early childhood education policies for the central and local governments are not only increasing gradually in their size and target subjects but also becoming increasingly diversified. In collecting preliminary data on early childhood education policies in a two-year project, this study examined the overall current state of early childhood education and policies of the central and local governments supporting education. It also aimed to review the various local and central childhood education policies which have recently been employed, focusing on projects for the advancement of education and evaluate the products, in order to investigate alternatives for future improvements.

The study methods utilized included a literature review, interviews, questionnaires, and professional consultative meetings. Preliminary data on policies for the advancement of early childhood education, the indices of the education, the outcomes and the evaluation of policies were collected, reviewed, and organized. In addition, by visiting the Education Bureau of 16 cities and provinces of Korea, the relevant data on education was collected, the inside data gathered in agreement with the Education Bureau, Science, & Technology, the content of “2010-2011 Annual Report of Early Childhood Education” were screened, partially selected as needed, and organized. Professionals in the fields of early childhood education at the Ministry of Education, Science, & Technology and the Education Bureau of Cities and Provinces were interviewed to investigate the overall status and perceptions of the policies of early childhood education. A group of six kindergarten directors were interviewed to analyze the contents of the education network and kindergarten management committee. Online questionnaires were distributed to 147 experts in education, 520 directors, 1,812 teachers, and 936 parents of kindergartens of 16 Education Bureau of Cities and Provinces, 178 local Education Bureau nationwide and the results were analyzed. Consultative meetings were held seven times in order to establish the direction of the study and index of early childhood education, tests for reliability and to collect ideas about evaluation methods of education policies, a current state of advancement policies for early childhood education, and potential outcomes and challenges facing these policies.

The results demonstrated that interest in early childhood education has been increasing in Korea. In proportion to the increase, the level of finance/funding for early childhood education has also been increasing. As a result, the related indices tended to show improvement. The ratio of young children per teacher in Korea is becoming closer to the average ratio of the OECD, and the ratio of usage of public and private finance tended to show a continuous increase. In contrast to the GDP of Korea, the total level of funding/finance for the education and the funding/finance for an individual child’s education have been continually increasing; however, continuous increments in funding/finance need to be supported in the future to reach the average funding level of other OECD nations. There exists the challenge of overcoming regional differences in the educational funding/finance per child. The policy to fund early childhood education has gradually been expanding in respect to subjects and in terms of the amount of funding involved, and the effects have been evaluated highly. On the basis of these outcomes, in regard to the policies, some impending challenges which need to be confronted are as follows; the continual expansion of supporting early childhood education finance/funding, the systematization of procedures involved in enactment of the policy, publicity for the policy-beneficiaries, overcoming regional differences, the selection of and focus on the advancement of the policy, the activation of the network on early childhood education, and the provision of systematic support for the kindergarten management committee.